Rabbits ad food?

[Snake-Supplies]

Is it safe for snakes to eat rabbit?
I'm wondering if they would prefer that to a rat...
To mix up the diet a bit...

obviously it will be frozen, and thawed out.

Worth a try?

I know humans cannot survive on rabbit alone as there is not much nutrient value in them, but as a treat every now and then?

 

[Scleropages]

Alot of people feed rabbits to there snakes.

 

[cris]

Rabbits are good food, high nutrional value for human and snakes. Humans are omnivours so wont do well eating rabbits alone.

 

[eamonn]

I have fed rabbits and chickens to my coastal's, but you still need to feed your snake rats. But a rabbit or a chicken every now and then will do them fine. They love it to!

 

[notechistiger]

What do rats have that rabbits don't?

but you still need to feed your snake rats

 

[Snake-Supplies]

Awesome.

do you's know a good way to thaw them out?

 

[cris]

Just chuck them in hot water, you would probably need to replace the water after 20-30 minutes depending on how much rabbit there is compared to the amount of water they are sitting in.

 

[jack]

yes

 

[CarpetPythons.com.au]

I don't understand where people get the idea from that any feeder animal should be thawed out in warm or hot water? Is this an urban myth, told from one keeper to the next, for generation after generation? We take 20 kg of rabbits out per feed and just leave them sitting over night at room temperature. If they have not thawed by the next day we leave them for another day. We have not had a snake ill from doing this over at least twenty years of keeping snakes. We even managed to get a SW carpet python eating by leaving a thawed out rabbit in her cage for two days straight. She likes non fresh thawed out food that is two days old over anything else that we have tried. We have also had some hatchlings over the last few years that preferred frozen rat pinkies over any other food that we offered them. As for rabbits; I have some nutritional data somewhere that I will post up later. All our snakes eat rabbit and they are thriving on it!

 

[Southside Morelia]

What do rats have that rabbits don't?

Agreed!

Rabbits are a great food item!

If a snake is big enough to eat rabbits they are IMO much better to feed than rats, as jumbo rats are more inclined to have more fat than a rabbit equivalent.

 

[ozziepythons]

Along the Murray River in South Australia Inland Carpet Pythons thrive on rabbits. Rabbits and hares have made a suitable substitute to the small to mid range sized mammals they once fed on before European settlement. Freezing rabbits then feeding them thawed to pet pythons probably eliminates most problem endoparasites.

 

[CarpetPythons.com.au]

Two weeks at -18 degrees usually sorts out any parasites and other nasties.

 

[Southside Morelia]

Along the Murray River in South Australia Inland Carpet Pythons thrive on rabbits. Rabbits and hares have made a suitable substitute to the small to mid range sized mammals they once fed on before European settlement. Freezing rabbits then feeding them thawed to pet pythons probably eliminates most problem endoparasites.

I shoot Rabbits not only for human consumption but to dissect, freeze and feed my animals.
My Coastals and BHP's love them. I ONLY ever feed anyone humans and snakes on rabbits that have been culled with a head shot, as lead is not good for any animals consumption.
I agree OP, i religiously have to freeze wild shot animals before I will feed them to kill any parasites as they do always externally and possibly internally as well carry parasites.

 

[Snake-Supplies]

What about Myximatosis? or whatevr it is?
Thats gone now hey??
I'm only a young fella... I'll be honest I have no idea.

 

[Aussie Python Lover]

My 5yo coastal eats 500gm rabbits and my 6yo coastal eats 500-800gm rabbits...

 

[Joemal]

I feed my Coastal ,Olive and Scrubby on rabbits aswell as rats . Works out cheaper to feed them rabbits though .

 

[wokka]

I don't understand where people get the idea from that any feeder animal should be thawed out in warm or hot water? Is this an urban myth, told from one keeper to the next, for generation after generation? We take 20 kg of rabbits out per feed and just leave them sitting over night at room temperature. If they have not thawed by the next day we leave them for another day. We have not had a snake ill from doing this over at least twenty years of keeping snakes. We even managed to get a SW carpet python eating by leaving a thawed out rabbit in her cage for two days straight. She likes non fresh thawed out food that is two days old over anything else that we have tried. We have also had some hatchlings over the last few years that preferred frozen rat pinkies over any other food that we offered them. As for rabbits; I have some nutritional data somewhere that I will post up later. All our snakes eat rabbit and they are thriving on it!

It makes good to minmise thawing time and particularly the time the food item sits around after thawing. The rate af bacterial multiplication generally increases as temperature increases so the quicker an animal is thawed and fed and digested the less likely that bacterial levels will increase to detrimental levels. Whilst reptiles seem to be able to handle high bacterial levels there are some specific bacteria which are dangerous, particularly at higher levels, so why take the chance. On a practical level who wants dead animals sitting around any longer than necessary.

 

[ozziepythons]

I don't understand where people get the idea from that any feeder animal should be thawed out in warm or hot water? Is this an urban myth, told from one keeper to the next, for generation after generation? We take 20 kg of rabbits out per feed and just leave them sitting over night at room temperature. If they have not thawed by the next day we leave them for another day. We have not had a snake ill from doing this over at least twenty years of keeping snakes. We even managed to get a SW carpet python eating by leaving a thawed out rabbit in her cage for two days straight. She likes non fresh thawed out food that is two days old over anything else that we have tried. We have also had some hatchlings over the last few years that preferred frozen rat pinkies over any other food that we offered them. As for rabbits; I have some nutritional data somewhere that I will post up later. All our snakes eat rabbit and they are thriving on it!

Based upon similar (and not so similar) evidence, I believe that at least a few species of snakes (including some in the family pythonidae, such as womas) are carrion feeders.

 

[AllThingsReptile]

ive only got one thing to say, rabbits are easier to breed

 

[CarpetPythons.com.au]

Wokka: We leave steaks in the fridge for up to a week before we eat them. I know it's different to letting frozen rodents sit at room temperature overnight; I do however think that we as humans try to over sterilise captive management of reptiles. What would carry the most pathogens? A rabbit that has been frozen for a month or a wild caught rabbit? How long is a piece of string? There are no set rules in nature. We make the rules in a captive environment! Sometimes these rules are based on fact but a majority of time the rules are there because we heard it from somebody else as second hand information. We do put leftover rabbits in a fridge once thawed and feed them over a period of days till they are all used. We don't ever have sick snakes and have not lost one due to this feeding regime.