The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Smallholding => Wildlife => Topic started by: Herdygirl on March 14, 2012, 12:49:07 pm
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I know that rabbits can be pests but in the last week i have found 3 bunnies with mixy (not sure of spelling). took them to vet to be put to sleep. horrible desease and according to the vet and local rspca inspector it is on the increase.
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I can remember as a very young child helping my brother to dispose of a mixy rabbit - horrible but necessary.
I understand that the disease had become less prevalent for two reasons: the first is that the rabbits had become more resistant to it (in that those with resistance survived and passed on the resistance to their offspring), and the second is that they had changed their behaviour so that more lived above ground like hares, where disease spread is less likely.
In the nature of things perhaps the rabbits have gone back to their burrows, or perhaps myxamatosis itself has evolved a bit so previously resistant animals are now susceptible again :bunny: Certainly rabbit numbers have increased dramatically in recent years.
Whereabouts are you herdygirl?
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My mum remembers cycling about as a child when myxi had just been introduced - she said there were heaps of dead rabbits by the roadsides :-\ It's a horrid disease. Rabbit numbers do need controlling but I just wish it weren't so rotten :-\
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And the smell :o A number of years ago when mixy was bad in Norfolk and the summer was very hot, the whole county smelt overwhelmingly of decomp. The numbers soon bounce back. I suspect that the thing with the causative organism mutating to become effective again, then the rabbits developing immunity is a cycle which will go on for years, a bit like human 'flu.
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Its the only time my neighbour gets out his air rifle - when the badly infected rabbits come crashing into the garden, its a kindness in truth. :(
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It comes in waves, about every five years here. I'm not a great lover of rabbits, except to eat, but hate to see them suffer from this horrible disease. If you can't bring yourself, or don't know how to break their necks, then take them by the hind legs and hit their head and neck HARD against a fence post or similar. PLEASE don't look away and pass by, your momentary horror will save them days of suffering :( :(
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I had to do that once with a hare which had been run over across its back, on the A9. A life lesson for my kids who were watching from the car, and pretty horrible to do, but as you say, you can't pass by on the other side of the road. The poor thing was still trying to run with its front end :'( but a quick clean kill was mercy.
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It is a slow callus death this disease. Best humanely destroyed as soon as the little blighters are found.
Highly contagious so vaccinate your pet bunnies against it if living in a myxy area. They very rarely survive even with treatment.
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We keep a CO2 air pistol for the purpose
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As an animal addict, as a child I brought back a mixy rabbit from the waste ground out the back of my house - think I was 10 - so happy to cuddle a rabbit, my Mum had a fit!! Dad killed it and explained all about mixy - hated the disease from then. I know they need to be kept under control but a horrid disease like that is "just no right"
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Absolutely hate this disease. I am a rabbit lover, have had rescue rabbits for many years. You can imagine how it distresses me. Thankfully my other half is far more pragmatic / less emotional than me, so if I ever were to come across a myxi rabbit, he will end it's life for me. Although once I deliberately ran over one with the wheel of my car - it was the best I could bring myself to do and I still have nightmares thinking about it.
My vet tells me it is a vector borne disease and increases when we have had a run of warm damp weather - more midges etc about. So if you have pet rabbits, do make sure they're vaccinated.
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tree farmer stop having nightmares have happy thoughts and keep practising your driving skills i use cans on the road and get them with the wheels this does come in handy for all sorts of vermin that take the chance of using my road space once ran over a crow that was stuck to the road by its feet much to the annoyance of the idiot that was trying to save it in heavy traffic have another crow story but wont post on here :farmer:
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Robert sometimes you crack me up!! ;D ;D
On a more serious note i had my rabbit vaccinated ( OH thought i had a severe rush of blood to the head,only good rabbit is one you put in the pot) and the bloody thing still got myxi! Apparently its viral, so changes every year just like the common cold so vaccinating will only give bunny limited cover.
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WE had it round here a couple of years ago, kept having to finish the poor things off, one morning I looked out and saw one in the lane, still alive, by the time i was dressed, looked out and someone with a jack Russell was letting it 'play', shaking it, by the time I got there it was dead, and just left in the lane, annoyed but saved me a job.
hundreds of baby rabbits about just now, no doubt we'll be having to do the deed again soon.
Pity many people of this country think they are above eating rabbit, or class it as cruel, more control as a 'crop' woud be best all round. (IMHO of course :) )
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As a ferret er I see lots of rabbits and this disease is horrible, I have seen hole populations wiped out and never recovering and places where they get it every year but bounce back as strong as ever. I know that some landowners deliberately put a mixy rabbit down as I have in the past been asked if I could supply one. I of coarse would no do this I always bury the carcase of effected bunnies to help stop the flies passing on the disease.
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we have just had our first "Mixy" rabbit, sitting in the field, with the sheep, sat there for ages, hubby went to investigate why it was not moving and said it had gone blind and had mixy so it was dispatched, my question is how are you supposed to dispose of them??
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We have an arrangement with the local fox population...
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Thanks Small Farmer - i was hoping that was going to be the answer :)
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Mixy is a horrible disease and I still find it shocking that people would deliberately release something like that :( We had one in the garden here a few days after we moved in; tried to catch it to kill it but it managed to escape, after running headfirst into a tree and breaking its nose first :( It was horrific and it was awful that we couldn't help it, just ended up making it worse :(
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Myxomatosis is caused by the myxoma virus, a type of pox virus that only affects rabbits. It was first Discovered in 1896 in Uruguay and was imported to Australia for rabbit control where the rabbits were stripping field and field bare of crops.
Initially introduce my Ministry of Food in the 50's to control the UK populations that were starting to do the same as the ozzie ones the minstry used b;lack rabbits to spread the disease and the y asked thast farmers would not shoot the black ones because of this .
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It is spread mainly by biting insects such as mozzies and rabbit fleas.
vaccinating them is not a sure way of protection especially in the first few days after vaccination or a year or so down the line.
good hygine in the hutch and coveing the hutch front with a heavy sack at night do seem to help keep the mozzzies away
foxes usually get the rabbits well before their eyes totaly close , you can eat myxi rabbits if skinned and de headed. The swellijngs on the eyes , mouth bum and sex organ area are superficial though once they get infected open sores it's best to avoid them .
If you see a well infected rabbit with totally closed eyes approach it quitely .. they might not be able to see but they can hear , smell and feel vibrations .
Depending upon the time of year and the stage of pregnancy , an in kindle doe can pass on antibodies that repel the myxi and this is passed onto subsequent off spring from surviving females of her line.. This immunity weakens over several generations and the new rabbits then get hit by the cycle again.
The cycle is not evenly spread all ove the UK at the same time it flares up in little pockets and spreads outwards.
There is an even bigger threat to wild and domestic rabbits called the calci virus , VHD or RHD ... not much survives that , againit runs in waves and outbreaks . Yet we still have a massive rabbit problem in the UK despite the attentions of foxes and birds of prey whch are also on the increase..