Ticks on a Rabbit

Ticks On A Rabbit

Ticks will and do attach to rabbits.  Ticks carry diseases and are generally harmful to your rabbits, so if you see a tick on one of your rabbits carefully remove it and dispose of it without delay. 

In this guide, we explain the health risks associated with ticks on your rabbit, how to remove ticks from your rabbits, and we discuss how to keep your rabbits tick free.

Why is a Tick Bad For My Rabbit – Rabbit Health Risks

Ticks are small arachnids that seek and attach themselves to a warm-blooded host animal. They then bite the host and feed on their blood. 

The risk to the host animal is not the loss of the small amount of blood that is consumed by the tick, instead the risk is the disease that may be transmitted to the host animal while the tick is attached

Ticks are like little vampires!

Very similar to leeches, ticks suck blood from the host that they attach to. And as they suck blood, diseases can be passed to the host; in this case, that’s your rabbit!

Tick-borne diseases can make your rabbit seriously ill, or even cause death. 

Host animals, such as your rabbit, do not realize that a tick has bitten them and is sucking their blood.  The tick’s saliva actually has a nerve-suppression element and their saliva carries enzymes that keep the bite open!

Rabbit Ticks in the Grass and Bushes

How Does My Rabbit Get A Tick?

The most frequent ways your rabbit gets a tick are:

  • Grass Or Bushes – By transiting  in the grass or bushes
  • Feed – The tick may be in the hay your feed your rabbit
  • From You – If you were in the grass or bushes then a tick may “jump” from you to your rabbit as you tend to your rabbit 
  • From Another Rabbit or Another Farm Animal – A tick may crawl or jump from one rabbit or farm animal to another.
Regular and Gorged Tick

How To Tell If Your Rabbit Has A Tick

When the tick sucks the blood of the rabbit, its body becomes enlarged.  A tick that has gorged itself on blood may be the size of a large pea and will often be dark grey or black in color. 

Even a gorged tick can easily hide in the fur of a long-haired rabbit.  Ticks can also hide well in the fur of a short-haired rabbit.

The best answer to the question, “How do I tell if my rabbit has a tick?”, is to do a daily health check on your bunny. 

This rabbit daily health check includes grooming, petting and a deliberate “pat down” of your rabbit to see if there are any unusual bumps, scrapes, pain points or weaknesses.

Note that if the tick has passed a disease or infection on to your rabbit then your rabbit could be sluggish or weak. 

If you find a tick during the daily health check, then remove it and dispose of it without delay. 

Note that ticks seem to be attracted to the rabbit’s:

  • Dewlap
  • Face
  • Ears and between the ears
  • Legs

These areas have soft skin are are usual tick favorites.

Your rabbit may try to remove an engorged tick or a rabbit grooming another rabbit may try to remove an engorged tick. This is natural behavior and can be effective, but it is truly best if you do the grooming and the removal of any ticks yourself to avoid the formation of open wounds.

Removing Tick from Rabbit

How To Remove a Tick From Your Rabbit

Do not let the tick remain on your rabbit.  Yes, eventually the tick will get full and drop off of your rabbit, but the longer the tick is attached to your rabbit, the greater the risk to your rabbit!

An engorged tick will have its mouth in the skin of the rabbit and its body will look like a black pea resting on the rabbit.  The attachment point is the head, more specifically the mouth. 

To safely remove a tick from your rabbit you may follow these detailed steps:

  1. Gather your “tools”, such as: Tweezers, disinfectant, and antibiotic ointment.  You may choose to also wear some latex, or appropriate, gloves.
  2. Grab the tick’s head with the tweezers and pull the tick off of the rabbit in one gentle but continuous motion. Do not grab the engorged body.  Squeezing the engorged body will likely burst the body and spread infected blood.  Additionally, grabbing and pulling on the body may result in the ticks head separating from its body and remaining in your rabbit.  Again, this raises the risk of disease transmittal and subsequent infection. 
  3. Apply the rabbit-safe disinfection to the tick puncture site
  4. Finish by applying the antibiotic ointment. 

The puncture site may be irritated for another day to two but should calm down quickly.

Ticks are very tough and can be hard to kill. As a kid we used to burn the ticks with a lighter or match! But a safer and sure way to kill the tick is to drown it in a bit of rubbing alcohol.

How Do I Find Out More About Removed Tick

The Tick Research Lab at East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania allows for identifying and testing of ticks.

This includes options to order a tick test, send your tick to the lab, and then view your lab results. 

There is even a smartphone application “The Tick App” being used for quantitative and qualitative study of tick exposure.

Different Types of Ticks“Tick-ology”

There are many types of ticks, with different habits and traits that are found all over the world. However, the two main species are:

Ixodid Ticks – Very common and have a hard outer shell or exoskeleton. 

Argasid Ticks – These don’t live as long and don’t have an out shell or exoskeleton. This generally makes them a bit harder to detect and therefore a bit harder to properly remove.  Argasid ticks live in arid regions. 

Both of these primary species may carry diseases and be dangerous to your rabbits and other homestead animals. 

The are small, usually less than 1/8th inch (5mm) in length, and red or brown in color. 

Lifespan of a Rabbit TickHow Long Can A Tick Live On A Rabbit?

