Bit of a troublesome wildie

Living alongside the moors it's not unusual to see wildies in our garden. And for three years on the trot a mother wildie dug out a nesting burrow in one of our flower beds. I am always a bit worried though as the local wildie population was struck down with myxomotosis several years back

Over the last few days I have seen a young wildie in and out of the garden, mainly down at Gabe's and Spring's end. I am also sure however that I spooked it away when it was near to Herbie and Hollie at the other end.

Yesterday morning whilst cleaning out it approached Gabe and Spring's run but scarpered when I moved. Today at pretty much the same time it appeared and made a bee line for Gabe and Spring. As I was sitting down, enjoying the sun and watching Gabe and Spring potter about it didn't spot me. It is obviously extremely curious and went straight up to Spring in the run. Spring was interested in it but Gabe went bananas. He shot back into the wendy house, out through the catflap and up to the wire. He was furious with it, ran backwards and forwards and dug at the wire. The wildie was totally unconcerned, went and did a bit of digging, had a wash and went back up to the wire. I realise know why Gabe and Spring's run is full of poops and when I looked closely sprayed wee. Gabe has obviously been marking out his territory.

I shooshed the wildie away, as pretty as they are I am not at all happy at the nose to nose contact with Spring and Gabe. The run wire is too small for them to bite each other thankfully. I just hope the wildie loses interest and stops away.

blimey!

In a way its a wonderful thing but on the other hand its a bit scary.... like you my fist concern would be myxi, and also if Gabe had some referred agression towards Spring.

On the other hand.... how blimmin magical!

Yes, I wish I had had a camera to hand.

And yes too there was a bit of referred agression, but only very very minor.

How amazing, but I can see why you are worried. I think maybe the little guy is in need of a girlfriend (and obviously Gabe is not for giving his up ) - hopefully he'll find somebun soon who will keep him too busy to have time to nose around your garden.

Poor wildie is probably lonely. They'll sort it out. I can understand your concern about the myxi. Your warren is vaccinated aren't they? How effective is the vaccine?

All six are due their myxi jab at the end of the month. They are vacced 6 monthly. My vet has offered to come to me and vaccinate them, getting all six to her in one go is not the easiest as they are all complete stress heads in the car.

I think you are maybe right about the loneliness factor. As Sparky said I hope the wildie finds somebun of their own soon. Wildies are just the most amazing colour

I had the same thing happen when Gloria and Wolfie were alive at the same time. I think it might be young buns exploring their territory. They usually hang about for a couple of weeks them disappear again. Gloria was always interested no but Wolfie reacted like Gabe.

The myxi threat is a concern, so I can understand your worry. Could you double wire it temporarily to stop any contact?

I did think about that, but would need to do all three runs so would become a bit of a major exercise.

As it happens, we have workmen here this week replacing guttering and fascia boards. Their presence around the outside of the house may well deter wildie from getting too close.

When I still lived at my parents and Thumper was an outside bun, we had a young wildie appear in the garden one day.

Like Nickie said, it didn't hang around too long. It grew rapidly then just vanished.

It would sit beside Thumper's abode and eat any nuggies she dared drop

Its such a shame that we cant enjoy wildies - ive had a similar thing happen here. You want to enjoy them, but in your head its like "myxi risk!!".

I expect he/she will move on soon enough

Seems he has left a calling card - there were some poops alongside Gabe's run. They were small and misshapen I expected them to be dark in colour as wildies are obviously not eating hay - it's amazing how much hay can influence bunny poo.

I agree with everyone else, the poor little guy was probably looking for a bit of company... and maybe a bit more than that

My grandparents live in the countryside and every morning my granny tells me that she spots wildies all over her lawn if it's early enough

I'm sure they appreciate the cabbage patch, too!!

gentl wrote:Poor wildie is probably lonely. They'll sort it out. I can understand your concern about the myxi. Your warren is vaccinated aren't they? How effective is the vaccine?

Not 100% - some (relatively very few) buns still do come down with nodular myxi, which they can recover from but which equally can be a long hard slog, lead to other health problems and some buns do not recover.

Wildie has also left some calling card poops at Herbie and Hollie's run. Again, very misshapen. Herbie is a bit of a so-and-so with referred agression. Sure enough there was some of Hollie's fur in the run I really hope wildie finds a wildie friend soon.

wow I see many wildies when I drive places localy but never in my close vicinity,
it's worrying though when they get that close to domesticated buns x