Balls Eating Rabbits???

So I was at my local mom and pop petstore today and was talking to this guy there about his bps. Anyways eventually the conversation migrated towards talking about feeding. He said he had some bps that ate rabbits! I thought he was joking so i asked him if he was still talking about balls just to be sure... He said yea I have some females who are like 4 feet long that put down rabbits no problem. So my question is would this even be possible or was he yanking my chain? I mean even if a bp could eat a rabbit wouldnt it have to be bigger than 4feet? I would picture like a 6 foot 5,500 gram monster female maybe being able to do that...

Maybe a very small baby bunny, definitely not a rabbit. Eiher that or the guy was blowing smoke up your bum :)

My uncle had 2 female bps that were huge, up almost in the 6ft range, its been years but i'm sure I remember him feeding rabbits on occasion...if you ask me though the price of a rabbit is more them 2-3 lg rats. I'd feed the rats over a rabbit..lol

Maybe small small small rabbits or rabbit kits.
Definitely not a food grade rabbit. Those are huge!

If i had the space and time I would breed rabbits over rats for my breeding female BPs.

When snakes get on rabbits their growth jumps into overdrive.

Yea idk i just figured a rabbit would be expensive so feeding multiple rats would just be better i guess. I still have trouble believing a 4 foot ball putting down an adult rabbit so im guessing he was talking about small rabbits.

Hi,

Definitely possible.

I remember someone posting a picture of it on here before.

I'll try and find the thread.


dr del

My big female was at one point in her life feeding small 'bunnys' not really rabbits but 300-400 gm range. I am not breeding her like the guy I got her from so she has been returned to large rats. She is 3700gm and 5'5".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jy3iq-pVppw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbeiNOrVb7w

I found the thread but the pic has gone. :(

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...678#post682678

If he was feeding the bp baby bunnies. Some breeds of rabbits are small, and their new born and young before eyes open are not even bigger than rats. We used to breed Holland lops. (Not for snake food, but for show). A new born Holland lop is probably the same size as a rat crawler. Can't imagine rabbits would be cost effective though......:confused:

Trust, but verify? ;)

I always hear about really heavy/really long/really old ball pythons which ate really, really large prey items. But they usually belonged to a friend of a friend of a friend and no one had a scale or measuring tape at the time. Etc, etc.

I guess bunny people are as nutty as snake people:

http://img857.imageshack.us/img857/5...fus6agrid6.jpg

I skimmed this yesterday..but didn't reply.

Think about this. Maybe someone owns a FEW Larger snakes, I mean hell, I've got a small burm and he could take a "dwarf" rabbit. A bp could also easily take one in. MY point? Maybe someone breeds ALOT of rabbits for other snakes and instead of eating rats the BP's eat baby rabbits. It's a long shot but possible.

The way I see it, as long as someone feeds responsibly and feeds the correct prey size/weight it shouldn't really worry us... MOST of the time. NO I am not advocating cats and dogs be a food source.. -_-;

bunnies yes, but full grown rabbits?
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...rugSmiley1.png

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Originally Posted by skyyame

bunnies yes, but full grown rabbits?
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...rugsmiley1.png

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lol!!!

Yes i can definetly see baby rabbits being eaten and im guessing thats what he was talking about but there is no way a ball python could eat an adult rabbit? (and im refering to a normal size adult rabbit not one of those giant ones that are bigger than those kids lol^^^)

I can definitely see this being possible with small rabbits, except I would imagine that we'd have to watch the snake when coiling the rabbit more so than when coiling a rat. I'm sure a rabbit has stronger legs that can cut the snake and I'm sure they have a stronger bite as well.

Buddy of mine has a massive female ball, biggest one i've ever seen. She's about 12 lbs or 5500g and around six feet. I wouldn't doubt that she could eat a rabbit or at least a small one.

It doesn't have to be a baby rabbit there are types of large adult rabbits that ball pythons can take, not every rabbit is huge. People just get too fixated on rats as food for Bps, when that's just what most (not everyone) people offer in captivity. If more people started cost effectively mass breeding other animals as feeders like they do rats, I'm sure that would change.

I can see it happening. My sisters female probably needs a properly sized rabbit. She can eat 2 giant rats and be looking for more in a week.

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Originally Posted by bubblz

It doesn't have to be a baby rabbit there are types of large adult rabbits that ball pythons can take, not every rabbit is huge. People just get too fixated on rats as food for Bps, when that's just what most (not everyone) people offer in captivity. If more people started cost effectively mass breeding other animals as feeders like they do rats, I'm sure that would change.

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But the thing is most food grade rabbits are huge. And a small food grade adult rabbit is still rather big for a ball.... Most smaller breeds are for show or pet grade. I'm not saying that you can't buy a smaller breed to feed a ball, just most small breed rabbits aren't worth buying as food because they're meant for show or as a pet. Their price tags are significantly higher than a rabbit meant for consumption.

