rabbits and fleas

eoinkildare

went out last night with the lamp and the .22.
got myself a few rabbits and had a nice oul walk on such a mild night.. one of the rabbits was crawling with fleas though. way more than any i've noticed before. is this a sign of mixy perhaps and is it a warning to dump that particular rabbit?
also, is it worth baiting a field with rabbits to attract foxes?

bitemybanger

thankfully mixamatosis is fairly rare arount my parts now but it used to be rife, almost all the bunnies i have shot with clear symptoms of the diasese had beed crawling with fleas and ticks so i disposed of them by burning them,
an the other hand there will be fleas in alot of rabbits but not of epedemic numbers. its a horrible diasese and infected rabbits that are shot should be handled and disposed of carefully.

eoinkildare

can the mixy transfer to humans? i presume the fleas can!

bunny shooter

eoinkildare wrote: »

can the mixy transfer to humans? i presume the fleas can!

No, and even if you eat a mixy rabbit the worst you'll get is a dose of the trots and an upset stomach

openseason

my advice would be to leave the rabbits that you shot in a branch or other out of the way place an collect them later , the cooling down should make the fleas move on to find another animal to live off , with rats i burn the corpses when their still warm and 'floppy' so destroying the fleas as well , i suppose at this time of year the rabbits spend a lot of time underground with each other and you get infestations of these parasites , hope this helps

eoinkildare

openseason, have you tried that and does it actually work?

bitemybanger

Fleas can transfer the diasese too so i would put infected rabbits into a bag for later disposal. You can get alot more than a dose of the trotts from eating an infected rabbit.
As for rats, if you shoot one or trap one, burn it, dont bury it, weils diasease is highly contageous and serious. i used to trap rats around my uncles farm when i was a wee lad, we used to burn them in a 50 gallon drumm with other rubbish at the end of the feild.

bunny shooter

bitemybanger wrote: »

You can get alot more than a dose of the trotts from eating an infected rabbit.

Not from a rabbit soley infected with mixy

bitemybanger

bunny shooter wrote: »

Not from a rabbit soley infected with mixy

Well i wont be trying it anyway, imagine.. mixy bunny burgers:D
on top of the sh1ts, severe stomach cramps that come hand in hand with the pooh's, well for me anyway

meathstevie

Mixy is harmless for humans. There's even an old fella around here who used to eat them regularly. He found the rabbits were getting "hard slow". Mind you, he's the sort of lad who'd call a steak with the maggots falling out of it a bit ripe.

As for the fleas : once the body temp starts dropping they pack their bags.

eoinkildare

to tell you's the truth, its the fleas im more worried about!! kept two rabbits in the boot of the car from the last night as i was to drop them to a field to bait it for foxes. the fleas were all over the boot. i wonder how long they live for without a meal and how much they like human blood. im itching just at the thought of it. hopefully a good long bath before bed sorts me out!
eoin

Mac Tire

i'd spray the boot with fly killer, a flea will have the same exo skeleton as a fly (bones on the outside) and it clogs the holes (spiracles) through which they breathe, conculsion = no more itching!!!

eoinkildare

can i just point out that i dont have fleas, im just itching at the thought of it!!!!!! thanks though

foxshooter243

rabbit fleas wont move to a human....

eoinkildare

i hope you're right otherwise my girlfriend will never forgive me!!!

foxshooter243

afaik-they will bite you but then they go-they wont stay on you-remember reading about it in an english shooting magazine..