Thrown into rabbits in eastern Tennesee

[mamalana]

Hi y'all.

I hope you are having a fantastic day. My name is Alana and I am a mother, homesteader, community builder, and permaculturalist. We recently bought a piece of property near the Cherekee Reservoir in easter Tennessee and not only did it come with 33 chickens, it also came several feral meat rabbits.

I have set live traps and caught four, 2 does and 2 bucks. There is a papa New Zealand and his son and daughters of differing litters. I don't know what the mother was, as she was the first one to be killed by the dogs and I wasn't there to see it. She was really big and silver. I have them in cages right now and am considering building a colony so our kids can interact with them in a sweet way, since they have wanted a bunny pet for a long time.

So far our biggest challenge is our dogs who have been responsible for the death of 4 of the ones that are still running wild. There is at least 1 more out there.

What a journey. Lol.

PS they all have fleas and I imagine a host of other parasites.

 

[RabbitDad]

Hi y'all.

I hope you are having a fantastic day. My name is Alana and I am a mother, homesteader, community builder, and permaculturalist. We recently bought a piece of property near the Cherekee Reservoir in easter Tennessee and not only did it come with 33 chickens, it also came several feral meat rabbits.

I have set live traps and caught four, 2 does and 2 bucks. There is a papa New Zealand and his son and daughters of differing litters. I don't know what the mother was, as she was the first one to be killed by the dogs and I wasn't there to see it. She was really big and silver. I have them in cages right now and am considering building a colony so our kids can interact with them in a sweet way, since they have wanted a bunny pet for a long time.

So far our biggest challenge is our dogs who have been responsible for the death of 4 of the ones that are still running wild. There is at least 1 more out there.

What a journey. Lol.

PS they all have fleas and I imagine a host of other parasites.

I'm new to having rabbits and your flea issue caught me off guard. It's been decades since I've even seen one.
Many years ago one of our dogs got them and it was quite the ordeal getting rid of them.
My wife's solution was rather brilliant. Not only did we see results instantly, it solved the problem permanently.
What she did was buy a bunch of small nightlights. Plug them in at various locations around the house. Under each light was a bowl of water with a few drops of dish soap.
The fleas would jump towards the light, landing in the water. The soap would prevent their escape.
Obviously since no chemicals were involved, this would be safe & effective for rabbits too.
Just place the soapy water outside the hutch where the fleas have access but the rabbits don't.
Pinky swear, it really works.

 

[Florida Jeff]

I agree with Rabbit Dad we use to hang a light bulb over a shallow oven pan with the water and soap. It worked when we had a problem with fleas from our dog.
It would also help to get the rabbits in raised hanging cages or hutches off the ground.

 

[FarmerKat]

Oh wow! So glad you were able to trap a few of them. Congrats on the purchase of your property!

 

[Cotton Rabbitry]

Diatenaus (spelled phonically) earth food grade. I have had a flea problem myself and this is what I have rubbed into their backends and have had success with

 

[FarmerKat]

I've had luck with diatomaceous earth getting rid of unwanted critters as well. I buy the 'food grade' version in large bags to save on cost. I've also heard of folks mixing it with pellets to get rid of internal parasites, but have yet to try that myself.