MEAN!

Question
Hi I talked to you a couple of weeks ago. It turns out the penicillin did not kill her babies. She has turned really mean. She jumps and bites you when you feed her.She is a little over 3 weeks pregnant. This is her second litter.Her first died.Which as you know is normal, In your opinion do you think she will be as mean after she has the litter. I would like to handle her kits without being attacked.

Answer
Dear Taylor,

It is normal for a pregnant rabbit (or any pregnant mammal, for that matter, including humans) to be moody and even aggressive due to the hormones coursing through her body.  She may or may not calm down after she has the babies, and this will remain to be seen.  If she *is* protective of the babies, don't push things until the babies are old enough to leave the nest.  It's normal for mama to be defensive of them, and you should not punish her or try to subvert her natural and normal instincts.

Having her spayed will *definitely* calm her, once she has raised hedr babies.  Please read this *very* important article before you breed her again:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/breeding.html

Try to keep her environment as stress-free as possible.  If she is nervous, she'll be aggressive, and might over-groom her babies out of nervousness and harm them.  Read this to provide a safe, calm environment that will be conducive to her caring for her babies without incident:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/surpriselitter.html

I hope this helps.

Dana