Mother and baby?

[sideske]

So we found a stray rabbit a month and a half ago.  Never thought she might be pregnant, but on 1/21/16, she gave birth to 9 surprise kits!  The babies are about to turn 5 weeks old and have homes with acquaintances lined up for when they are old enough to leave mom.  My S/O wants to keep his favorite baby.. we don’t know sex of the babies yet b/c they still are pretty young and they all still look the same to us lol.  Will it be okay to keep one baby with mom?  We plan on spaying mom in the next month or so when we can make an appt.  Baby will be spayed/neutered when he/she is old enough.  Does it matter if baby is a boy or a girl as far as bonding goes?  Or will they automatically bond since they are mother and child?  Mother and babies all seem to have super sweet, friendly temperaments… they will snuggle up with each other and always rush to greet us when we enter the room.  I haven’t been able to find much about this online, so hopefully someone on here has some insight/has been in a similar situation.

[Azerane]

As a general rule, female and male bonds tend to be the easiest, however I have read of many female, female mother and baby bonds that work out well. That being said, either a male or female baby has the potential to not bond with your current rabbit, mother/kit bonds are not automatic. They are all snuggly now, but all rabbit kits are. When they start to mature they start to develop their adult personalities, so may not end up getting along with your female. It’s usually advised to separate the kit from mum before reaching puberty to avoid any potential fighting. You can keep them in cages next to each other so that they are still acquainted with one another but it can prevent any unfortunate incidents. Separation is recommended until 1 month after both have been spayed/neutered to allow time for the hormones to leave their systems. Then you can start bonding by introducing them in a neutral area.

If you keep a male kit, you will definitely need to separate before neutering and bonding, it’s also recommended with a female kit as mentioned, but I have known people who have simply kept a female kit with the mother and had them spayed when it was time and haven’t had any problems. However you do need to be prepared that things don’t always go smoothly.

[drwil]

There is no reason why they would be less likely to bond than unrelated rabbits. Remember it is natural for the mother to chase the babies off about 2.5-3 months after their birth.

I do not know if a spayed female will do this, but that is what they do in the wild.

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