My boyfriend just bought his ball and ferrets a few rabbits to try out for the first time. The kits still had their eyes closed and were about medium-large rat size. The rabbits were cheap. 4 kits for $4($ per pound). That's cheaper than medium rats. The guy specifically breeds meat rabbits.

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Just because he said rabbit doesn't mean it was a large food grade rabbit. Rodent Pro has 200+ gram rabbits starting at $5, that's the same size as a large rat.

If i could get all my females like i said to eat 100g baby rabbits, I would, their growth rate will be faster than on rats. But its time consuming, and rabbits are expensive to breed

A quick google search said that a person who recently had a litter of a relatively large breed of rabbits had an average neonate size of 3 ounces, or around 84 grams, so it's definitely possible.

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Originally Posted by bubblz

Just because he said rabbit doesn't mean it was a large food grade rabbit. Rodent Pro has 200+ gram rabbits starting at $5, that's the same size as a large rat.

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Are they adult rabbits or kits?

I wasn't saying that it was a large food grade ADULT rabbit. And I wasn't saying snakes can't eat smaller breed rabbits. It's just not practical or worth buying smaller breeds because they are typically show/pet value. No one wants to pay $50-60 for a meal. Food animals are significantly cheaper. I can get baby food rabbits the size of a med-large rat for a dollar.
So all in all, its just cheaper and easier to buy a food grade rabbit kit to feed off than an adult small breed rabbit.......

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I have one very large female that I believe could take down a rabbit easily.

Theres a guy i buy rats and mice from who also breeds rabbits. And i once went in to pick up rats when he was attending to some new born rabbits. He offered them to me at twice the price of rats, so i was very keen. My only concern was that someone told me the snake may not take rats as easily there after. The baby rabbits are at the right size for BP's for such a short time that i didnt figure i would have a constant supply .

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Originally Posted by satomi325

Maybe small small small rabbits or rabbit kits.
Definitely not a food grade rabbit. Those are huge!

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You brought up food grade rabbits, not all food grade rabbits are the same size. Just like not every chicken, turkey, pig or what ever is the same size as an adult, same species or not.

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Originally Posted by Mike41793

So I was at my local mom and pop petstore today and was talking to this guy there about his bps. Anyways eventually the conversation migrated towards talking about feeding. He said he had some bps that ate rabbits! I thought he was joking so i asked him if he was still talking about balls just to be sure... He said yea I have some females who are like 4 feet long that put down rabbits no problem. So my question is would this even be possible or was he yanking my chain? I mean even if a bp could eat a rabbit wouldnt it have to be bigger than 4feet? I would picture like a 6 foot 5,500 gram monster female maybe being able to do that...

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The Ops question,.. would it be possible,.. yes it's possible, it happens and it doesn't have to be 6ft what what ever 1000 odd grams to do so. He didn't say exactly how big his females are or the size of the rabbits.

Like previously stated not all rabbits are huge, the same way not all 3 or 4 ft bps are only 1500 to 2000 grams.

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Originally Posted by satomi325

Are they adult rabbits or kits?

I wasn't saying that it was a large food grade ADULT rabbit. And I wasn't saying snakes can't eat smaller breed rabbits. It's just not practical or worth buying smaller breeds because they are typically show/pet value. No one wants to pay $50-60 for a meal. Food animals are significantly cheaper. I can get baby food rabbits the size of a med-large rat for a dollar.
So all in all, its just cheaper and easier to buy a food grade rabbit kit to feed off than an adult small breed rabbit.......

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In my area feeder rabbits are 8$ and 300-800 gm my girl was taking 300-400 gm rabbits before I had her The large rats are 6$ but they are only 175 - 280 gm that would take two smaller ones that makes it quite reasonably priced.

lol the thing about rabbits-- it's just like saying "python" or "dog" or "cat"

It's a general animal term. When someone says "the size of a dog" it isn't very specific; they could be talking about a teacup poodle or a great Dane. Some rabbit breeds average a couple pounds as adults. Others average five or six. Some are usually over 10 pounds or better.

So it really depends on what type of rabbit or bunny you're talking about. Flemish Giants? Google images of it, it will make you laugh.They can get the size of border collies. Jersey Wooly's should average between 2-4lbs. Californians and New Zealands go around ten pounds. Mini Rex, Holland Lops, and Dutch all go around 3-5lbs.

So over all, depending on what breed and age of the rabbit you're talking about (remembering that a 2lb. adult is going to have some pretty tiny babies) you can definitely feed babies to medium sized snakes. I even had a couple baby rabbits that were too SMALL for my ball, and had to go to my corn (They died of natural causes-- first time mother didn't nest properly).

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Originally Posted by satomi325

But the thing is most food grade rabbits are huge. And a small food grade adult rabbit is still rather big for a ball.... Most smaller breeds are for show or pet grade. I'm not saying that you can't buy a smaller breed to feed a ball, just most small breed rabbits aren't worth buying as food because they're meant for show or as a pet. Their price tags are significantly higher than a rabbit meant for consumption.

