surprise baby rabbits one month after the first litter!

Question
my rabbit gave birth to 6 babys 4 weeks ago all are doing fine but last night my rabbit had a litter again is it ok to leave the older ones with her can see feed them all will the older ones harm the babys or will i move them

Answer
Dear Peter,

As you've learned the hard way, the male can impregnate a doe within minutes of birth, and that's just what happened with your bunny.  This puts a major toll on all her systems, and is very stressful, so I hope you have removed the male (before the birth of this last litter), or she is likely already pregnant again!  Please read this right away:

www.rabbit.org/health/spay.html

and have the male neutered NOW so that by the time your girl could be impregnated again, he won't be able to inseminate her.  Nursing *two* litters is bad enough for her, but *three* in rapid succession could actually do her tremendous physical harm.

You may have to separate the older babies temporarily, and let the little ones suckle first, since they will not be able to compete with their month-old siblings.  Once they've had a go at the milk for a few minutes, then let the older ones have a turn.

You might have to give them supplemental milk, if mama doesn't have sufficient milk to feed them all.  Here are instructions and recipe for formula that I hope will help you get everyone safely grown.

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

Once the babies are all weaned (eight weeks, no sooner), wait a couple of weeks, and then have mama spayed.  Unspayed, unbred females have a very high risk of uterine cancer.  Once she's spayed, you can let the male and female be together (don't separate them completely now--make sure they can see/smell each other, but not mate) without the risk of unwanted surprise litters.

Good luck!

Dana