Prickly Pear Cactus - Opuntia sp?

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mike17l

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I saw a thread on another forum that mentioned opuntia species as being the "alfalfa of the south" or something like that. I live in deep South Texas (Corpus Christi area) and have unlimited access to Prickly Pear Cactus. I was wondering how safe it is to feed to rabbits and in what quantities it can be feed to rabbits. I recently acquired a small group of california rabbits and am slowly moving them from pellets to a natural diet. I grow buckwheat as a soil conditioner and as a nectar source for the bees. The rabbits have been getting pellets, buckwheat, bermuda grass clippings, some alfalfa hay, some sweet potato, and the odd safe weed in the yard. Any advice on the opuntia would be greatly appreciated. So far I have really enjoyed everything I have read on this site.
 
It's ironic that you've posted this today, as I have today to decide if I want to harvest some fruit from my mum's prickly pear before the frost hits... I didn't even think of them eating the pads, I assumed it would hurt!
 
Yeah, but this topic reminded me to look into info about the fruit, and the pages I've found say that rabbits will eat them in the wild, so those would generally have needles. Which would hurt.

I once fell in my mum's cactus bed. It's about 10ft x 10ft of nothing but cactus. I had spines from the middle of my back down to the back of my knees.
 
Now, I cannot remove all spines, but I can remove most spines from pads, especially from young pads, which I assume would be most palatable. Also, I assume that the ripe fruit would be cherished by the rabbits, it will most likely make them look like they are bleeding, as I have all white rabbits and the fruit gets a very vivid purple/pink color.

OneAcreFarm":1uvbcpt3 said:
Here is a research article that involved the feeding of opuntia...

http://www.lrrd.org/lrrd10/2/luke102.htm

Hope that helps....
Click to expand...

I checked out the article, seems interesting (thanks for the link), but as I transition to an all natural diet, I am looking more at using the cactus as a base food item and not as a supplement. I need to go down to Kingsville and pick Dr. Lukefahr's brain about raising meat rabbits.
 
mike17l":2xqpe6i1 said:
Now, I cannot remove all spines, but I can remove most spines from pads, especially from young pads, which I assume would be most palatable. Also, I assume that the ripe fruit would be cherished by the rabbits, it will most likely make them look like they are bleeding, as I have all white rabbits and the fruit gets a very vivid purple/pink color.

OneAcreFarm":2xqpe6i1 said:
Here is a research article that involved the feeding of opuntia...

http://www.lrrd.org/lrrd10/2/luke102.htm

Hope that helps....
Click to expand...

I checked out the article, seems interesting (thanks for the link), but as I transition to an all natural diet, I am looking more at using the cactus as a base food item and not as a supplement. I need to go down to Kingsville and pick Dr. Lukefahr's brain about raising meat rabbits.
Click to expand...

You can email him, he always takes the time to answer my questions... :)
 
mike17l":3dv2iogv said:
I am looking more at using the cactus as a base food item and not as a supplement. I need to go down to Kingsville and pick Dr. Lukefahr's brain about raising meat rabbits
Click to expand...
Some links about raising rabbits - on natural items. Africa, South America. The use of bananas and bamboo, were just two of the food items, that amazed me. A&M researched sweet potato vines and found that they made a good food stuff, too.
http://www.cd3wd.com/cd3wd_40/vita/rabb ... abbits.htm
http://world-rabbit-science.com/Develop ... roject.htm
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/publ ... atoes.html
http://users.tamuk.edu/kfsdl00/rabb.html
http://honest-food.net/2010/06/29/dining-on-daylilies/
http://thenerdyfarmwife.com/five-uses-for-hollyhocks/
http://www.iherb.org/articles/rose_info.htm + hips, are high in vitamin C
 
OneAcreFarm":3ums12x9 said:
You can email him, he always takes the time to answer my questions... :)
Click to expand...

Ill give him a call soon, he is expecting me to call. He was my genetics professor, I used to buy smaller rabbits from him all the time to feed to a boa I had.

Piper":3ums12x9 said:
Some links about raising rabbits - on natural items. Africa, South America. The use of bananas and bamboo, were just two of the food items, that amazed me. A&M researched sweet potato vines and found that they made a good food stuff, too.
http://www.cd3wd.com/cd3wd_40/vita/rabb ... abbits.htm
http://world-rabbit-science.com/Develop ... roject.htm
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/publ ... atoes.html
http://users.tamuk.edu/kfsdl00/rabb.html
http://honest-food.net/2010/06/29/dining-on-daylilies/
http://thenerdyfarmwife.com/five-uses-for-hollyhocks/
http://www.iherb.org/articles/rose_info.htm + hips, are high in vitamin C
Click to expand...

Thanks Ill look into them.
 
The spines are painful, but the glochids, to me, are the worst part. At the base of the spines are a patch of much smaller, splinter sized spines called glochids. They have recurved tips that makes removal difficult. I believe one method used for glochid removal was to roast the pads over a fire (same with the fruit). You could also peel them off (wearing gloves, of course).
 
I fed some fruit to my rabbits without removing the few prickles that were on it, and they had no problem. I watched their mouths for a few days, to make sure there was nothing festering, but either nothing stuck in, or they were able to remove them themselves by cleaning.
 
At times when opuntia is in active growth the young leaves haven't yet developed spines. That is probably the stage wild rabbits eat them in. I inquired of my Mexican neighbors, who eat them as vegetables, and they said they peel them with a potato peeler and use work gloves to handle the unpeeled pads.
 
You can burn off the spines. We live in Mexico and regularly eat Opuntia pads. They are called Nopales as a food item. You can run the pads over an open flame, burn off all the sines, then dig out the remaining ones with a knife. It is fast and easy.

Opuntia are high in calcium, so take that into account. I can't remember their protein levels off hand, but it is not very high. Lots of fiber, though. And generally, lots of vitamins and trace minerals.
 
OneAcreFarm said:
I think they used a variety with out needles...Opuntia stricta var. stricta...
Click to expand...
There are wild rabbits in Central Wisconsin. With or without needles, they will eat my opuntias. [Mine are the kind with yellow flowers that are hardy here in zone 4b]. They nibble on the edge of the paddle and seem quite adept at avoiding the needles. If they mouth them, they seem to spit them out, so I'm going to put some repellent on my opuntias.
 

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