Bad Pregnancy Experience

Question
Hi - we bought a male and female rabbit in March.  Wednesday I walked in a the female had just given birth to 6 babies with the male and female in the cage.  2 were half eaten, we removed the rest right away.  The female ate at one more of the babies and payed no attention to the last 3 and they eventually died a few hours later.  It was a horrible experience, I did not know she was pregnant and my plan was to get the male fixed immediately.  Now, 2 days later when I put the male and female together, she attacks him - biting, humping, pulling out his hair.  I have now decided to give one to a friend because I don't want her to hurt him.  Any other alternatives and I do not need a sermon on spaying/neutering.  I have 4 dogs all spayed and neutered.  I did not know she was pregnant.  I look back and some of the signs were there, but she didn't look or feel pregnant.  Did she not care for the babies because the birthing box wasn't set up and why is she attacking the male now?

Answer
Okay first things first if the male was still in the cage with her after she had the babies, (even for just an hour or so) then you need to assume she is pregnant again.  Rabbits are very fertile animals and can get pregnant immediately after giving birth, so 28 days after the birth you need to put a box in her cage with her with lots of hay or straw for her to nest with.

I do suggest that you need to take the male out of the cage immediately and do not put him back in there unless he is neutered,  probably one of the reasons she ate her babies (which is horrible but not that un-common in first time rabbit moms) is because she perceived the male as  threat and to protect herself she got rid of the "evidence" so as not to attract more "threats" while this doesn't make sense to us as people, rabbits are prey animals and their main goal in life is survival.

First time rabbit moms aren't always the best and with breeders it is a suprise if you have a first timer who doesn't loose some or all of her kits.

I would also assume that the reason she fought with the male after a couple of days is because she is pregnant (or thinks she is) and that is the way females tell the males "no".  This method is used sometimes by breeders to determine if the doe is pregnant, but it is not safe. Rabbits ovulate when stimulated, which means if she got pregnant right after the birth, then was bred again 2 days later there is a chance of having two pregnancies two days apart in the same rabbit.  This will usually end in a miscarriage but can cause sudden doe death.

The only options you have are
1. Two separate cages, and no time together at all for any reason unless you are wanting to breed.
2. Give the rabbit to a friend so that you will have no other "whoops" type pregnancies.
3. Get the male neutered.  The bad thing about this is that you will need to get the doe spayed at the same time then work on bonding which generally takes about a month.  A unspayed female with a neutered male is not generally a good combination as the doe still has all the hormone related behavior and the male will still smell and act like an intact  male even if he is not intact when exposed to a intact female.

Check out these websites about rabbit breeding and birthing so that in about a month you will be more prepared (hopefully she did not take but it is always better to be safe than sorry) and don't assume that the same thing will happen. if you are aware of what is going on and can provide her with the things she needs she may turn into a wonderful mother, I would assume this first time was stress related.
http://www.islandgems.net/bunbreeding.html
http://www.welshrabbitry.com/birth.html

Good Luck
Amy