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Tapeworm in rabbits


Peskyfoxs
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I have shot a fair few rabbits and have come acress liver fluke before but never a tapeworm.

 

Last night the first rabbit I shot I gutted in the field, I didn't cut any gut but then I gave the rabbit a shake to drop the guts there was a tapeworm on top of the pile on ther floor. I was under the impression they lived in the instestine/stomach not the body cavity?

 

Anybody else had this ?

 

I'll upload a pic in a 5 minutes

Edited by Peskyfoxs
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I often catch rabbits that have a sack of 'eggs' that look like grains of rice in a bubble. This is just under the skin.

These are most likely 'encysted tapeworm eggs' which I've seen a few times.I've only ever seen them under the skin also,but they can apparently inhabit any part of the tissue,including mucous membranes and eyes.They are passed on when a predator eats the carcass.I've never seen a tapeworm outside the gut either.

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I shot a rabbit the other day with the .222. Hit it in the chest and blew the guts out. There were tape worms on the ground when I went to pick it up. Looked like a bunch of ribbon pasta.

Tape worm cysts grow into tape worms afterall, so its only to be expected. Usually though a badly infected rabbit will lose condition quickly and so be less likely to survive long which is why you don't see that many. I wonder whether the wet summer has made tapeworm infestations worse?

Edited by Gimlet
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