Rabbit
(Oryctolagus cuniculus)
Originally from the Iberian peninsula and northwestern
Africa, its now widespread across most of Europe, eastwards
to the Ukraine, throughout Australia and New Zealand. Introduced
into the UK by the Normans as a source of food and clothing,
it quickly colonised the countryside.
Largely nocturnal, rabbits spend most of the day
underground, in a system of tunnels (burrows) known as a warren.
They are vegetarian, feeding mainly on grasses although they
will eat a large variety of vegetation including the bark of
trees. Their preferred feeding times are dawn and dusk, when
due to their large appetites and numbers can cause vast damage
to standing crops.
Unlike cattle and sheep which chew the cud as
an aid to digestion, rabbits pass soft droppings of partly digested
food, this is then re ingested (eaten again) to extract the
maximum nourishment.
The male rabbit is known as a buck, the female
as a doe. They are prolific breeders with the season usually
lasting from January to about August. Females can start to breed
from 3 - 4 months old, with a litters average size of 5 being
produced after 28 - 30 days gestation. They are weaned in 3
- 4 weeks. Females can have 4 - 5 litters per year and sizable
populations can occur in a short period of time.
Myxomatosis, is a disease spread by the rabbit
flea and nearly eliminated rabbits in the 1950s, however only
a small percentage of rabbits now die from the disease.
Rabbits can be effectively restricted from gardens
and grounds with the erection of wire mesh fences, these should
either be buried a set distance underground or turned out at
right angles to stop the rabbit digging under it. They can also
be controlled using a number of different methods depending
on their location and numbers. Which includes long netting,
drop netting, ferreting, shooting & trapping, Contact
us
for further info
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