rabbits with babbies

Question
hello i am wondering if you can help me i have a six and a half month old British giant. yesterday i opened up bumbles cage 2 give her a clean, and to my surprise she had given birth. a month ago she got into my neighbors garden she has a British giant also. i was very quick to rescue her from the garden, and didn't actually see anything happen. well, i am a little concerned she is still very young. she is bald on her chest as she pulled her fur out to make a nest. she seems to be content. should i be worried with her being so young? bumble is very well loved. she is eating and drinking well. i haven't checked the babies at all as i no you are not ment.i have also kept my children away, she seems relaxed. could you just give me whatever advice you can offer. thanks
charlotte.

Answer
Hi Charlotte

Well that is a pleasant surprise.  You can check the babies.  Bumbles is used to you and she trusts you.  You feed her every day and you love her.  You should really check the babies and make sure they are all alive and well.  You will want to check them every day to make sure they don't get hair wrapped around them or they don't get tangled.  If Bumbles doesn't have some sort of box in there you might want to consider putting in a box made out of untreated wood.  You can line the box with newspaper and then put some aspen chips and hay in there.  You would then want to pick up the whole nest and place all the fur and the babies in the nesting box.  After they are all cozy and secure you want to put the whole box in the same spot she had the nest.  I don't know how big British giants are since we don't have that breed here.  Just make sure that the box is big enough for her to turn around in but not more than 2 or 3 inches on each side of her.  This will keep her from sitting in the box or sitting on her babies by accident.

She sounds like she is doing quite well.  The most important thing you can do is make sure she gets free fed as much pellets as she wants.  Make sure she has an abundant amount of fresh timothy hay.  Once the babies start moving around you don't want to give her any veggies or treats while she is in the cage with them.  They should only be fed pellets and hay until they are about 5 - 6 months old.  Once they reach adult age you can start giving them veggies a little bit at a time.

Ms. Dana Krempels Ph.D. has an excellent web-page on surprise litters.  If you read through it you may find it very useful.

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/surpriselitter.html

Good luck and if you have any further questions please let me know.

Pam