Pumpkins and pumpkin seeds

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Easy Ears

Easy Ears

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So with Halloween just passing I'm sure a few people (myself included) are wondering about their traditional pumpkins they recently carved and if the seeds are safe to feed to their bunnies.
So my questions are:
Are the seeds safe to feed both raw and cooked?
Can other parts of a traditional pumpkin be fed as well to our bunnies? :bunnyhop:

I know pumpkin seeds can be good for rabbits, but I've only heard of those being the ones that pumpkin pies are made out of. Yes, that's right, large field pumpkins, which are grown for jack-o'-lanterns, are too stringy for baking. Sugar pie pumpkins or other flavorful varieties are used for baking pies. I did not know this until recently! :p (I mean I'm sure you could try it out; I've never done it myself mind you, but I'm not sure if it'd work. ;) )
 
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I remember hearing that cooked pumpkin seeds aren't necessarily harmful to the buns but also loose nutritional value, and aren't as good of a natural dewormer. So we dry ours and give them to our heard, and are also trying a bit of our raw jack o lantern pumpkin. Small amts to start with:)
 
pumpkin seeds are good for rabbits, just dry 'em. they like them better that way anyways, I've found very few rabbits that won't just gobble them up.
 
pumpkin seeds are good for rabbits, just dry 'em. they like them better that way anyways, I've found very few rabbits that won't just gobble them up.
 
macksmom98":249jnc5s said:
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I remember hearing that cooked pumpkin seeds aren't necessarily harmful to the buns but also loose nutritional value, and aren't as good of a natural dewormer. So we dry ours and give them to our heard, and are also trying a bit of our raw jack o lantern pumpkin. Small amts to start with:)
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So you give them dried or raw jack o lantern pumpkin seeds with no problem? Have you noticed it helping with deworming pinworms? That's the only worm problem I'm noticing in my area.... <br /><br /> __________ Sun Nov 01, 2015 5:42 pm __________ <br /><br /> Oh, and let me know if anyone else is feeding the Jack O lantern fruit to their buns with no problems! :) I have a really lumpy pumpkin I'd like to try out.... :lol:
 
I fed a few pieces of jack o lantern "meat" to Pumpkin and Daisy w/o issues :)
Although my to NDs and Guinea Pigs were not fans, lol.
 
Living where we do, we can only carve pumpkins a couple of days before Halloween or they mildew and rot. So we didn't actually get ours done until yesterday afternoon, and I have only tried a small amount and have very little long term experience to know if it works or not. I know they like the seeds, and I mix 4 or 5 in with their food each day along with a tsp or so of boss and some pellets and oatmeal. I found some small little worms in one of the litter pans, but they looked like maybe fly larva or something. I haven't seen anything actually in the cage or on that animal, or actually in any of the feces, just looked like we should have changed the bedding sooner. That being said, when you mentioned pinworms I looked them up. They do look similar to what we have, ours are just smaller. They haven't retuned since I cleaned the box, Lysol sprayed it, and replaced the woodchips, so I am guessing it's not what we have. Hopefully someone else with some helpful experience will comment, but if it was me id say it's worth a try!
 
I've fed lots of pumpkin seeds, raw and cooked. (Mucky's favorite treats are the salty ones sold as human snacks.) Carving pumpkins are definielty as edible to rabbits as pie pumpkins are. Probably better actually, more fiber, less sugar.
Carving pumpkins are also edible to humans. They are not as dense or as sweet as pie pumpkins, but none that I've cooked has ever been "too stringy to bake." They soften up just like any other squash or pumpkin variety I've had. :)


I have specifically used raw organic pumpkin seeds for a pin worm infested rabbit. So far as I was ever able to tell, it cleared them up completely, and they were never a problem again for that doe or her offspring.
I only had her for two litters afterwards, and then returned her to her original breeder. She never reported any problem either.

I'd definitely try them again if I ever came across another rabbit with pin worms..
 
:yeahthat: If you have a jack-o-lantern or field pumpkin that you want to turn into pie, muffins, bread, whatever, just bake the pumpkin or cook it , then blend it in the blender til smooth instead of mashing by hand. Not as sweet as pie pumkins, but still good. Some years my buns don't want to eat the pumkins; this year they are eating all parts happily.
 
This is funny because I gave a piece of our jack-o-lantern to all of our rabbits and everyone of them turned up there nose. Haven't tried the seeds yet but the meat part is a no go with mine :protest:
 
I put small pieces of our Halloween pumpkins in every cage and two days alter I removed said pumpkin pieces from every cage, none appeared to have been tasted or tried at all.
 
coyotejoe":13em04sk said:
I put small pieces of our Halloween pumpkins in every cage and two days alter I removed said pumpkin pieces from every cage, none appeared to have been tasted or tried at all.
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Mine will only eat it if it's cooked first.
 
