Considering Rabbits

[rainpetal2012]

Seriously considering raising rabbits for SHTF meat. I'll be seeking advice on how to feed rabbits should feed stores become unavailable or too expensive.
A bit about my situation: I live on a fully fenced half acre in Panama, near the equator; read that as High 80's to high 90's year round, both day and night, with high humidity, and at least an hour of rain daily for about 8 months of the year. The 'yard' is planted in st. augustine grass (about 1/8 acre) and the other 3/8 acre is in various grasses, banana & papaya, nance fruit (aka hogberry), a mint bush, moringa & mango. I haven't planted guandu (pigeon peas) in the yard, but could easily add that as it grows effortlessly.
I have a small flock of chickens for both eggs & meat, and I am not shy about processing my animals for the dinner table when needed.
So then, down the the question... First, do I have enough diversity in the yard to feed rabbits if the menu only included the plants mentioned, and if so, how many breeding rabbits could that effectively sustain? Would that number of rabbits provide me with enough meat to cook one or two rabbits weekly, assuming that those rabbits are about eight weeks of age?

 

[Rabbits by Accident]

I have no idea to the answers of your questions, but I'm interested in your situation. Heat is an issue with rabbits, and here in Texas it's getting to be 100+ every day lately. I set up a water misting hose. I'm wondering with the daily rainfall, do you also get a breeze? is it dry enough to evaporate water? If you put fabric draped over one side of your rabbits, the rain would wet it and the wind would dry it and the evaporative cooling would be an asset. This is probably not of interest to you at this point LOL. I'm curious to see what answers you get to your actual questions.

Anyway, welcome to Rabbit Talk

- Liz

 

[hotzcatz]

Tropical rabbit raising can be done entirely by foraged feeds since there's no winter to kill everything off. However, the heat may be a problem for your buck's fertility. I'd hesitate on the mango, that may not be good for bunnies, but I've not looked it up. Bunnies can eat banana leaves but not all of them like it. Can you grow ti? (Cordyline terminalis) Bunnies adore ti leaves and will eagerly eat it. Papaya is good for bunnies, most grasses are good for bunnies. We have some of the big grasses - Guinea, elephant and Reznor, which are great bunny feed. Moringa is good for bunnies and they like to eat it. Can you grow mulberry? That grows well here and is a good bunny feed.

How about getting a buck and a doe, having a litter and seeing how effective your yard is at feeding them? You should be able to keep a few rabbits, at least. As you get more planted, you can increase the amount of rabbits.

Does anyone near you have rabbits? If you can get local rabbits, they'd most likely be able to breed in hotter weather.

 

[Nibbles]

Welcome, have you decided to push through with rabbits?