Pet Information > ASK Experts > Exotic Pets > Rabbits > Will males help take care of the babies

Will males help take care of the babies

22 10:45:04

Question
Please Help?

I recently bought another lion head bunny that is a buck and 4 months old. I already had a doe that is 7 months old.
They mated.  I called the pet store owner and asked if the male could remain in the same cage as the babbies when they are born  she said yes.
I love my rabbits dearly and wanted to find out whats best for both buck doe and kits. Now i am seeing that it may not be wise to house male and female parents together with babbies because the male will eat them?
On another web site it says that they will only be eaten if the male is under stressed.  So i am very very confused and wondering if i need to have a new pen made for the male.
Right now the male and female even after mating are getting along wonderfully.  So please help the bottom line is Can i expect the buck to kill his offspring or will he help the doe care for them?

Answer
Hi Janene

It is really not a good idea to keep the male in the cage with the babies.  It is also never a good idea to listen to anything anyone from a pet store tells you because frankly they don't usually know anything about animals.

The male won't eat the babies but he may stomp on them.  The mother may eat them if she feels the male is a threat.  She may not take care of them.  The number one reason you don't want to keep them together is because she can become pregnant again within minutes after delivering the babies.  Then you are going to have another litter in 4 weeks and she is going to have 2 litters at the same time.  The first litter can't be weaned until 8 weeks and she will be nursing new borns and 4 week old kits at the same time.  This will cause her tremendous stress and it will shorten her life span.  Not to mention you are going to end up with hundreds of baby rabbits and not have anything to do with them.

If you want to keep the male and female together then my suggestion is to have another house built for him now.  While she is nursing her babies then take him and have him neutered.  While he is recovering she will be taking care of her babies.  When all of her babies are weaned then you can re-bond them and they can live happily ever after without anymore accidental pregnancies.

Good luck with the babies.  If you need anything else please let me know.

Sincerely,

Pam