All pumpkin varieties are just a type of squash. Perfectly safe for herbivores. Whether they like them is another matter and if they've never had any type of squash they may not feel safe trying it. Animals don't like to jump right into a new food for safety reasons. The larger number you have loose in the same area the more likely the food will get tasted and seeing each other taste it more will try it. Individually caged it's common they won't try a food that isn't similar to something else they've had.
 
Zass":3f5mao4u said:
I have specifically used raw organic pumpkin seeds for a pin worm infested rabbit. So far as I was ever able to tell, it cleared them up completely, and they were never a problem again for that doe or her offspring.
I only had her for two litters afterwards, and then returned her to her original breeder. She never reported any problem either.

I'd definitely try them again if I ever came across another rabbit with pin worms..
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How much pumpkin seeds did you use? Like a couple daily for a week? How much and for how long? :)

Since I only have 4 rabbits, I won't be using all my seeds in a hurry...would it be best to stick the unused raw ones in the fridge in a bag (Mold?) or to just dry them.
Do you think dried would work to get rid of pinworms just as good @Zass?

Thanks for all the replies!
 
I used dried seeds sold in the bulk section of a grocery store. I gave an 8 lb rabbit maybe a tablespoon and a half daily for two weeks, and then I followed up with a repeat "treatment" (daily seeds) every other week for a while.
 
Zass":2m3j1j0w said:
I have specifically used raw organic pumpkin seeds for a pin worm infested rabbit. So far as I was ever able to tell, it cleared them up completely, and they were never a problem again for that doe or her offspring.
I only had her for two litters afterwards, and then returned her to her original breeder. She never reported any problem either.

I'd definitely try them again if I ever came across another rabbit with pin worms..
Click to expand...

Zass":2m3j1j0w said:
I used dried seeds sold in the bulk section of a grocery store. I gave an 8 lb rabbit maybe a tablespoon and a half daily for two weeks, and then I followed up with a repeat "treatment" (daily seeds) every other week for a while.
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Sorry....just a little confused.... :? did you use dried or raw seeds to treat the pinworm infestation?

I took my two pinworm infested rabbits to the vet last year (Not the greatest or cheapest solution)
And found pinworms again this year. I think it's coming from my irrigation water. :x :evil:
Anyway, I have a Jack O' lantern pumpkin sitting on my stoop waiting to be cut into.
So do you think feeding them the raw seeds from this JACK O' LANTERN pumpkin would get rid of the pinworms? Would drying them be just as effective? Sorry if it sound like I'm repeating myself, I just want to be absolutely clear. :oops:

__________ Thu Nov 12, 2015 3:34 pm __________

:bunnyhop: <br /><br /> __________ Sat Nov 14, 2015 2:00 pm __________ <br /><br /> I'll be saying "hi" to a rotting pumpkin soon.... :lol: :lol:
 
Chop that pumpkin up, give them a spoonful of the flesh & seeds as is from the pumpkin, then clean the rest of the pumpkin &dry the seeds to use later. If your buns like the (guts" that you gave them with the seeds you can put spoonfuls of it on wax paper, freeze them, then pull them off the wax paper and put them in a ziplock bag in the freezer as treats for later on. (Defrostor microwave to warm before giving it to the buns.) Hope that helps!
 
I had a TERRIBLE time trying to dry pumpkin seeds. Living in a big old farmhouse, we have mice, and my seeds kept walking off, no matter where I put them. So, with that being said, I have been using Grapefruit Seed Extract as a natural wormer. I haven't had any problems with worms, and I never have to argue with them to eat it, because being an extract, it can go into their water. I buy the caplets, and open them up. I fill my water bottles by using gallon jugs, and I put two caplets per gallon jug for two weeks at a time, and then wait a week, and do it again for one week. I repeat the treatment twice a year. I had an issue with my Flemish Giant runt, Squirt, but I hadn't wormed his mom before I bred her, so that was my bad. Since then, I have had no issues. Just a thought. :bunnyhop:
 
JJCRabbitry":3nnotaqj said:
I had a TERRIBLE time trying to dry pumpkin seeds. Living in a big old farmhouse, we have mice, and my seeds kept walking off, no matter where I put them. So, with that being said, I have been using Grapefruit Seed Extract as a natural wormer. I haven't had any problems with worms, and I never have to argue with them to eat it, because being an extract, it can go into their water. I buy the caplets, and open them up. I fill my water bottles by using gallon jugs, and I put two caplets per gallon jug for two weeks at a time, and then wait a week, and do it again for one week. I repeat the treatment twice a year. I had an issue with my Flemish Giant runt, Squirt, but I hadn't wormed his mom before I bred her, so that was my bad. Since then, I have had no issues. Just a thought. :bunnyhop:
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I would be drying them indoors so that shouldn't be a problem. :)
I do use Grapefruit seed extract as well....I wasn't sure if it was working so I decided to try Pumpkins as well. ;)
 

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