Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all, I have a quick question. I breed my own rats at this time for my snakes. But I am having a hard time breeding enough rats, and growing them out to large enough size for my boas. I currently have 8 female breeders and two males.

My questions is should I breed more rats, or start breeding rabbits?

Is there an easy way to breed rabbits???

I am currently feeding:
adult dumeril female
yearling dumeril male
yearling brazilian red tailboa female
young adult brazilian red tail boa male
Large Adult female Guyana red tail
yearling purple albino retic male

new retic, and suri to come soon..

Thanks,
Ed

boas do well on rats. retics, however, should be started on rabbit pinks as soon as they can. rabbits are very nutritious and the quicker you convert the easier and better it is for them
-----
retic is king of kings

1.0 Tiger Retic
1.0 Albino Tiger Retic
0.1 Striped Tiger Retic (het albino)
0.1 Salmon Boa
1.0 Albino Boa
0.1 False Water Cobra

thanks reticguy I think I am just gonna start with a couple rabbits, and my rats.

Makes sence to put everyone who can take on the size of a rabbit on them.

thanks,
Ed

generally, when a retic gets to be able to take a small rat, you can get them on rabbit pinks.
-----
retic is king of kings

1.0 Tiger Retic
1.0 Albino Tiger Retic
0.1 Striped Tiger Retic (het albino)
0.1 Salmon Boa
1.0 Albino Boa
0.1 False Water Cobra

What are your guys thoughts on feeding chicken, ducks, quail, etc... Just exercising my options.

thanks!

ill offer my opinion here. while most people dont agree or like feeding anything other than rabbits. i like to mix up the diet a little (to the snakes that will eat anything). i dont feed much else other than rabbits, but maybe like a 3 or 4 times a year, i like to mix in a chicken, pig or goat. my tics i have now are extremely picky eaters. i am having a heck of a time converting them onto bigger prey items than rats. my big female i finally got on guinea pigs, at least that will start putting some size on her and they get good size bigger than rats. but if possible, i like to mix up prey items a little bit
-----
retic is king of kings

1.0 Tiger Retic
1.0 Albino Tiger Retic
0.1 Striped Tiger Retic (het albino)
0.1 Salmon Boa
1.0 Albino Boa
0.1 False Water Cobra

Ed,
Raising rabbits is not too hard. Stick with the commercial meat breeds, New Zealands or Californians. To make it easy on yourself do it outside with the cages raised off the ground, that way there are no trays to clean. There is plenty of information on the internet about raising meat rabbits. It is more of an issue of space than time and money.
As far as the numbers go you can expect 4-6 litters a year per doe, these should be 6 kits a litter. One buck per 6 does is a good ratio. Anyway, you get the idea. If you go this route start off small 1.2 and build up. Hope some of this helps.
josh

Thanks for the post. I on the same page as you. I have been speaking to a few rabbit breeders and have some good knowledge. One question I have for you is about the using no trays. Doest the waste just fall on the ground? Do you just shovel it out? And everyone says the urine is the worst ever.. Doesn't that stink after a while?

thanks!

The "bunny beans" build up on the ground. You can shovel it out every few months. It is great fertilizer. You may be able to get a gardner to clean it out for just so they can have it. Since my rabbits are in the back yard the smell is negligible. This could be the case because the cages are over soft dirt and the urine passes through. If they were over cement it may be a very different case.
josh