Uggghhhh Ticks!

[miscellaneous]

Hello friends, I would sincerely appreciate any help you can give me. I am raising rabbits in all wire cages in an outside backyard canopy/carport. Here's the problem - I've found some ticks on my rabbits. Any suggestions? I'm raising the rabbits to eat - so I'm not really hoping to poison the daylights out of them.

I've read putting grease on the ticks will help a tick to release - could I just spray the rabbits with veggie oil on a weekly basis? I've removed the ticks (with tweezers) from my infected buck. Is he safe to be around?

In case you're wondering, I currently have a pretty small rabbit population. I have 3 adults (1 male 2 female) and 5 bunnies (about 5 weeks old). I keep my rabbitry fairly clean - the droppings fall to slanted trays which empty into a "latrine" gutter which I spray out with the hose about every day or two.

Finally, please only respond if you intend to help me. I work very hard to take care of my rabbits. The last thing I need is to be wrongfully accused of not keeping a clean rabbitry or chided because I eat the rabbits. I also don't need someone to simply be a "fear mongerer" - saying things like "on no, you're buck is going to turn into godzilla tonight!"

Thanks,
miscellaneous

 

[ZRabbits]

Well you won't get that kind of attitude here. Lots of people who raise meat rabbits here. And are very helpful.

I use this for my pet rabbit run. It works on worms, ticks, anything else. There is no toxicity affect. You can even eat it. What it does is that it penetrates the shell of the insect and dehydrates it's innards. You can even powder your rabbits with it. Just watch their eyes. Its a very fine powder. I also use it on my dog. Did my whole yard. No ticks here.

Hope this helps. Go to a good pet store or feed store. Here's some info on it. There is more out there on this. Wishing you luck with your rabbitry. Just don't do the bunnies, do the entire area.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatomaceous_earth


Karen

 

[skysthelimit]

Hello and welcome. Don't worry about being chided about eating rabbits, most people here eat their rabbits, I am one of the few who doesn't, only because I hate cooking anything, veggie or meat.
Ticks are bad this summer, lots are complaining about them. I live in the city proper, so I don't know if I've ever seen a tick, my biggest problems are flies and biting fruit flies. Almond oil is a natural repellent, not sure if it's safe for rabbits. Maybe you can just use one of those backyard foggers?

 

[Secuono]

Ticks like tall grass, so keeping the lawn very short and manicured will help. Keep all bushes and other tall plants away from the rabbits. If you don't feed grass, spray the yard with flea/tick lawn spray. Any cages left on the ground should be looked over for ticks before using them.
My large live trap is always covered in 5 or more ticks...I hate touching it...

 

[3mina]

We have functioning brains here and we tend not to assume anything. Welcome and good luck battling the bugs.

 

[akane]

Vegetable oil is not going to do much to a tick but it will make messy rabbits. They'll also probably spend all day cleaning it off and ingesting it so that by the end of the day they aren't covered anymore anyway. Just a little fatter for it. Unfortunately the best way to battle such things is chemicals. However a mixture of DE and essential oils can go a long way. If you are going to spray the rabbits with anything try lemon grass oil and mint. We buy a premixed version at the petstore for the dogs to repel ticks and mosquitos but if you needed mass quantities to spray down hutches and rabbits getting infested you could buy the essential oils in concentration and find something to suspend them in. Those 2 are pretty safe to mix up yourself.

 

[miscellaneous]

Wow! I'm thoroughly impressed with this community. I really appreciate your help. I found some DE at the local farm store (online). I'll pick up some tomorrow. As for the essential oils - my wife already has a decent array of those which she uses for cleaning. I'll mix some with maybe ... vinegar??? (what do you think here) and then after I spray and let the rabbits dry I'll powder the rabbits with DE to kill and prevent more ticks.

Thank you again! Sorry for the somewhat bitter initial post - I was expecting sarcasm and belittling - what I got was anything but that. May the Lord Jesus bless you all for being so kind.
-miscellaneous

 

[3mina]

Aww shucks, tweren't nuthin'

 

[skysthelimit]

I was surprised at the number of people who have come from forums that seem to be run by stark raving mad lunatics. I am so glad I found this forum first, or else perhaps I would have stopped trying to raise rabbits...

 

[michabo3000]

OMG, YOU EAT RABBITS!?

 

[3mina]

OMG, YOU EAT RABBITS!?

:lol:

 

[skysthelimit]

OMG, YOU EAT RABBITS!?

Only at night, when the moon is full, the sky is clear, and the wolves are singing...

 

[Miss M]

OMG, YOU EAT RABBITS!?

