Pregnant rabbit who already has 4 week old babies

by Nichola
(Plymouth UK)

I bought 2 rabbits and was assured they were female, 4 weeks ago I opened the cage to find a litter of babies, after seeking advice we moved the mum and nest into a hutch indoors separating them from the now buck! All the babies are thriving. This morning day 30 or 31 the female doe went for me on entering the cage and she has started nesting again, she was becoming increasing agitated with her babies as they were jumping into the nest she was making, she started pulling fur from both herself and the babies, I have now removed them from the cage and mum is looking a bit calmer - will the baby rabbits be ok without mum, do they still need her milk even though they are eating hay and pellets?


I need some advice help!!!!

We are not sure if the first litter were born on a Friday or Saturday night as they were first noticed Sunday morning so potentially mum and dad were together for 24 hours after her giving birth :(

Any advice you can give will be most appreciated
Many thanks
xx

***** Karen Sez *****
Yeah, it happens! This page will help you figure out the genders of all your rabbits:

https://www.raising-rabbits.com/sexing-rabbits.html

In the meantime, you did fine to separate the kits, very important. The 4 week old kits will be just fine, and so will the doe. Only thing - extra hay for the 4-week kits to keep their guts healthy as they transition to life without mum, and extra high fat treats for the doe, as she will have to make lots more high-fat milk for the new litter. Feeding whole oats or black oil sunflower seeds (bird seed) will be great - a tablespoon per day. Double that when the new litter is 2 weeks old.

The page with all the links about taking care of the pregnant and lactating doe and her litter are here:

https://www.raising-rabbits.com/breeding-rabbits.html

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Oct 28, 2022
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Rabbit had babies 4 weeks after giving birth
by: Anonymous

My rabbit just had some kits this morning as well. She has 7 4 week old buns as well. I separated the mom and older buns. When is a good time for the 4-week-olds to go to their new homes?? Should I still wait the full 8 weeks?

*****Karen Sez*****
These links will answer your questions at length:

Weaning Rabbits
Weaning Worries

Enjoy your rabbits!
May 08, 2020
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		pregnant female with 4 week olds already
by: Anonymous

I have the same situation. My male escaped his cage somehow and my female is now nesting.

I noticed this morning when I went to feed and give them fresh water, she was taking her head and tossing her 4 weeks old out of her way while she ran around like a chicken with its head cut off with a mouth full of straw looking for a safe place to make a nest. I had another cage all set up already so I placed her immediately in it away from the babies for their safety and she went about building a nest in the corner.

The cage was previously set up for delivering babies. Glad to hear that it's alright for them to be away from mom. I'll make sure they have enough hay and she does as well and already has black oil sunflower seeds. This was very helpful!

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