Thorny plants

[Frosted Rabbits]

I have noticed-- that my rabbits will eat the thorns of the blackberry, raspberry and wild rose if the thorns and stem they are on is new growth. In some plants, thorns are 'modified' leaves-so I think that is why the rabbits are eating these thorns-- they have not yet matured enough to be a problem, are still soft and easily chewed.

 

[Dreamerz]

I have been wondering about the thorns since I was informed wild roses are food for rabbits. Some how that does not sound very comfortable, their poor lil mouths must get scratched up. I had been thinking of stripping the thorns off of what I was gonna give my rabbits.

Jane

 

[MaggieJ]

You can strip off the thorns or just take your shears and nip off the leaflets for the rabbits, discarding the thorny stems. The little prickles on the leaflets should not cause the rabbits a problem.

 

[eco2pia]

Mine eat everything and seem to not mind them at all, I only try not to put long branches in that will be on the floor--I figure that in that case they take up a lot of space and I worry more about them stepping on them or getting poked in the eye. they eat them all up regardless.

I am extra careful in cages with litters, I worry a litter mate may eat one end and fling a long branch to get to something tasty and smack a sibling with the other end. I try to keep the pieces short and manageable. Once in a while they will leave an especially tough branch and I just take it back out the next day.

Their mouths are very agile and able to work around the thorns neatly, they are built to eat around them---born in a brier patch, right?

 

[arachyd]

Mine all enjoy their roses and berries with thorns. I only have to trim them for the angoras. It's not easy removing a stem with thorns from an English angora coat.

 

[akane]

Rabbits don't seem to notice. For a couple years I lived in a town over run by cottontails and in the winter you could sit at restaurants and watch them eating the thorn bushes out the windows. I even saw them sitting in the island between drive thru lanes at Hardees eating thorn bushes. Those rabbits live all winter on the various types of roses and other tough and thorny bushes that people plant as decoration. If it was actually injuring them you'd think a bunch would be dying from infected mouth sores.

 

[Dreamerz]

It's not easy removing a stem with thorns from an English angora coat.

I found out today the hard way this goes for Lionheads also :angry: I now have two lionheads who no longer have manes

Jane

 

[Anntann]

Mine all enjoy their roses and berries with thorns. I only have to trim them for the angoras. It's not easy removing a stem with thorns from an English angora coat.

:rotfl:
When I started with angoras (I have them in a colony setting) I gave them both raspberry canes and branches from the wild roses we have growing here. They're...VERY thick and covered with small thorns. Somewhere is a post about Vienna, the moving rose bush... :lol:

I had fed them the roses before, so they knew they were YUMMY and would hop over to start eating right away. WELL! that day I dropped one in and Vienna ran underneath the pile. She emerged with a huge branch stuck to her wool. She was running around the colony with 2 others running after her trying to catch and eat the mobile buffet. :rotfl: I laughed so hard I couldn't unlatch the gate to go retrieve her.

 

[Dreamerz]

She was running around the colony with 2 others running after her trying to catch and eat the mobile buffet.

That must have been a sight :lol: It would have made a great video, food to go kinda thing.

My three EA are in puppy clip for the warm weather so I wasn't thinking about wool & brambles. Yup, I'm an airhead sometimes ... mane = wool ... lol. I guess it is good that I wasn't planning on showing the two that got hair cuts, hmm ... or is it a shave since it is around their necks. lol.

 

[wdrk7]

In Thailand we feed them thorny bushes . It is ok .

 

[hoodat]

In Thailand we feed them thorny bushes . It is ok .

That's interesting. Hope you don't mind a few questions. There must be a lot of rabbit food plants in Thailand that we in more temperate climates are unfamiliar with. Have rabbits been raised for a long time in Thailand or are they a rather new import? Does the general public accept the meat easily? Could you possibly give us a Thai recipe for rabbit?

 

[Maeonty]

as we are discussing about thorny plants but is anybody know Why do some plants have thorns?
I hope it could be the appropriate reply for this question?

You’ve probably noticed that certain plants, like roses and cacti, have prickly thorns that hurt you if you accidentally touch them! – Ouch! Why do these plants need these scratchy spikes?

The answer depends a little bit on which plant you’re talking about. When it comes to roses, the thorns are mostly there for defense – an animal won’t eat a rose bush if it’s going to get all scratched up during the meal!

Cacti also have their spikes for this same reason, but also for another important reason: The thorns on a cactus are like their replacement for leaves! This helps them to lose less water in the desert heat. And, for cacti with enough spines, they also sometimes help to provide the plant with some shade!

 

[Miss M]

I give ours thoroughly spiky Bull Thistles, and they eat them like candy, thorns and all! The only poking issue I've ever seen was a little 2-week-old baby bun who was nibbling on a piece, and made a funny face when she got a poke in the cheek. :lol:

 

[downonthefarm]

We were over-run with cottontail rabbits last winter. They mowed all of my rose bushes to the ground.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Everything likes rose bushes- we let our horses graze around the house in the spring so they can do the weed-whacking for us, and despite all that grass, they eat the roses! The goats love them too! I haven't fed any to the buns yet, but when I prune them for the winter I'll give it a try.