Late Fall Litter of Dutch Bunnies....too cold?

Question
QUESTION: I had what I thought to be two female dutch bunnies from different litters.  One is a chocolate and one is black.  

Anyway, the other morning I went out to clean the cage, and found a squirming newborn baby in the dirt in the "yard" of the pen.  The rabbits were going nuts - and I could immediately identify the mother because she was making all kind of stressed out noises when I touched her - the other one did not.

Then, when I opened their "house", there was a bunch of black fur - so that sealed it.  I immediately removed the chocolate daddy and put him in a second, smaller pen.  

I put the baby in the rabbit house, and left her alone for the rest of the day.  She calmed down and now there are 7....or so.  They were in such a cozy knot that it was hard to tell where one began and another ended.  I didn't want to disturb them or make them cold, so I didn't mess too much.

Now, being that it is mid-october, and I live in northern Wisconsin....will they be ok?  It isn't freezing yet, but it could anyday now.  They are in a walk-in pen with attached rabbit house.  The house is approx. 1ft x 2.5ft and is totally enclosed except for an entrance hole.  It is filled with straw.  Is that enough?

And if I should take the whole bunch in the house, when (if ever) can I put them back in their pen outside?  Will it be too much of a shock to go from inside to outside without a gradual weather change?

Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Jessica A.

PS if a picture of the house would be helpful - let me know.

ANSWER: Dear Jessica,

If the two parent rabbits were "going crazy" when you found them, then I hate to tell you...but she's probably already pregnant again.  A male rabbit can (and will!) impregnate his mate within minutes after her giving birth.  I don't have to tell you that this isn't great for the health of anyone concerned, mama or babies (though dad will say it's just fine).

But for now, let's worry about the babies.

If you choose to leave them in the house, then I would provide some sort of source of warmth, such as hot water bottles, constantly changed, inside the house.  Electrical heating source is probably not safe, and would be a fire hazard.  

The simplest solution would be to bring the bunnies inside and set them up in a quiet room where they can be warm and comfortable, no matter what happens outside.  Here are some instructions on how to do this safely:

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

You should consider taking papa in to be neutered *now* so that by the time his wife gives birth again he will no longer have viable sperm and can stay with his family.  If he is kept apart, the two may become unbonded, and it will be hard to reintroduce them.  So the sooner this is done, the better.  Please see:

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

and find a good rabbit vet here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

Mama should be spayed once her babies are weaned and she's recovered, too.  Unspayed female rabbits have a very high risk of uterine cancer, and this will keep her healthy in the future.

I hope the babies and parents stay well, and that you enjoy watching the babies grow--even though they were a surprise.  If you would like an adoption questionnaire to use for finding them loving homes, please let me know and I'll send you one (via email, so you might want to make it a private message).  If possible adopt them out in pairs, since rabbits are very social and love the companionship of their own kind.  (But be sure to sex them right, so the cycle doesn't continue!)

Good luck!  Hope this helps.
Dana

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: hello again,

If I have the papa neutered - can he be with the mom and babies right away?  Or should they be a certain age first?

And....any tips on sexing them?  Since the lady I bought them from was a breeder, and evidently was wrong.

Thank you for your time.

Answer
Dear Jessica,

It's not 100% sure that mama is already pregnant again.  But it's very, very likely.  

Papa will have viable sperm in his internal "plumbing" for a few weeks after the neuter, but they will gradually die off.  If mama is already pregnant, this isn't an issue.  But in the very slight chance that she is *not* already pregnant again, he could impregnate her right away if you put him back with his family.  So this is a bit of a dilemma.

The problem is, the longer you leave them apart (be sure they can see/smell interact with one another, and are not completely isolated), the greater the chance that they will become "unbonded" and fight upon reintroduction.

So we're between a rock and a hard place here.

Options:

The safest option:  
2.  Have papa neutered, keep him separate from the family for four weeks (until you know whether mama is pregnant or not) and then reintroduce them very carefully with the bonding techniques in the articles here:

Other options:
2.  Have papa neutered, put him back with mama and observe to see if she is receptive to his advances, or if she whimpers, crouches and rebuffs him.  If that happens, then it's very likely she's already pregnant. But you'd have to act fast if she's receptive:  mating takes only seconds, and then she'd either have another litter in four weeks, or you'd have to have her spayed right away.

3.  Have *both* parents neutered on the same day, and soon.  But this means you'd have to do it soon for mama, if she is pregnant.  You do NOT want her too far along in her pregnancy if she's going to be spayed.  too dangerous.  If she's spayed, she will need a day or two of recovery, but will still be able to produce milk, since the reproductive tract hormones are not responsible for milk production.

Here's an article on sexing that I hope will help:

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

but it's hard to do with wee babies.  

Hope this helps.

Dana