My boyfriend just bought his ball and ferrets a few rabbits to try out for the first time. The kits still had their eyes closed and were about medium-large rat size. The rabbits were cheap. 4 kits for $4($ per pound). That's cheaper than medium rats. The guy specifically breeds meat rabbits.

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if someone starts breeding rabbits for food, i dont think the price for the initial breeders to start the colony with would be an issue. small breeds of rabbits that are pet quality / show quality may be too expensive to be used as food right now, in the current market, but they are not too expensive to be used to start a breeding colony. once they start reproducing, well, like rabbits, the initial cost to get a few good breeders will become meaningless. just like with rats, where some people have morphs and and high quality genes in their breeding colony and pay premium for ideal breeders to start with.


i dont know what will be more economically sound, but rabbits and rats are both mammals that grow quickly and reproduce quickly, both can be kept in groups and take care of their offspring and are quite easy to keep. unless im really missing something in the picture, i think the economics of it will be comparable, so both can work even if customers try to keep costs down for the feeders they buy.

1/2 lb rabbits are equivilent to large rats so smaller rabbits would possibly be a resonable food

LOL if I'm going to go to the trouble to breed and raise feeder rabbits, they'll go into my crock pot, not into my snakes. Rabbit is good eating. :D

You can do both depending on what breed you get. If you get 4 female and 2 males to start then you can breed 1 group to start for human and the other group for BP. I have actually looked into this because it would help supplement meat supply for my family. After the first group for humans is large enough you set aside 2 females and a male to breed further and the others go in the freezer. On th BP group depending on how many snakes you have then you use as you need till they are gone or too big then you breed those that are left. You can also use the manure for your garden and have all natural fertilizer which will help bring down cost there. Also your raw veggie scraps can be used to supplement the rabbit food diet. So if it's done right and you go for like a New Zealand breed its more cost effective than rats because you eat the rabbits too. Just remember every now and then you need to give the does a break or put them into the freezer or stew pot before they get too old cause the meat can go tough.

Yay for bringing back a dead zombie thread. This is almost 2 years old.

Anyway, getting your BP to eat rabbit is one of the main problems. I've offered rabbit since this thread, but none of my balls recognize them as food.

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Originally Posted by satomi325

Yay for bringing back a dead zombie thread. This is almost 2 years old.

Anyway, getting your BP to eat rabbit is one of the main problems. I've offered rabbit since this thread, but none of my balls recognize them as food.

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Lol! Maybe the zombie rabbit dance is different than the zombie rat dance?

Since this was resurrected, it got me curious...

Is there any truth to this "rabbits are steroids" thing? I track down are devour every scrap of BP knowledge I can get my hands on, and this is the first time I've ever heard of rabbits being some kind of ball python super growth fuel. Is there any way to verify it?

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Originally Posted by patientz3ro

Lol! Maybe the zombie rabbit dance is different than the zombie rat dance?

Since this was resurrected, it got me curious...

Is there any truth to this "rabbits are steroids" thing? I track down are devour every scrap of BP knowledge I can get my hands on, and this is the first time I've ever heard of rabbits being some kind of ball python super growth fuel. Is there any way to verify it?

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I offered live kits. Lol
But that's still a funny joke.

I don't know anyone personally who feeds rabbits to their balls, but I can see how they could grow faster and larger on rabbits. Think of how much a BP grows once its switched off mice to rats. They generally grow larger in a shorter time frame than mouse fed BPs. And there tends to be a significant growth spurt from switching from mice to rats.

Its not so much a difference in nutrition, but rather a difference in quantity.
Even with the slower metabolism of adults, it seems logical to assume rabbit does the same thing in this case.
A snake really never stops growing after all. It just tends to dramatically slow.

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Originally Posted by satomi325

Anyway, getting your BP to eat rabbit is one of the main problems. I've offered rabbit since this thread, but none of my balls recognize them as food.

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Good point, considering all of the trouble keepers have getting balls to switch from mice to rats, I'm not sure taking the time to switch an adult over to rabbits is worth it.

OTOH my BCI's would probably switch without any effort whatsoever on my part.

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Originally Posted by satomi325

They generally grow larger in a shorter time frame than mouse fed BPs. And there tends to be a significant growth spurt from switching from mice to rats.

Its not so much a difference in nutrition, but rather a difference in quantity...

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Interesting. I guess the question is, how much IS due to nutrition? Ajja is only slightly less than 3.5 feet at less than 2yrs old. My scale is dead the moment, but she's easily >2.5in in diameter. She gets 4 to 5 mice per meal, but that's mainly because we play with her food. I wonder what would happen...

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Originally Posted by bcr229

Good point, considering all of the trouble keepers have getting balls to switch from mice to rats, I'm not sure taking the time to switch an adult over to rabbits is worth it.

OTOH my BCI's would probably switch without any effort whatsoever on my part.

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I switched from live to F/T by "brain scenting." Easiest thing in the world. If I switch to rats, I plan to do the same thing. I'd bet rats to rabbits would work too. I swear, it's magic!


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