In the Czech Republic, the majority of rabbits (94%, i.e., 4.99 million individuals) are kept in small-scale husbandry systems. Despite their prevalence, rabbit welfare under these conditions remains largely unexplored, prompting us to investigate it. This contribution presents preliminary results focusing on the occurrence of problems in maternal behaviour of female rabbits. An online questionnaire, designed according to the Five Domains model (nutrition, environment, health, behavioural interactions, mental state; Mellor et al.), has so far been completed by 170 keepers, 151 of whom (88.8%) breed rabbits. The variables examined included the occurrence of maternal behavioural problems (lack of interest in nest building, aggression toward offspring, etc.) and mortality of kits as well as culling of females associated with maternal care issues. We also collected information on herd size, housing conditions, environmental enrichment, and targeted socialisation with humans. At this stage, data were analysed using chi-square tests in SAS 9.4. Maternal behavioural problems were reported by 48.3% of rabbit breeders, regardless of breeding intensity (number of litters per year) or herd size. The most frequently reported problems were litters outside the nest (18.5%), nest destruction (15.9%), lack of interest in the nest (15.9%), maternal infanticide (15.2%), and nursing problems (9.9%). However, respondents‘ answers revealed inconsistencies-for example, nearly one-third of breeders who reported kit mortality due to nest abandonment by the mother in the same questionnaire did not perceive these issues as problems of maternal behaviour (N = 17). Nevertheless, 47.0% of respondents listed inadequate maternal behaviour as one of the reasons for culling females. Exploratory analyses indicated that both the occurrence of maternal problems and kit mortality were lower in females exposed to targeted human contact (41.8% vs. 60.4%, P = 0.03; 32.7% vs. 49.0%, P < 0.05). Kit mortality was also 15% lower in enriched environments (P = 0.02). Due to the interrelatedness of the factors studied, we are not yet able to provide more detailed analyses at the time of writing this abstract. However, given the frequency of maternal behavioural problems and the clear associations between these problems, kit mortality, and the culling of females, the direct consequences of inadequate maternal behaviour for breeding outcomes-and thus the importance of understanding maternal behavioural issues and identifying influential factors-are already evident. The positive effects of human contact highlight the significance of socialisation in preventing maternal behavioural problems.