two femle rabbits, one crying

Question
Mr. Meyer-
 We have two rabbits which we believe to be female (we are unsure as we sexed them ourselves), and they have lived together everyday since we got them 5 months ago. We believe that they are the same age and may even be related, but are unsure as they were a prize at a county fair.
 A couple of weeks ago, our black one began exerting her dominance over the tan one, though their roles can change. A little more than a week ago, we gave them a bigger hutch; it has three times as much space now than it did before and they seem to enjoy it. Ever since they have been in the new cage, however, the black rabbit has been humping the tan one with much greater frequency, and it has extended from only occurring in the cage, to a constant race around the living room when they are let out to play.
 Two days ago, our tan rabbit began to whimper and cry when the black rabbit comes near her or when we try to pet her or approach her. She used to be aggressive towards us and dislike being held by people, but now when we are able to pick her up, she appears to enjoy cuddling. According to the information I have researched, it seems like she is going through a false pregnancy. Since there are no extra genitals on either rabbit, is it safe to believe that they are both female? Can a false pregnancy be brought on by one female mounting the other? We have looked into getting them spayed, however no vets in our area are willing to perform this operation on our female rabbits. What possible explanations could there be for our tan rabbit's behavior? Thank you!

Answer
I think your first order of business would be to take both in to a good rabbit vet for an annual checkup, and they can also confirm the sex of both while you are there.

If she now enjoys being held and cuddled by you, she is not going through a false pregnancy (or a real one either).  Female rabbits don't want anyone to touch them or pick them up when they are pregnant.

Her behavior is this: she enjoys your attention and care because you guys (the alpha rabbits) are taking care of her and protecting her from her cage mate, who is also dominant over her.

From the black rabbits' behavior, generally speaking, male rabbits do a lot of chasing outside a cage.  They both can, but usually it's a hormonal male.  Especially if it never really seems to stop very long.  Even if a female does this, it won't be constantly.

Which brings me to think you may have a boy.  They have the ability to bring their testicles up into their body if they want so you might not notice a little 'package' when he comes running by.

So either she is not pregnant and feels safe with you picking her up (away from other bunny), or she is pregnant and would rather you pick her up than have the male in the same cage, wanting to mount all the time.

But you at least need to go to a vet to have them sexed properly if you are unsure doing it yourself.  If they are opposite sexes, you need to keep them in separate cages until they are altered.  You may need to even if they are the same sex if the tan rabbit is always under a lot of stress and can't get a little peace.

I would suggest going to the House Rabbit Society web site (www.rabbit.org) and go here:

www.rabbit.org/care/vets.html

and see if you can find a House Rabbit Society-recommended vet in your area.  If you can't find one near you, I'd call up a number of vets or shelters and ask them where they'd go if they had a rabbit that needed an operation.

Lee