A tick can live on a rabbit for 3 or 4 days before fully gorging itself on blood. 

Ticks start out as very small larvae – not visible to the human eye.  They progress to the nymph stage, when they are still light and can be carried significant distances by the wind. After the nymph stage, they become adult ticks. 

An a dult female tick will gorge herself on a host, detach herself from the host then lay up to 3,000 eggs. She won’t die immediately, and can live to attach to another unfortunate host.

Ticks cannot fly but they can jump or leap a considerable distance. They also climb up bushes and grasses and then attach themselves to animals that walk through the brush and grass. Ticks are often found in long grass pasturesr, fields, and wooded areas.

Can Ticks Kill Rabbits?

Yes, ticks can spread fatal diseases to rabbits and other farm animals. 

Ticks can transmit the following rabbit diseases:

Rabbit Myxomatosis

Myxomatosis in Rabbits is highly contagious and very deadly.  The symptoms are:

  • Lethargy and Loss of Appetite
  • Respiratory Issues that cause mouth breathing
  • Swelling around the eyes – leading to blindness
  • Discharge from eyes and nose
  • Swelling or ulcer at the site of the tick bite

There is a preventative vaccine for myxomatosis.  We recommend you consider vaccinating your rabbits against myxomatosis. Once infected, there is no cure for your rabbit with myxomatosis. 

Rabbit Lyme Disease

The Black-Legged Tick, commonly referred to as a “deer tick” is the tick known to spread lyme disease.  A bunny with lyme disease will have red and inflamed skin.

Be very careful if you fear your rabbit may have lyme disease.  The disease is easily spread by physical contact and urine. If caught early enough, then a bunny with lyme disease may be successfully treated with anibiotics. 

Rabbit Tularemia (Rabbit Fever)

Rabbit Tularemia (Rabbit Fever) – Tularemia is most often found in wild rabbits, not domestic rabbits.  But a tick may transmit the disease to your domestic rabbits, especially if you’re in a rural area. 

Symptoms of Tularemia include:

  • Dull fur with lack of grooming
  • Abscesses or ulcers at the tick bite site
  • Overly Aggressive behavior 
  • Lethargy and Weakness
  • High Fever (over 103 F)

Worst of all, tularemia can be spread to humans – glove hygiene is important!

If detected early enough then rabbits can be successfully treated for Tularemia with antibiotics.

Rabbit Papillomatosis

There are two kinds of bunny papillomatosis to be concerned about.

Cottontail Rabbit Papilloma (CRPV) – The rabbit develops warts that can turn into malignant tumors and cancers.  Clearly this CRPV can be life threatening. 

Oral Papilloma – The rabbit develops rough bumps on its tongue and mouth.  Over time these fade and are not life threatening. 

Gorged Tick on Bunny

How To Prevent Ticks On Rabbits

Rabbit-safe ticket repellent sprays are available through reputable manufacturers.   

Please be sure that the product you use on your rabbits is specifically designed and safe for rabbits.  Rabbits are very sensitive animals with sensitive skin. 

Many tick treatments for cats and dogs are dangerous to rabbits. 

As noted, daily health and hygiene checks are really the best form of prevention, plus keeping a clean hutch, removing rabbit poop, and grooming and petting your rabbit!

Bunny Tick

Do Rabbits Spread Ticks To Other Rabbits?

Yes, it is possible for a tick or several ticks to move from rabbit to rabbit.

As noted, a female tick lays thousands of eggs.  With out proper cleaning and hygiene your rabbit hutch could be home to hundreds of ticks – an infestation of ticks. 

Do Rabbits Spread Ticks To Other Animals?

Yes, it is possible for a tick or several ticks to move from your rabbits to your cat or dog, or even to you.. and vice-a-versa.  

Can My Rabbit Wear A Cat Or Dog Tick Collar?

No – do not put a cat or dog flea and tick collar on your rabbit.  The strength of the chemicals on a cat or dog flea and tick collar will be overwhelming for your rabbit and make your rabbit very sick. 

Are Ticks Active in The Winter?

Ticks generally go into a hibernation in the cold winter, but if a host is available they may still latch on and suck blood. 

It is best to continue daily health and hygiene routine with your bunnies all year round. 

Here is a video with some great views of ticks on Rabbits! Here at Hobby Farm Heaven I once set a Have a Heart trap for one of the ground hogs that was living under the red shed. I caught a squirrel instead of the ground hog. The squirrel was full of gorged ticks, much like the rabbit in the video above!

Final Thoughts on Ticks On A Rabbit

Ticks on bunnies are a high risk for our animals and our families.

This means we need to be vigilant, always checking for ticks on our rabbits, our other homestead animals, our family members and ourselves.

Ticks should be quickly and carefully removed from any host, by pulling their heads from the host, and disposed of properly. 

Rabbits with ticks are at risk of contracting some life threatening diseases. Infected rabbits can then and then spread those diseases to other rabbits and homestead animals.

This is why daily rabbit health and hygiene checks are the best prevention for ticks!

Finally, vaccines do exist for many of the viral tick borne diseases; you may consider vaccinating your rabbits, particularly if there are viral outbreaks in your area.

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