• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

Breeding Rabbits?

B

Breadtaking

New member
As my dad doesn't want the smell of mice in the house, I have to find other rodents to breed. My dad is ok with the ID of keeping rabbits ( in an enclosure in the garden ). However I got some questions.

- Is it totally ok to feed bunny pups to adult cornsnakes ?
- Do I need to give anything else then grass ? :p
- Do they give birth regularly?
- What's the best male/female ratio ?
- Is it ok to keep them outside this summer ?
- What do I give the female bunny to lay here pups ? like a nest :rolleyes:
- Do I seperate the male after the act ?
- What's a good enclosure size ? ( for example for 3 rabbits )
- Anything else I should know about rabbits ?


( I used the search button but didn't find a response to all the questions )

Thanks in advance !
 
I only know a small amount about rabbits but I don't think breeding them is all that great of an idea. Rabbits tend to give birth a lot and could cause problems with larger things coming into your yard to eat them.

My question to you is why? Why do you want to breed them?
 
To fee them to his snakes apparently.
If you're really serious about this I suggest you go to other sources on the internet and do a lot of research especially since you seem to think they can eat just grass.
Also what if your snake needs a smaller prey item?
 
From what I have seen...even the smallest rabbit pup is too big for the biggest corn snake. Corns rarely get large enough for adult rats, and rabbit pups are as big or bigger than an adult rat, so...

Maybe if you have a BCI or something...

If you only want to breed food for your corns, try hamsters or gerbils...or something small like that.
 
If odor is the main issue, African soft furred rats don't have much smell, are never too big for an adult corn and I believe are fairly common in Europe.

Also called Natal rats and multimammate rats/mice.
 
Rabbit babies (at least the Miniature Rex's that I keep & breed) are way to large for an adult cornsnake...Unless you end up with a runt or two, then they're the size of a large adult mouse.

You can keep rabbits outdoors, but if the temps get high (over 80) you have to keep them cool. I use giant ice cubes made out of butter tubs. Winter you need to provide them with plenty of hay for nesting and you will have to thaw out there water bottles one or two times a day.

Captive rabbits do not just eat grass nor should they be provided a lot of wild vegetation. A pellet should be provided and hay.

Rabbits should be kept completely seperate if you are breeding. No cohabitation except for when pairing (which only takes a few minutes).
 
My sister's lop doe has killed her first 2 litters by scattering the nest, so this time my sister used a board across the bottom of the closed portion of the hutch, and she's raised 2 lovely babies. I couldn't see any cornsnake eating them though, it'd have to be a record-breaker!
 
NFS07: That they give birth a lot, is more of an advantage than a disadvantage. I'd only keep them during the summer, accumulating babies in the freezer. ( I can't hold them inside so when it gets too cold I cant keep them ). As for the larger things coming into my garden, I would build an enclosure which is closed at the top. ( Got some experience cause a hedgehogg killed one of my chickens once :) )
And why do I want to breed them ? To feed my snakes without having the smell of male mice. Also my sister wouldn't mind playing with the adult rabbits ;)

Corny Noob: I'll do that, thanks.

As for the size, when I see these pictures, I seriously think adult corns can eat them. They don't look 3 times the size of their mouth.
Babies.JPG

birthday11.jpg


tyflier: I searched wikipedia for BCI, but didn't find its meaning. English isn't my first language. As for the hamsters or gerbils, don't they stink aswell ? When I was a kid I had hamsters, and I remember that it took a long time to have pups.. Any other inconvenience with hamsters or gerbils ?

Flagg: Thank, Not sure how I'll translate it, but I'll say it in English in the pet store. If I find a good substitute for the rabbits, I'll take it.

blckkat: What's a 'runt' ? :shrugs: Thanks for the great info!

diamondlil: Thanks aswell, I'll do some research on the internet to be sure of everything


If they realy seem to big, I'll just stop after the first babies. It's worth trying :)
 
hi a runt is used to refer to a small usually deformed animal
bci is the scientific abbreviation of the common boa constrictor
 
Wow, I had no idea baby rabbits were born tiny and naked! I thought they were like guinea pigs, born "fully cooked" with fur and teeth.

I'm very allergic to rabbits so I've never been able to really see one up close, much less see one with babies. Thanks so much for posting those pics!!! :cheers:
 
Breadtaking said:
Thank, Not sure how I'll translate it, but I'll say it in English in the pet store. If I find a good substitute for the rabbits, I'll take it.
Click to expand...

Multimammate mice are Praomys natalensis - if everything else fails, just ask for them by scientific name!

And yes, they smell much less than normal mice.

For that matter, rats smell less than male mice - and rat pups aren't gigantic.
 
:[

i keep rabbits myself. however i have not bred them to feed to my snakes. i do not think this is such a good idea as rabbits can catch lots of diseases that may be spread to the snake or make it ill. also the rabbits welfare should be considered as it is not fair to expect them to survive on grass. they should be fed other food and when they have a litter they should be given extra food. they should also have permanant access to fresh clean water. i do not mean this to come across disrespectfull but i think the rabbits welfare should be taken into consideration.
 
So the adults will transmit their diseases to the little ones ?
And I agree the welfare is important, even if they're there to be fed.
 
Wait a minute...What sorts of "diseases" are we talking about transferring through ingestion? Sure...viral infections that are common to both species, parasties both internal and external, bacterial infections...of course these could be transferred through ingestion...but no more so than they are through mice and other rodents.

Most of these "transferrable" diseases are common to all rodents, to be sure...but proper husbandry and care *should* eliminate these as potential health risks to your snakes. Just as with the breeding for food of rats and mice, care needs to be taken to ensure that your "livestock" remains disease and parasite free. With proper cleaning and care, the risk of transferrance of parasites and bacterial and/or viral infections should be no more consequential than the breeding and feeding of other rodent species...right?

Anytime you are producing your own "foodstock" you need to protect the animals being bred from these diseases, infections, and infestations. It doesn't matter what the food source is, nor what species the recipient of the food is...care needs to be taken to prevent the infection of your breeding colonies of these factors. Rat, mouse, rabbit, squirrel, chipmunk...they are all rodents, susceptible to the same infectious and infesting disorders, and they can all be protected from these disorders through proper care and husbandry.

Don't get me wrong...I agree that rabbits, even dwarf rabbits, are probably not the best choice as a breedable food source for your corn snakes. But disease and parasitic infection should not be one of the reasons. If you have a rabbit colony riddled with disease and/or infection, it shows a lack of husbandry skills, not that rabbits are unacceptable as a food source...people breed them to feed Boas all the time...
 
clear up

i was not meaning that all rabbits have diseases but i was just pointing out that people should be cautious about these types of things as some people didnt even know what to feed their rabbit. thanks anyway :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top