At what age should baby dutch rabbits be separated?

[kinui]

Hi all

I’m currently fostering a mama dutch rabbit and her six babies (I had mama while she was still pregnant). They were born July 9 and so are about 2 months, 1 week old. There are 3 boys and 3 girls. I have them setup in a large walk-in closet. However, one of the boys has started humping. Looking at him, he’s the only boy whose penis looks similar to an adult rabbit’s, the other two still look underdeveloped. At what age can boys start breeding? At what age can girls get pregnant? Should I completely separate the boys and girls now, or should I just separate the mama? Or do I have to bother at all?

Right now, I’ve just separated the boy who’s been humping (and another boy for company) into a smaller cage. I really don’t want to separate them yet – not only is it going to make housing more inconvenient  but they all just love each other  .

Help?

[Tessie]

Awwww, how cute are they?!

You may get a few mixed opinions on this one, as puberty varies for individual buns. You’ve said they were born on the 9th of July, which makes them 10 weeks old.

On the one hand, they may not hit sexual maturity for another month … on the other hand, it could hit in a week or so.
Babies aren’t the only thing to worry about either, because as they hit puberty they’ll start to fight!

I’d always say better safe than sorry, so if it were me I’d start thinking about separating them soon. Bear in mind that they’ll all need individual cages, because you don’t want fighting or babies, and sexing young bunnies can be impossible.
I assume you’ll need a bit of time to work out where they’re all going to live anyway, so yeah, if it were me I’d start planning it out and separate them as soon as you’re able.

[Stickerbunny]

10 weeks with humping already happening, I would say separate ASAP. You don’t want multiple oops litters on your hands.

[litheandgraphic]

OH MYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY. As a Dutch enthusiast, this is TOO cute for me to handle.

[MoxieMeadows]

Those babies are adorable.
I would seporate them ASAP.

[LBJ10]

I agree with everyone else. They are getting close and it is hard to know exactly when they will become sexually mature (varies from bunny to bunny). It’s better to be safe than sorry.

[kinui]

Okay, well I’ve separated all the boys into a smaller cage for now until I have time to figure out how I’m gonna divide the closet. They’ve shown no interested in fighting and are still very happy to snuggle with each other. Dividing everyone into separate cages is going to be impossible for now (and my babies are NOT staying in “cages” so long as I have the option). I’m fostering them for the SPCA I work at and I pretty much have them until they get fixed at around 4 months, so I’m gonna have to figure something out :/ . At what age do they generally start fighting?

And for you to coo over, here they are at 3 days old:

[Stickerbunny]

Fighting may not happen until their hormones really kick in, around 4-6 months, or it may never happen… or it could happen soon, if they are reaching maturity. Just depends really on the buns. Hopefully they’ll stay peaceful until they are spayed/neutered.

[kinui]

I hope so! It would break my heart to see them fight. They all love each other so <3 Separating any of them at all is hard enough.

[LongEaredLions]

Adorable bunnies!
Because we don’t want to start discussions of intentional breeding, baby pictures are usually not allowed in our forums. However, because you are fostering for the SPCA, these photos are fine, as stated in this exception in the rules:

You are a foster, volunteer, or work for a certified rescue/shelter. Post in the Rescue Section only and provide the shelter name & link to the shelter in your first post. Keep updates to a single thread.

Because of this, I am going to move this to the Rescue Efforts for Shelters forum. Please keep all updates on these cuties there.

[Author]

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