I’m 15 and my two rabbits had babies there’s around 6-7, both my mom and her ex boyfriend are suggesting I set them out into the wild. I of course don’t want to do that because I want to take care of them. I want to find them a home. Is finding them a home better for them? Or will they be better off in the wild? My mom says it would make them happier and give them freedom but obviously I’m scared and worried. By the time they are 8 weeks I wanted to find a job so I could get money to take care of them myself but my mom thinks it’s stupid. Please reply with what you think is the best option.
Hi.
Firstly immediately separate male from female and her babies. Otherwise he can hurt them and also she can get pregnant same day after giving birth so you will have more babies in 31 day. That would be very difficult for her as she will be still feeding so needs to produce milk and here's another litter, she will be very exhausted and can get sick and die, also old babies will be 4 weeks and will need milk and new babies won't get enough milk so that would be a very difficult situation for all of you.
Babies should stay with their mother until they are at least 6 weeks old (normally until 8 weeks) because they will die if they don't get her milk and they need to stay warm in their nest. If she doesn't have nestbox you can give her some cardboard box stuff with hay and put her fur and where they are on top. If you could post some photo we can advise on how to deal with it and how to make a nest etc.
Rabbits are very good mothers and she will take care of them, you need to provide safe place for her and extra food so she needs to produce lots of milk to feed the babies. She will feed them once or twice a day, usually at night or early morning when no one's watching, first few days you can check them every morning to see if their bellies are full. If not you need to give her some extra food, rolled oats, lots of water, and avoid stress.
By day 10 they should have some fur on them and will open their eyes and will start hopping out of nest. They will start nibbling on hay by week 2 and also some mother's food, but their main food is mother's milk until they are 6-8 weeks.
If you let them into wild now they will die, also their chances won't be high if they are still very young. As suggested you can contact your local rescues and explain your situation they might be able to help you maybe they can take mother with babies and raise them if you feel you won't be able to make it but as I said mother is taking good care of them normally so you just need to take care of her and any question you can ask here, post some pics and we can walk you through it.
If babies survived by week 6 you can start looking for new homes for them, since you are still young and don't have your own income I would suggest to contact a few rescues they might be able to help you with finding new homes for them as well. Remember, babies need to stay with their mother until they are 8 weeks old, in emergency cases until 6 weeks.
That would be great if you can get a job and be able to take care of all of them, but even for now when they are still under 8 weeks they can stay with their mother you don't need extra room for them just more food and hay they will start eating a lot of dry rabbit food from week 4, they will need that to get protein and calcium so you will have to feed them 4-6 times a day, and maybe tell us what food you feed her now maybe you'd need to get food with 16% protein and higher calcium.
