wild rabbit question

Question
I am hoping you can help me with a question about 2 wild rabbits that we have.  We rescued them as babies and they are now 2 years old.  We thought they were both males but recently noticed a huge difference and now believe we have a brother and sister.  They are both kept indoors and have their own bedroom.  They have never acted like they wanted to mate with each other until just the last month and the male is more aggressive.  We have them separated now for fear of a pregnancy and am hoping it is not too late.  If the female is in fact pregnant, any suggestions on what we should do with the babies?  We cannot fathom taking care of any more and are very much against killing them or anything like that.  Would they survive outdoors after they are weaned from the mom?  Any help would be much appreciated.

Answer
Hi Diana,

she is probably pregnant, the way rabbit pregnancies work.

They probably will not survive out in the wild as they will not learn any skills from their domesticated parents.  It is a death sentence to send domesticated rabbits into the wild.  They have none of the survival skills and do not know the area, etc.

The only thing I can think of is getting her spayed now (ending the pregnancies) or hunting down a rabbit rescue or wildlife rehabilitation group that can raise them so that they can learn to survive in the wild.  The downside is that they would be better off having mom's milk and bacteria in their systems.

There is no real easy answer.  Sorry to say.

But in the end, you will need to get her spayed and him neutered.  It will cut down on their hormonal behavior.  It isn't good to only fix one - one will be acting under very strong sex hormones, and one won't.  It's a terrible combination.  

The key is finding a good rabbit vet to ensure they survive the surgeries and that the surgeries go very well.  To find one, start here:

www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html

and find a House Rabbit Society-recommended vet near you.

Write back anytime.  Lee