two litters in 4 weeks

Question
my 5 year old daughter has two rabbits, a male and female. the female gave birth to 6 kits 4 weeks ago, she has been seperated from the male since the day she gave birth (a few hours before she actually had the kits) the 6 kits are all alive and well but i noticed she was building a nest again today and i went to check on them later today and discovered that she has indeed given birth to another litter i am not sure how many as i do not touch the babies until they are a few days old. i am wondering if this is normal that she has given birth again seeing as she has not been with the male since the first litter and if i should take the 4 week old kits of of her cage and put them into another cage, i would hate to see anything happen to either litter as they are my daughters rabbits

Answer
Hi Tabetha

Usually when a rabbit has 2 litters within 4 weeks of each other it is because she was left with the male after she had given birth.  They can essentially get pregnant again the minute they give birth.

Since you took her away before she gave birth then she probably had a double pregnancy.  Rabbits have 2 uterine horns and can have a full litter in each one.  It is very rare for them to have 2 litters at 4 weeks apart but it does happen.  This is part of the reason that we tell people to keep un-neutered bucks away from un-spayed does unless it is for the 2 or 3 minutes it takes them to do their thing.

Keep all the babies together.  The 4 week old babies should not be weaned until they are 8 weeks old.  You can take the nest box inside or in another room and then bring it to the mother twice a day to let her feed them.  They don't need to be right in the cage with her as long as you are bringing them to her twice per day (about 12 hours apart).  This will help them from getting trampled by the older babies.

Good luck and I hope the babies all do well

Pam