another litter

Question
my doe had 8 kits 4 weeks ago which are all doing well. i have been putting mum in with them on a night as i don't know if they still need a feed from her. however last night she wouldn't let me put her in with them so i left her only to find 3 and half new kits this morning. (i have since removed the half. there was just a fully formed head). im now wondering if the 4 week olds will be ok with out her and if she will now to go and feed the new babies as they cant go to her as the older ones do. she has made a small nest for them but nothing like the one she did with the 8 kits. please let me know what i should do and if you think all will be well?

kind regards

jodi

Answer
Dear Jodi,

First, you must separate the male from mama immediately.  As you have just learned the hard way, a male rabbit can impregnate a female within minutes of her giving birth.  Since rabbit gestation is only 28-31 days, this means her first litter will not be weaned by the time she gives birth to the second.  Even if the month old babies are eating solid food, they need her milk to prevent fatal intestinal infections, since they are only now exposing themselves to foreign bacteria and developing an intestinal flora of their own.

Please read:

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

and do allow *both* litters to feed from mama.  You may have to put her with one litter at a time to facilitate this, and note that mama usually will feed twice a day.  It's best to allow her two nest boxes so she can go to both litters when she knows her milk is ready.

Because there are now so many babies of disparate sizes, you may have to provide supplemental feeding to some of the smaller ones.  Instructions for this can be found here:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/orphan.html

But now's the time to have papa neutered so that by the time mama gives birth *again* he will be unable to get her pregnant again.  Please read this:

www.rabbit.org/health/spay.html

Mama may have been so stressed by the early arrival of a second litter that she overgroomed one or more of them to death.  It is not her fault, and she was not doing it out of maliciousness.  But I hope the articles above will help you set her up in a peaceful situation where she can raise her babies without undue stress.

I hope this helps, and that all the babies make it to healthy adulthood with a little help and supervision from you.

Dana