My Blog

Rabbits & Myxomatosis

03/31/2012 01:57:00

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I have had several rabbit jobs recently where the rabbits had been causing havoc in client's gardens eating newly sprouting plants and excavating holes in carefully tended lawns. I've had quite good results with cage traps set in the feeding areas and Fenn Mk6 traps set in the burrows. This happy state of affairs, for me at least, is soon going to end locally as I've seen several dead & dying rabbits while I've been out with the dog in the last week or so. Indeed only this morning the dog pounced glee fully on an infected rabbit, proudly retrieved it and then looked at me in disbelief as I threw it on top of the hedge for the buzzards, after having put it out of it's misery.

And a miserable, pitiful end it surely is, rabbits with myxomatosis suffer from swellings to the connective tissue around the eyelids, nose and genital regions. Their eyes often swell up so much that they can't see in the later stages of the disease and they lose their way from the burrows allowing them to fall prey to any passing predator.

Myxomatosis first reared its ugly head in Britain in 1953 after a French doctorcarried out experiments on his estate in France andinfected rabbits escaped. There were initial attempts to stamp the disease out but it soon spread countrywide on its own and with artificial help from landowners releasing infected rabbits (a practice which was made an offence in 1954). The initial outbreak in the 50's killed an estimated 99% of several hundred million rabbits within two years and changed the face of the British countryside forever.

The virus seems to come around every 2 or 3 years and depending on its strength or the rabbit population at the time, it has varying impacts on rabbit numbers, sometimes almost total wipe out, other times the rabbits recovering quite quickly.... and rabbits being rabbits, they are soon back up to good numbers. The disease is spread in Britain by the fleas which infest the rabbits and their burrows, passing the virus from rabbit to rabbit in the close confines of the warren. From infection it takes fully susceptible rabbits 11 to 18 days to die from the most virulent strain, however some rabbits always seem to survive an outbreak and these can pass immunity on to

their young.... I hope there are a few that make it through this time & the numbers are soon back up to the levels where they need control ( if not some ferrets might be facing redundancy).

Handling live rats.

03/09/2012 17:52:00

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While out this morning checking rabbit traps I bent down and picked up what I thought was a dead, 1/2 grown rabbit caught in a Fenn Mk6 trap, imagine my surprise when I pulled out of the burrow a very lively, fully grown rat. I dropped it quicker than the proverbial hot potato and then administered the "last rites" with a heavy stick from the hedge. Luckily I usually wear gloves when setting traps and Roland wasn't able to give me nip, due to being caught firmly in the trap but it goes to show everything might not be what it seems and you shouldn't take things for granted!

Busy times mole catching.

03/04/2012 01:03:00

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Since the weather warmed up the moles have been active. This is the time of the year when the females come into season and the males are out and about looking for love. Clients will ring complaining that they have molehills in their gardens etc. and that they've never had them before as the male moles are persistant chaps and will burrow under walls, fences, hedges etc in their hunt for a mate, sometimes tunneling up to 100 yards in a 24 hour period.

I have been catching plenty of moles recently not only on local farmland but a pub beer garden, local sports fields, a graveyard, school playing fields, private gardens and stables to name but a few. Farmers don't like moles in fields for silage because the soil from the molehills can contaminate the silage when in storage and when the cattle eat it they can get food poisoning. Moles can't be tolerated in a sports field as the tunnels and hills make the playing surface dangerous, as anyone who has twisted an ankle will agree. Moles in equestrian fields aren't usually tolerated either as thetunnels and hills can cause horses to stumble and fall - indeed the death of William III was attributed to a mole after the King died from injuries sustained after falling from his horse in the grounds of Hampton Court in 1702.

My preferred traps are the "Duffus" or "Half Barrel" type, when these traps are set there is nothing visible above the ground, unlike the "scissor" type whose handles stick up above the ground and seem to go "walkabout" if set in areas with public access. Another advantage of the Duffus type is that they can catch a mole at both ends, especially at this time of year when the moles are on the move ..... you get two for the price of one! Another trap I use frequently, mainly for "tricky" moles that have been made trap shy, often clients attempting to trap the moles themselves, is the "Talpex" trap which has avery strong spring and can be set in either shallow or deep runs. Another trap I use quite regularly is the "Trapline" which is a smaller trap, very usefulfor under large tree roots and next to garden paths and patios.

With the use of strychnine banned in 2006 for the poisoning of moles and the use of gassing tablets having ever more restrictions placed on it, the future for "Traditional Mole Catching" looks to be quite rosy, as its enviromentally friendly and, in my opinion, the most humane way available of controlling mole numbers.

Spring is in the air.

02/14/2012 22:11:00

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After the Arctic conditions of last week its good to get out & get on with some serious mole trapping. Last week the traps I had out were set solid in the ground with no hope of any moles springing them and then when there was a slight thaw it snowed, the traps got buried and I couldn't check them anyway. Hopefully no more severe frosts & plenty of mole activity.

Baby rabbits have made ferreting operations difficult now, they will either skip through the nets and knock them down or the ferrets find them in the nest, make a feast of them & then lie down for a snooze... not ideal if the client is expecting a big bag of rabbits.

