advice on rabbits and their babies please help!

Question
We have a lovley grey Rex cross Doe called 'Misty'. She is about 6 months old now. We moved house about a month ago just down the road from my Fiance's parents house, who have a white and grey Lop Buck called 'Elvis'. We decided to keep Misty at my fiance's mums til we got settleds in our new house. We put Misty's hutch at the bottom of Elvis's run, just to see how they got on and they seemed to stare longingly at each other and if Misty moved to the other side of her hutch, elvis would move to the same side and they would lay as close to each other as they could.it looked like bunny love at first sight! but i was very reluctant to let them out in the garden together as Misty had not been spayed and i didnt want her to concieve as i know what a handful baby bunnies can be i didnt want to loose Misty if any complications occured. However, i went to work the next day, only to find out that evening that they had been let out in the garden together and yep, you guessed it...
So, a month later, me and my fiance went away for a long weekend, all the while hoping that they didnt mate (as my fiance's mum said that she saw him mount her but she shooed him off after a couple of seconds) only to get a phone call the day before we returned from his mum saying that Misty had had babies but she sure exactly how many as she didnt want to disturb the nest. i was very shocked but a little excited to but i was mostly relieved that misty had survived the birth. We got home, and sure enough, she had made a little nest of grey fur amongst her bedding and we could hear rustling coming from inside. Misty was quite protective, so i didnt want to touch the nest, so i still dont know exactly how many she has had (although we think we have seen at least 2 and they were moving) or if she is feeding them. is it safe after 2/3 days to touch to nest and the babies? i dont want her to disown them or harm them if they have human scent on them but i do want to make sure that they are safe and feeding ok. as these new arrivals are a little unexpected, i feel abit unprepared to deal with it all..and obviously i want to do the best i can and do all the right things, so im madly researching what i need to do next.so please, any advise would be really heplful!
Also, we wanted to get misty spayed then get her a similar age neutered male for company and buy them a new bigger hutch to share. if her babies survive and there is a male in the litter, would it be safe to neuter it when it is old enough and keep it with her for company? or would it be better to find her a male that is not her own offspring?
Eitherway, we will find the babies good homes, however many she has had, as we can't really keep more than 2 rabbits perminantly due to ristricted space. If you could give me any help or advice it would be much appreciated!!
Many thanks!

Answer
Hi Radha,

you should be able to touch the babies and examine the nest.  Handling them a little bit won't make her reject the babies.  Just do so with washed, clean hands.

You probably won't see her feeding them as she will generally do this late evening/early morning.  She will do this only once or twice a day for a short period.  Don't worry if you don't see her nursing.

The best thing to do about the babies is read up on them.  The House Rabbit Society web site (www.rabbit.org) has a number of newborn rabbit articles:

http://www.rabbit.org/care/babies.html

http://www.rabbit.org/adoption/baby-bunnies.html

http://www.rabbit.org/care/newborn.html

They have excellent extensive archives of articles on all aspects of rabbits.

It is good you will get her spayed.  You will prevent this from happening again and you will save her from a premature death from uterine cancer 5-6 years in the future.

You should also seriously consider having ALL offspring fixed to prevent transferring the same problem to the people who may end up with some of the newborns.

There shouldn't be a problem with mom and her boy bunny staying together, as long as you have him neutered.  You need to because it's like having a bunny with a diminshed sex drive paired with one that has raging hormones.  Fighting would ultimately result and both would be stressed and unhappy.

Write back anytime.  Lee