HELP URGENTLY NEEDED!!!

[mummymadness]

Here is a few my issue! My partner and i had a few rabbits which we kept in a large hutch. As we have a jack russell dog we become concerned that his barking would annoy our neighbours, the rabbits and of course was driving us mad!!! So we thought of a brilliant way to convert an old shed with concrete flooring into a large penn, cut a door way in the side to lead to an enclosed outdoor area which gave heaps of running room and was protected with wire over the top and shade cloth. Was woking fantastic!! A few more rabbits later we suddenly had a problem when a couple started digging and turned out to be pregnant. (Trouble with adopting full grown rabbits that are already pregnant without knowing!!) We know they were pregnant cause low and behold one morning there was hair everywhere.... So here's the tricky part.... We have attempted to dig up the rabbit warren as it runs under the fence line into the neighbours yard to find it is much longer than we anticipated. I am trying to refrain from approaching my 94 year old neighbour (who is by the way an ex farmer and not a big fan of rabbits...very sweet and lonely man though so he might not mind....!) instead we are trying to work out how to get to them.... Not going so good so far and am starting to have nightmares that my rabbits babies are going to take over our street and start an epidemic in our town... Anyone got any ideas?? Hoping they will come out by themselves but this seems un likely as i think the two does are tunneling further each night as we located one nest but this was empty.... Tomorrow we are starting building on a couple of large hutches and getting a muzzle for the dog in an attempt to train him into not barking...Any suggestions how to get to the babies safely without harming them would be appreciated!
Thanks!!!

Misty

 

[HappyFarmBunnies]

If you're trying to dig after them into the warren, chances are you're right--they're moving their nests further and further away to get away from the perceived threat. At this point, I think the best thing to do is just wait it out. Keep a sharp eye out and start trying to capture them safely once they start venturing up above ground around 4-8 weeks.

If you have rabbits living in a colony like this, though, you will ALWAYS be dealing with this problem as they will ALWAYS be getting pregnant, every 31 days or so. You must either separate bucks and does, or get them all spayed and neutered if you want to avoid this. Otherwise you really will have a "rabbit epidemic" on your hands.

 

[LakeCondo]

I'd be concerned they might create a "back door" in your neighbor's yard & he will have them all over the place. So I think it'd be wise to tell him about the problem. If you had his permission to dig along the lot line on his side, that would at least encourage the does to tunnel further into YOUR yard.

 

[mummymadness]

Thanks for that but problem solved. I spoke to my neightbour who was fine and let me dig them out. Have never had a problem until i got the two does i spoke of (they were pregnant without knowing when i adoped them.) I actually only keep does myself and apart from a scatch in the dirt have never had any others burrow...