The snow last week revealed an unwelcome guest still visiting our hen's pen, when I let them out the morningafter the snow I noticed the tell tale star shaped footprints of a rat coming from the woodpile & into the hen's run. Another Mk 4 Fenn trap was duly set, under some roofing slates and today the culprit was apprehended, minus his tail.

Last night the last of the ice thawed in our pond and when I shone a torch in last thing at night there were several frogs floating on the top, getting ready for their annual orgy .... a sure sign that Spring is coming.

These mouse bait stations have been gnawed by rats to get at the bait inside.

I took them from one of my service contracts last week ..... no profit on that job !!!

Cold Weather Pest Control

02/02/2012 21:24:00

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The colder weather of the past week or so has influenced what can or can't be done in the way of pest control. The severe frosts have made mole trapping next to impossible with the mechanisms on my preferred 1/2 barrel traps being frozen solid and the moles not triggering the traps, however I did take a particularly "tricky" mole from a client's garden today which fell to a "talpex" trap after eluding capture for nearly a fortnight - very satisfying.

The frosty weather is continuing to drive rats and mice indoors and I've had several calls this week to deal with nocturnal "noises in the loft."

On the dry, cold days squirrels are active. Contrary to popular belief they do not hibernate but they are susceptible to cold, damp conditions. When its wet and windy they'll be tucked up in the warm in their dreys but dry sunny days see them out foraging for the nuts they stashed in the autumn. As with rabbits taking out any breeding stock at this time of year will save having to deal with whole families of young and adolescent pests later in the year.

Frosty mornings have always been considered best for ferreting operations, the rabbits usually bolt more freely than in wet or windy conditions saving problems associated with the ferrets killing their rabbits and lying up.

Even though the temperatures have plummetted lately at night I was attacked in a loft the other day by an angry queen wasp, who buzzed angrily round my face, attracted to the light on my head torch - a sure sign that spring is just around the corner.

Garden Pest Control

01/15/2012 22:30:00

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Even Pest Controllers can get an unwanted influx of nasty visitors. We have a pair of feisty hens in or garden which give a steady supply of fresh eggs but the price to pay for having fresh eggs is having to deal with a steady supply of fresh rats.

Our garden has a wall at the bottom which backs on to open farmland, the rats are active along this wall all year round, always on the lookout to exploit a food source, whether its food from a bird table, anything edible put into a compost bin, uneaten poultry food or simply waste that people throw over garden walls.

To combat this I have Fenn traps almost permanently sited against the wall and usually take 20+ foraging rats a year. This morning I took this fine specimen from a Mark 4 Fenn trap sited under a roofing slate. Any that are taken care of now will obviously be prevented from breeding and establishing colonies later in the year.

Ferret Goes AWOL

01/10/2012 23:59:00

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Last Friday morning was nice and frosty, a perfect opportunity to deal with some rabbits for a local client.

The little jill ferrets soon had a brace of rabbits out of a burrow in an old compost heap with no problems.

We moved on to another burrow in a thick, old hedge. I soon had the "Masterhunter" Quickset Longnets erected around the set & entered the pair of jills and stood back to await developments.

About half an hour later the albino jill popped her head out of a bolt hole, I went to pick her up and she ducked back into the burrow but she soon showed again at the hole she'd gone down to start with. I picked her up & noticed clumps of rabbit fur stuck to her claws, the pair of them had obviously been in close combat with subterranean rabbits.

I put the little white jill back in the carrying box and got out Smudge, a huge male polecat or "hob" and popped him into the burrow hoping he'd drive the other jill from her kill.

After anther half an hour or so Smudge reappeared on the surface, I tried to pick him up but he was quite agitated, tail fluffed out and claws covered with rabbit fur - still no sign of Jenny, the missing jill.

I caught Smudge, boxed him up & tried whistling for Jenny, they'll usually come to a whistle if they think they're going to be fed but to no avail. Reluctantly I blocked the holes up,

took down the nets and went home for a cage trap.

When I got back there was no sign of Jenny having dug her way out, so I paunched one of the rabbits and put the steaming intestines on top of a bed of straw in the bottom of the cage trap, set it carefully and buried it in the mouth of the burrow,I had to leave Jenny to her own devices as the hedge was too thick to try and dig her out and I had mole traps to check before it got dark.

I went back the next morning before going to the pheasant shoot and dug the trap out - still no sign of the missing ferret.

I reburied the cage, fearing the worst, perhaps the rabbits had burrowed into an old mine shaft, we were near a dis-used pit, maybe Jenny had taken a fatal kick to the head....

Sunday morning and none of the holes showed any sign of the AWOL ferret having dug her way out and as before the cage was empty I put some fresh bait in the cage & re-buried it as we had a football match to go to. Nothing again Sunday night.

Monday morning armed with a spade and Smudge, complete with a locator collar & new batteries, I returned to the burrow to try & find out for sure what had happened. Still no sign of a breakout, I pulled the buried cage trap out of the burrow mouth and as I did so it tipped to one side as a bleary eyed little polecat ferret stretched and yawned none the worse for her weekend away.

Jenny after going "Absent Without Leave" for the weekend.