:lol: Hey, Miscellaneous, Michabo raises meat rabbits, just to let you know... :lol:

Welcome to RabbitTalk, where people who keep rabbits for all sorts of reasons congregate to talk about rabbits and help each other with their care.

Actually, a large percentage of the members here raise rabbits for meat, because there are so few forums where meat rabbit raisers are welcome. Most of us raise rabbits in cages, and, while different people have different ideas of what constitutes "clean", we all seem to understand the concept of "clean enough". For those of us who raise them for meat, they are livestock, after all.

I'm getting ready to be dealing with the whole tick issue myself, as we're about to move to 2 acres of raw land. Yahoo!

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I found some DE at the local farm store

Make sure you get food grade DE! The DE used for pools will kill your animals. One other caution, if you plan to treat the yard with it; it will kill any insect, including bees, so try to avoid applying it to flowers.

I had a couple rabbits with fur mites, and the DE worked great. It is safe if ingested too- I actually mix it into my animal's feed.

We rarely get ticks here unless we take the dogs on a trail ride, but when we do I just pull them out with forceps. I have never seen an animal get a localized infection if the head is not removed- they are pretty shallow, and the animal's body expels them quickly.

Good luck, and welcome to the forum!

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

Finally, please only respond if you intend to help me. I work very hard to take care of my rabbits. The last thing I need is to be wrongfully accused of not keeping a clean rabbitry or chided because I eat the rabbits. I also don't need someone to simply be a "fear mongerer" - saying things like "on no, you're buck is going to turn into godzilla tonight!"

I hate when i come across stuff like this. Makes me upset because there is allot of this out there not getting the right help for there rabbits. I am glad you found this awesome site as it helped me allot . You will like it here.

Like ckb said about the grass. That was the first thing i thought of to. That is a hiding place for tick and waiting for there host to go by.
akane mentioned De. I used it for my chickens i never had a problem with bugs. It is very fine powder.But it works awesome because you have to work closer with your rabbits. I recomment a mask on your face then make sure you use enough on each of them. Just cover there face with towel as you work on them. Then in a day or so . They should of fallin off. If not do it again.

 

[grumpy]

You're among friends...don't worry about it.

an idea: Guineas? if they're allowed in your area, they'd make short work of those blasted ticks.

a couple of old hens would put a dent in them as well.

grumpy

 

[miscellaneous]

I found some DE at the local farm store

Make sure you get food grade DE! The DE used for pools will kill your animals.

Thanks for the heads up. This is what I found - it can be added directly to the animal food, so I suppose it is safe:
http://www.tractorsupply.com/livest...s-earth-with-calcium-bentonite-20-lb--1019864

I won't be spreading it anywhere else other than on my rabbits - so the bees should be safe. Thank you again for the great help!
-miscellaneous<br /><br />__________ Mon Jul 16, 2012 5:19 pm __________<br /><br />

You're among friends...don't worry about it.

an idea: Guineas? if they're allowed in your area, they'd make short work of those blasted ticks.

a couple of old hens would put a dent in them as well.

grumpy

Guineas??? Sorry, I live in the city - (and yet still the ticks!!!) - my neighbors already are having to deal with my rabbits, I'd never get away with guineas - especially combined with my rabbits. I'm exceptionally careful to stay within the city code - policeman lives in my neighborhood. BTW, my neighbors don't know I eat the rabbits.

As a side note, any suggestions on how to pass guineas off as pets? I'm sure my neighbors wouldn't take too kindly to: "I got the guineas because my meat rabbits were beginning to be infested with ticks." :roll:

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Thanks for the heads up. This is what I found - it can be added directly to the animal food, so I suppose it is safe:
http://www.tractorsupply.com/livestock- ... b--1019864

You're good.

If there are any trees or plants that overhang your rabbit cages, DE those too. Ticks will drop from above as animals pass by.

 

[akane]

Makes me upset because there is allot of this out there not getting the right help for there rabbits.

Once on a guinea pig forum that is rescue based someone asked for dog forums to get help with their new puppy. I post the 3 top forums on the net. I was then chastised and my post deleted because all those forums had a breeder section despite them all encouraging adoption. Sent back a rather pissed off pm to the mod asking where I'm supposed to send someone for help or should we just let their puppy suffer and that is where I broke ties with the rescue crowd. I hang out on a uk guinea pig forum now cause you can't find good ones for the US unless you want to treat your guinea pigs 10 times better than most people treat their children and spend $100 a month on food for a pair because only 2 business in the country are approved by them.

 

[3mina]

Guineas and close neighbours don't mix well, the guineas are NOISY