Yikes!!!

Question
I bought a female rabbit on 16th March (6 weeks ago).  I was told she was 12 weeks old.  I was totally freaked out today when I went to clean her sleeping area out and found a pile of moving fur.  SHE'S GIVEN BIRTH!!! Can I just clarify that I clean my rabbits living areas out every week but, their sleeping/bedding area is always very clean and dry so doesn't get done as often....is this OK?

I am a little confused because she has only been on the lawn once with my buck, under close supervision (didn't want any funny business), for half an hour, about 3 weeks ago and she didn't want anything to do with him.  He just chased her round in circles.

Anyway, I moved some of the bedding and sure enough found a little baby (perhaps not so little) all snuggled up in the nest.  I tried to gently look for other babies but didn't want to disturb it too much as it was jumping around like a nutter as it was.

It has plenty of fur and its eyes are open which I believe makes it at least 10/11 days old.  It was totally freaking out and jumping all over the place  so, I covered it over and shut the door.

Can I handle it? How should I handle it?  Is there any way of knowing how old it is? Although I think it's between 10 and 16 days because I did the last bedding clean out over the easter weekend.  I thought a rabbits gestation period was 4 days, so the rabbit is too old to belong to my buck but not old enough for her to have been pregnant when I bought her.

I wanted bunnies but not until Kim was over 6 months old and I had educated myself on the subject.

Confused and in need of a little guidance?

Thanks

Answer
As long as the bedding is clean and dry, it will not need to be changed. Only soiled bedding needs to be changed.

Unless the rabbits are spayed/neutered, it is not a good idea to let them together, even if they are closely watched. It literally only takes a few seconds for the male to impregnant the female.

If the eyes are open, then yes, it is at least 10 days old. You may handle the baby. Since it is not yet used to being handled, cup it in your hands and keep it from jumping off and hurting itself.

The gestation period for rabbits is about 2 months (4 weeks). 28 to 35 days is normal for a rabbit gestation period. Since the baby could be up to two weeks old, it is quite possible that she had just gotten pregnant. 4 weeks of pregnancy, plus 2 weeks after birth, and that fits very nicely into the fact that you have had her for 6 weeks.

At this point, the baby is pretty well past the dangerous stage. Your doe is obviously a good mother and is feeding the baby, and the baby is healthy if it is jumping around like crazy. So now really all you need to do is make sure the mother has all the food she wants (including all the timothy hay, grass hay, or oat hay she wants), keep fresh foods (veggies and fruits) away from the baby (if you feed them to the mother, hand them to her and make sure she eats it all; it is not really safe for the baby to start eating fresh foods until around 3 months of age), and handle the baby often to socialize it.

Once the baby is 7-8 weeks old, you can remove it from the mother. This is the next dangerous stage for the baby. Make sure it has plenty of hay and that it is not too stressed. Some babies take poorly to the weaning process, and added stress can cause problems.