How to Sell Rabbits in India | PetzLover

What does Indian law say about selling rabbits?

The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Pet Shop) Rules 2018, made under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960, list rabbits as pet animals and define a pet shop to include online platforms where pets are bought and sold. A pet shop needs a registration certificate from the State Animal Welfare Board, valid for five years. If you sell rabbits often, ask your State Board whether you must register; if you sell an occasional litter, follow the standards anyway:

• Only healthy animals, certified in writing by a vet, and no un-weaned or underage animals.
• No sales to anyone below the age of majority.
• For rabbits, a solid floor rather than wire mesh, steel or shavings, an enclosure at least about 1.2 m high, and a room not shared with cats or dogs.
• Animals grouped by species and age so that they cannot mate, bully or fight, and a written receipt for each sale.

How do you get rabbits ready for sale?

1. Wait until each young rabbit is fully weaned and eating hay and greens on its own.
2. Check sexes carefully, with your vet if unsure, and move bucks away from does before they can breed.
3. Ask your vet to examine the rabbits, write a health note and advise on deworming and coccidiosis, both common on Indian farms.
4. Handle each rabbit gently every day so it is calm when buyers visit.
5. Keep a card for each rabbit: date of birth, parents, sex, weight, treatments and diet.
6. Set aside a bag of the hay and pellets it is used to, so the new owner can change its diet gradually.

How do you name your rabbits' breed honestly?

Many buyers cannot tell breeds apart, and many rabbits in India are crosses. The agricultural universities of Kerala and Tamil Nadu describe the common breeds like this; if you do not know a rabbit's parents, say so.

For small pet breeds such as the Dutch (about 2 to 2.5 kg, the PDSA says), give the parents' weights, since buyers in flats often choose on size.

How should you price rabbits for sale in India?

No official price exists. An Indian pet-care guide put a pet rabbit at about ₹400 to ₹500 in 2023, one undated Chennai list priced Dutch rabbits at ₹1,500, and Angoras in a South Sikkim farmers' project sold for about ₹2,500 to ₹3,500 each by colour (Gaon Connection, 2023). Check current rabbits for sale in your city before you decide.

• Age: weaned young rabbits and adults are priced differently, and a neutered adult carries your vet bill.
• Records: known parents, weights and treatment dates justify more than an unknown rabbit.
• Purpose: breeding stock with growth records is priced apart from pets; a 2026 review notes a shortage of quality breeding stock in India.
• Pure or cross: price a cross as a cross.

A very low price draws impulse buyers. A fair price, with a starter bag of hay, attracts people who have budgeted for care.

How do you write a rabbit ad that finds good homes?

• Breed or cross, age or date of birth, sex and expected adult weight.
• Health: vet check, deworming and coccidiosis treatment, with dates.
• Diet and housing it is used to, and whether it uses a litter tray.
• Clear daylight photos and a short video of it moving and eating.
• Price per rabbit or per neutered pair, and your city and area, not your full address.
• What you expect of buyers: a cool indoor space, hay every day and a vet.

Keep your phone number out of the ad text and let buyers message you first. You can post your rabbit ad for free on PetzLover and reply through messages.

How do you choose the right buyer?

1. Is the rabbit for a pet home, a companion for another rabbit, or breeding?
2. Where will it live, and how will you keep it cool in May and June?
3. Where will you buy hay, and which vet will you use?
4. Who will look after it day to day, and are there dogs, cats or small children at home?
5. Does your landlord or housing society allow rabbits?

If someone has posted a request, read how to respond to a rabbit wanted ad. If you would rather rehome a rabbit without a price, see how to give away a rabbit for free without risk.

How do you take payment and hand over a rabbit safely?

Fake buyers target sellers too. In a 2019 Mumbai case reported by the Free Press Journal, a man selling his cat online lost about ₹1 lakh after a 'buyer' had him download an e-wallet app and open a payment link. Axis Bank's fraud advice is simple: a UPI PIN is needed only to send money, never to receive it.

• Let the buyer meet the rabbit at your home or on a live video call first.
• Take cash at the handover, or treat a UPI or bank payment as received only when it shows in your own bank app.
• Never scan a QR code, approve a collect request or install an app to be paid, and never refund an 'overpayment'.
• Hand over in the cool morning or evening, in a ventilated carrier, with the health card, a receipt and a bag of the usual food.

If you are cheated, call 1930, the national cyber crime helpline, at once.