kits, mom & dad

Question
I recently rescued a male and female pair of English Spot bunnies
that
had been turned loose in the wilderness. After ten days the female
gave birth to four little ones, all of whom have survived (now 6
weeks). When the female began nesting, I removed the male to an
enclosure next to her and have since had him neutered.
The female will be getting spayed on 1/2/08, when the little ones are
7 weeks.
My question is this: how can I introduce mom and the kids back to dad
so that I can maintain a true family (warren) of bunnies? I've
recently seen the female lunge at the male (in the other enclosure
next to her) with her tail straight out behind her and am now
concerned that getting her back with him might be an issue but she does prefer to lounge/rest stretched out along the enclosure next to his (note: I
have no experience/success with bonding although I have read
articles, etc on the process).  Both parents were in the wild for about 4 to 6 months and are not very human friendly although the female is better than the male.


Answer
Dear Erika,

Thank you for rescuing the bunnies and giving them a wonderful home.  (People who turn rabbits out into the wild to "fend for themselves" should be subjected to the same treatment.)

It's good that the male is physically separated from the female, since by now you'd know if he'd been able to impregnate her again.  It's possible she's having a false pregnancy, which could explain her grumpiness to the male's presence.  But she likes him if she's lying by the barrier to be close.

Before you'll have any success at re-bonding them, you'll need to have her spayed.  It might be best to wait for another couple of weeks, when the babies are fully weaned and she's recovered from the pregnancy.  You can find a good rabbit vet to do the spay here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

and then, once she's had a week or so to recover, start the bonding procedures you've already read about, as well as the ones here, if you haven't already seen them:

http://search.atomz.com/search/?sp-a=00062824-sp00000000&sp-q=bonding&user=enter...

It could take patience and time, since this is now a big group of rabbits.  They'll need LOTS of space so they don't "get in each other's faces", which can foment fights.  A big group like this needs space to have privacy and to not invade each other's territories and personal space, so that's going to be the main issue.  I think for six bunnies, you'd ideally have a space that's at least 10' x 15' (a large room with plenty of boxes and toys and things to hide in would be perfect).  The bigger the area, the better the chances for bonding to happen naturally and gradually without fighting (which you should never allow).

Hope this helps get you started.

Dana