mixy question (1 Viewer)

salty · Sep 16, 2005

i saw lots of rabbits today, in different areas of durham, with mixymatosis (spelling?), anyone give me a little knowledge about this condition?

i understand it is common with rabbits, but how do they suffer, and how long does it take to kick in?

i know it affects the eyes and also seen bad sores around the base of there ears.

Stewart J. · Sep 16, 2005

Spread by flea's I believe, some years worse than others in my area, very slow lingering death, fat head, swollen eye's and scabby ear bases, all easy to see signs. In advanced stages seems to cause deafness as easily approached or maybe they are to miserable to care.

Stewart

lvn600 · Sep 16, 2005

shoot the poor thing

salty · Sep 16, 2005

it is a terrible way to go, the yseem to suffer for a long time.

will raptors, buzzards/red kites aet these when they die? - i doubt they would, and what if there is a real bad outbreak and rabbits suffer a great loss, will this affect our big raptors? - discuss!

delia todd · Sep 16, 2005

Salty, don't know about the raptors eating them - haven't a clue. But the really big outbreak was in the ?50's I think when it was first introduced. You couldn't go anywhere without seeing them. Most seem to be immune, or something from it now.

D

Stewart J. · Sep 17, 2005

salty said:
it is a terrible way to go, the yseem to suffer for a long time.

will raptors, buzzards/red kites aet these when they die? - i doubt they would, and what if there is a real bad outbreak and rabbits suffer a great loss, will this affect our big raptors? - discuss!

The rabbit explosion in our area has no doubt helped the Buzzard colonisation, I seem to recall reading mixy only affects Rabbits so raptors are immune and I have observed Buzzrds feeding on carcases on many occasions some no doubt having died as a result of Mixy.

Ivn600, Rabbits have for the last few years reached plague proportions out here in SW Northumberland and have been blamed as partially responsible for the collapse of river defenses (burrowing) during spate conditions of the rivers South and North Tyne resulting in flooding of land and proerties. Even hill farmers lose sheep and cows to them when they suffer broken legs because of Rabbit burrowing. We are also an area rich in Archeological sites and these are also being damaged by their underground activities.

So yes they are shot big tme but it makes no differance. Even so it is upsetting to see them suffering from Mixy. A friend and his pal went out Rabbit shooting one night a few weeks ago and shot nearly 300 in just less than 3 hours, could have been more he told me but they ran out of cartridges.

Stewart

lvn600 · Sep 17, 2005

Do you folks get coyotes over your way because we have a lot of rabbits here which the coyotes eat big time,

Stewart J. · Sep 17, 2005

lvn600 said:
Do you folks get coyotes over your way because we have a lot of rabbits here which the coyotes eat big time,

Nope, we have Foxes which do feed on rabbits as do Stoats and Weasels but all are controlled by those with an interest in gamebirds. But if they were not the rabbit population is just to big. Its carnage on the rioads around here as can be seen every morning.

Stewart

Anthony Morton · Sep 17, 2005

Myxomatosis

The dictionary definition of myxomatosis is; 'an infectious usually fatal viral disease in rabbits, causing swelling of the mucous membranes.' It was deliberately introduced into the UK in the 1950's from Australia, resulting in dead, dying and rotting rabbit corpses littering the countryside. Until then, the rabbit had been a well-used source of fresh meat - especially so during WW2.

salty · Sep 17, 2005

interesting info folks, just what i was after

Stewart J. · Sep 17, 2005

salty said:
interesting info folks, just what i was after

Turning out to be an interesting thread you got going here mate.

Stewart

:bounce:

delia todd · Sep 17, 2005

When I was young my Grandmother always had a rabbit stew cooking when we went to visit her. Yummee. But since mixy I cannot face eating it now.

D

Stewart J. · Sep 17, 2005

Hi Delia,

Very partial to it myself but may better half dosen't and wont cook it. Around here its sometimes refered to as "Underground Chicken" Very apt as the texture and colour is similar.

Stewart

Stewart J. · Sep 17, 2005

Pics attached show the problems Rabbits cause on riverbanks. Both taken on the South Tyne just behind my house. The banks are loamy sand perfect for burrowing, trouble is after heavy prolonged rain the river goes into spate water enters the burrows accelerating erosion and resulting in banksides collapsing.

Pic 1 taken a couple of months ago, shows tree a with most of its roots exposed and bankside erosion from burrowing. Obviously the tree will not survive.

Pic 2 taken same time more distant view but burrowing damage can be seen along with fallen trees and bankside collapse.

Sorry slightly off topic Salty, but still on theme of Rabbits.

Stewart

salty · Sep 17, 2005

woah, serious damage there mate!

Anthony Morton · Sep 17, 2005

Stewart J. said:
Around here its sometimes refered to as "Underground Chicken" Very apt as the texture and colour is similar...

... Especially if the meat is soaked in salt water overnight before it is cooked!

Anthony

saluki · Sep 17, 2005

salty said:
woah, serious damage there mate!

Myxy was first discovered in South America where it infected the native rabbits but didn't kill them, whereas it devastated populations of imported rabbits from Europe

I think the details of how it actually entered Britain are a little murky, many believe it was farmers bringing corpses across the channel from France to deliberately infect our burgeoning population - by 1950 rabbits were destroying £50 million worth of crops every year. I haven't got the book to hand (I'm at work) but if I remember rightly RM Lockley admits to spreading the disease himself in his wonderful book 'The Private Life of the Rabbit'.

I used to always kill any myxy rabbits I came across, but I don't now. The only way they will build up immunity is from rabbits that have survived - killing infected rabbits obviously prevents that from happening. Immunity lasts several generation, getting weaker each generation. I seem to remember reading somewhere that rabbits weren't thought to suffer much pain from myxy, but it obviously means that they are much more vunerable to predation.

Stewart, you have a real problem there (or the landowner does)! When rabbit numbers get really high it can be difficult to get them back under control. Persistant night shooting and ferreting during the day can be effective, but ultimately the most effective method of control is snaring. The problem is these days that some people aren't prepared to control rabbits on their land, so even if a neighbouring landowner is diligent in controlling them, there is always a reserviour of rabbits to continually top numbers up.

saluki

Anthony Morton · Sep 18, 2005

Myxomatosis - Eradication Of A Species.

A detailed and informative essay entitled 'Myxomatosis - Eradication Of A Species' can be found at:-

http://www.burrill.demon.co.uk/meddoc/myxo.html

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