Rabbits

amandstu · 31-10-2016 10:51am #1

Does heavy rain cull these creatures?

About 2 years ago I noticed a huge increase in the population and ,whilst not exactly welcome gathered they were here to stay.

But this year there has been an equally precipitous decline and I was wondering what could be the cause.

I have found the odd carcass but nothing to indicate any predation or disease.

Could it have been the heavy rain coming at the wrong time anfd killing all the baby bunnies in the tunnels?

Has anyone noticed anything similar?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 31-10-2016 11:30am

I haven't noticed. Floods can fill warrens in severe conditions but it hasn't been particularly wet this year. Numbers of rabbits ebb and flow. Predation by it's very nature isn't very obvious. Foxes etc won't leave the evidence lying about.

amandstu · 31-10-2016 1:34pm

Yosef Flaky Squaw wrote: »

I haven't noticed. Floods can fill warrens in severe conditions but it hasn't been particularly wet this year. Numbers of rabbits ebb and flow. Predation by it's very nature isn't very obvious. Foxes etc won't leave the evidence lying about.

I agree it hasn't been particularly severe this time around. Could it though have come at an inopportune time when the young were especially vulnerable?

Are these new "litters" staggered or does the group synchronize its patter of giving birth to new "litters" ?(that sounds like the wrong word for rabbits)

Apart from that ,yes foxes could be around and I have also seen a ferret once or twice .

But it was a very steep decline in the population (90% at a very rough guess)

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 31-10-2016 3:01pm

Each female rabbit has several litters per year. There is no group synchronisation. At no point this year were we subjected to floods sufficient to have had any impact.

If you have Mink or Stoat in the area they will keep numbers down.

amandstu · 31-10-2016 3:39pm

Yosef Flaky Squaw wrote: »

Each female rabbit has several litters per year. There is no group synchronisation. At no point this year were we subjected to floods sufficient to have had any impact.

If you have Mink or Stoat in the area they will keep numbers down.

Have done a good job then:D

They must keep a very low profile. Maybe they are very good at raiding the nests.

Zoo4m8 · 01-11-2016 7:46am

Rain,even heavy rain will have little or no effect on rabbit populations, your dramatic drop in numbers is almost certainly due to Myxomatosis, in my experience rabbit numbers build and build and then will suddenly be wiped out with myxie.
To find more than two or three carcasses would be unusual, scavengers take care of what dies overground..

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 01-11-2016 8:56am

I doubt it's myxomatosis. It has nothing like the impact nowadays that it had decades ago.

OP, did you notice adult rabbits with swollen eyes and obviously blind? That would be myxomatosis. But I'm sure you would have mentioned such an obvious symptom of disease.

Zoo4m8 · 01-11-2016 1:53pm

Rabbit numbers on our land and a neighbours are recovering after being exterminated by Myxomatosis three years ago, it's a cycle that has occurred here over many many years, I'd imagine that we are not unique in this..
'Our' resident Buzzards, foxes and stoat/s in my experience take a certain percentage of rabbits but have little impact on a large healthy population apart from keeping sudden surges in numbers in check. We don't have Mink here so I can't comment on their effect as I've no experience of them...
It's possible predators could decimate a small isolated group of rabbits but wouldn't cause a catastrophic decline in a large infestation spread over many acres.

Eddie B · 01-11-2016 4:46pm

Has no one heard of the VHD virus which is decimating rabbit populations across the country. A lot of area's around me which used to have large numbers of rabbits, have very few now, the last number of years.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 01-11-2016 5:55pm

Eddie B wrote: »

Has no one heard of the VHD virus which is decimating rabbit populations across the country. A lot of area's around me which used to have large numbers of rabbits, have very few now, the last number of years.

I've heard of it but there's no great evidence that it has had a significant affect on wild rabbit populations in Ireland yet. It has mostly been identified amongst pet rabbits so far - or at least that's what I have been told by wildlife officers.

Eddie B · 01-11-2016 7:32pm

Yosef Flaky Squaw wrote: »

I've heard of it but there's no great evidence that it has had a significant affect on wild rabbit populations in Ireland yet. It has mostly been identified amongst pet rabbits so far - or at least that's what I have been told by wildlife officers.

I can't say that VHD virus is responsible, but something out of the ordinary is happening to rabbit populations here in the midlands and other parts of the country. Area's which were overrun with rabbits, are now all but Barron of them. It started some years ago, and numbers have never really recovered. I know that Mixy can cause large drops in numbers, but they always bounce back from that. This is different.

thyme · 01-11-2016 11:20pm

Eddie B wrote: »

I can't say that VHD virus is responsible, but something out of the ordinary is happening to rabbit populations here in the midlands and other parts of the country. Area's which were overrun with rabbits, are now all but Barron of them. It started some years ago, and numbers have never really recovered. I know that Mixy can cause large drops in numbers, but they always bounce back from that. This is different.

The rabbits disappeared from around hear in 2005/06, and have not seen one on any of the farmland around here since. There was always plenty of them here, especially on the unmaintened farm out the back, the foxes and rabbits had a great time out there, but all gone now for some reason.

Eddie B · 14-12-2016 6:26am

Interesting and alarming read on RHD Virus.

http://www.justrabbits.com/new-rabbit-disease.html#gs.5EHyHoI

dodderangler · 14-12-2016 7:44am

Mixxy is gone from permissions now nearly two year no doubt it'll pop up again being close to golf clubs. But I have noticed that a lot more rabbits have tularaemia now and I won't take the chance on eating them. I'm not sure if that kills them or if it's a thing they just live with.
Op is there any land near you where there is farmers with crops and pesticides are being used? I've heard of a type of pesticide being illegally used now and is a lot more potent than standard ones.

amandstu · 14-12-2016 12:32pm

dodderangler wrote: »

Mixxy is gone from permissions now nearly two year no doubt it'll pop up again being close to golf clubs. But I have noticed that a lot more rabbits have tularaemia now and I won't take the chance on eating them. I'm not sure if that kills them or if it's a thing they just live with.
Op is there any land near you where there is farmers with crops and pesticides are being used? I've heard of a type of pesticide being illegally used now and is a lot more potent than standard ones.

No ,there aren't any farmers nearby. I haven't seen a rabbit in a long while now. I never saw any deformed ones either before they disappeared.

Rabbits

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