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Yes, RHD2 is different and has crossed over to infect hares in Europe. As native American species are more closely related to hares than domestic rabbits, it has infected them too. It's not related to the Myxoma virus, it's from the calicivirus family.

It is, yes - but not in the USA. In Europe its considered another color variety of Dutch, but in UK/Aus/NZ/South Africa and a few other countries it's a separate breed.

The breed is Tri-Colour Dutch aka Harlequin Dutch, a recognised breed where I am and in the rest of Europe.

Where do you live and what vaccine do you think she had? Outside Europe where Myxomatosis has been around since the 1950s, and RHD since the 80s-90s, rabbits don't get vaccinated.

You would need to use a disinfectant known to combat the virus (there are only a few which do) and wait out a quarantine period, recommended 4 months. The virus can survive on objects for quite a long time and can resist high temperatures and freezing.

There are several vaccines in the UK - two of those are imported from Europe, namely Filavac (from France) and Eravac (from Spain). Both of these have been available in the USA in affected states. There is now a US-made vaccine called Medgene which looks likely to replace the imported ones...

I've used Kintraks for years and never had any issues. The developer is very helpful too. One thing which might put people off is that it doesn't do genetics, but that doesn't worry me.

Coccidiosis. The agent causing it is a single-celled organism called an oocyst, which could also be called a coccidia. It gets called Cocci, coxy etc for short. The genus of organisms that cause cocci are the Eimeria species and there are plenty of them. Most are species specific. There are a...

In countries where wire floors aren't used (or are illegal!) then coccidiosis can be an issue but with keeping hutches clean, and preventative treatment for cocci twice a year, it isn't a massive problem.

I should have added that the rabbits were also free range, so a hygiene issue was fairly unlikely.

I have opened rabbits that weren't fed and found the stomach full of cecals. The 'clumps' of cecals are swallowed whole and separate into individual beads in the stomach.

Cecal pellets are taken directly from the anus by the rabbit. You can rest assured they're eating them; they would have serious malnutrition if not.

There is no point as rabbits eat their cecals, so you can never achieve an empty stomach/digestive tract. If you withhold pellets or hay, the stomach will just be full of cecotrophs.

It's always been said that the various Eimeria species are not cross-contaminating but a poultry farmer near me kept free range rabbits on his property on the same land as his poultry, and lost a lot of the rabbits. Cause was found to be coccidiosis.

Wellllll..... that would depend as I've read it may be a recessive gene, in which case an apparently normal buck could still be carrying it. The doe however could have either one or two copies of the gene.

It may depend - a lot - on breed. One of my breeds is particularly mellow and appears to be somewhat social. I've had several mother/daughter pairs of this breed that lived together; when breeding, I only had one doe pregnant at a time. One one occasion, when the daughter had a litter, her...

I have read the ideal light conditions are 16/8 which replicates the light at midsummer in Europe (where they are from), when wild rabbits are at their most productive. Being that they're burrowing animals and spend a great deal of time underground, I would think a period of complete darkness...

It's a pretty quick disease - it takes only 3-5 days from infection to death. I would strongly advise getting some Virkon S and disinfecting with that as very few disinfectants are effective against the virus, it's a tough one and can survive high temperatures and freezing. Bleach is effective...

I think I'd ask a vet. There are many types of fleas and some are species specific. The actual rabbit flea that infests wild Oryctolagus cuniculus is found on wild European rabbits and tends to congregate on the ears; added to that it has an unusual life cycle and the female flea can only...

They can only test freshly deceased animals, not live ones.