new born bunnies agian

Question
"hey, today i got another new born bunnies their are 5. but exactly 1 month ago i got 2 new born bunnies. so my ? is will the 2 one month old bunnies hurt the new born if their in the same room? i know the father wont hurt them actually he's very friendly and caring to them. but i'm concerned about the 2 other ones cause their jumping in their box but i take them out right away cause i'm scared they'll hurt them."

Answer
Hello Sara

As much as you like having the mom and dad together you need to remove the dad immediately.  He will need to be neutered if you want to keep them together.  The problem is that a rabbit is extremely fertile right after she gives birth.  This is why you now have a double litter.  If she has been with the dad all day or any time after the birth of the second litter then you should expect a 3rd litter in another 30 days.

A rabbit should not be having babies every 30 days.  They do in the wild because that is how they ensure the survival of their species.  Wild rabbits only live around 1 and rarely to 2 years old.  You certainly don't want your precious pet to only live to be 2 years old.  Each consecutive litter she has without a proper rest period in between (2 full months without kits) takes precious time off of her life.

Ok now as for what you need to do.  Take the nest box with the new babies right out of the cage.  Keep it in the house in a safe place.  Take the box to the mom once early in the morning and once in the evening.  Stay with her until she nurses the newborns.  Once she has nursed them then take them back in the house and into a safe place.  Make sure they are in a place where they can't be eaten by cats, dogs, rats etc.

You are supposed to keep all babies with their mother until they are 8 weeks old.  In these cases you often have to wean the older babies at 7 weeks.  As long as they are all eating and drinking on their own they can be taken away at 7 weeks (at the very earliest).  Once the wee one's start bouncing around and trying to crawl in and out of their box they will need to be put back in with their mother full time.  There is no way you will be able to keep them from escaping from the nest box after a few week time period.  At this point hopefully the older babies will be able to be weaned.

Sadly people don't realize that unspayed and unneutered rabbits should not live together.  Even if you are a rabbit breeder and you have show rabbits, meat rabbits etc, this should never be done.  Honestly you should have both the doe and the buck fixed but at the very least you need to have the buck fixed or separate him.  The separation could be traumatizing for them as they are probably already bonded.

I am attaching a web-site that explains why un-fixed rabbits should never be kept together.  It also explains how to properly bond them after they have been fixed.

http://www.hgrabbitry.com/frequentlyaskeds.htm

go to the section that states 'how to bond my bunnies'.

If you need any further help please let me know.

Good luck with the new babies.

Pam

Here is the proper link to bonding bunnies.  Sorry my server was not working a few minutes ago

http://www.hgrabbitry.com/howtobondmybunnies.htm