Advice on pregnant rabbits

my two female rabbits accidently escaped and unfortunately became pregnant.anyway they are in a huge hutch its about 6"long with 2 stories so will i need to split the two up when they get closer to there dew dates?

they get on really well.a breeder told me that they should be ok if there both due around the same time.but numerous books say that a prgnant doe should be split from the rest of the group?

also how long is it before you can pick the babies up?im only askin this as its the height of summer and i dont want to have to wait ages before i can clean the cages out.

I'd leave them alone until they come out of the nest, usually a couple of weeks,

so will i need to split them up?and when exactly do i split them up,now or a few days before the pregnancy?? no books give me very good advice on these matters:huh:

I have had 2 give birth in the same hutch and it was ok as they seemed to feed all of them regardless of whose babies they were,

But i have also had a mother and daughter that didn't do so well together but after a few days all was ok again and mum and daughter reared 12 babies between them

Personally I'd be cautious and split them up. Chances are they would be fine, but then you really don't want to run the risk of one doe harming the other's babies... It'll give you peace of mind, and them the privacy to do their thing in peace!

As for cleaning them out - baby bunnies grow up fast, but as another poster has suggested you are probably best to leave them until they come out of the nest - a week or two should do it.

You can still clean the rest of the cage though, just leave the nest(s) undisturbed. If the mum's are clean they shouldn't go to the loo in their nests anyway and will probably do some of the work towards keeping the babies clean themselves.

Hope that helps. Rabbits have a very short gestation period so you will probably have your litters soon...

I hope all goes well jody, I tried suggesting to my mum that we take one from you but she's not having any of it...

I'd definately seperate them whilst they give birth, it's just too risky to leave two doe's in together. They're likely to get very territorial and start to take this out one each other/the kittens.