Tropical rabbit forage

[Cosima]

I know that there are a lot of threads here about greens that you can and can’t feed to rabbits but all the plants are plants that grow in cold climates and I live in a warm climate therefore I don’t have those plants. can anyone give my a list of herds\plants that I can give to my rabbits that grow in the tropics or am I going to have to experiment?

 

[RabbitsOfTheCreek]

Do you have dandelions? They can also eat Blue Fescue, Feather Grass, and Blue Avena Oat Grass. StackPath

 

[Cosima]

I don’t have dandelions.

 

[MaggieJ]

I know that there are a lot of threads here about greens that you can and can’t feed to rabbits but all the plants are plants that grow in cold climates and I live in a warm climate therefore I don’t have those plants. can anyone give my a list of herds\plants that I can give to my rabbits that grow in the tropics or am I going to have to experiment?

Hi Cosima,

Try googling "tropical forage for rabbits" -- there is lots of info. You really can't expect people living in cooler parts of the world to know your tropical plants.

 

[Cosima]

I suppose

 

[eco2pia]

Angora Rabbits in Hawaii - Hillside Farm Hawaii
Tropical rabbit forage-based feeding?

How about mullberry? Or what I would call sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas). I think both of those do well in the tropics?

I have no idea what grows where you are, but some tropical forages are notoriously nutrient (fat/protein) poor. I know people in costa rica who ship in alfalfa hay for horses because the local forage looks lush and green but the animals get skinny on it. I think this is a real research project, and you should compile a list here for future reference!

I was trying to figure out why it is that tropical forage can be so low nutrient, with all that sun and rain, but I just realized some of our higher nutrient forages are storing food for winter, or making seeds that overwinter--I suspect that having a cold season makes plants behave that way, while the tropics are never cold enough to require it.

 

[MuddyFarms]

The mulberry tree is a great idea. It can be pruned extensively for feeding to rabbits. Do you have any moringa growing there? That is a tree that grows well in hot climates and can be used as a good food source, from what I have read. You can look that up online and search it on this forum.

"Moringa (Moringa oleifera) is native to the Indian subcontinent, and has become naturalized in tropical and subtropical areas around the world." https://www.tfljournal.org/files/Moringa for fodder & spray (screen).pdf

 

[EnglishSpot]

If you have any willows those are good also!

 

[Cosima]

I can grow sweet potatoes were I live and I could try to get mulberry seed. I don’t have willows unfortunately.

 

[arachyd]

Mine always enjoyed bamboo leaves.

 

[Cosima]

Mine always enjoyed bamboo leaves.

I live next to a big island that has bamboo so I can definitely get some

 

[eco2pia]

mine like bamboo too. I found this recently, thought it might be helpful. It is a .pdf on "how to raise rabbits in the tropics on forage". It was pretty fun to read, I especially liked the pics of rabbit cages made of bamboo. However they do not know anything about "naming" rabbits, lol!! check out the pedigree record names!

 

[Cosima]

Thanks

 

[HTAcres]

mine like bamboo too. I found this recently, thought it might be helpful. It is a .pdf on "how to raise rabbits in the tropics on forage". It was pretty fun to read, I especially liked the pics of rabbit cages made of bamboo. However they do not know anything about "naming" rabbits, lol!! check out the pedigree record names!

That is a fascinating read, thank you!!

 

[hotzcatz]

Coconuts and bananas are pretty tasty and nutritious for bunnies. Ti plants, too. They may also be able to eat some types of sea weed, depending on type. What plants do you have available for them to choose from?

 

[hotzcatz]

mine like bamboo too. I found this recently, thought it might be helpful. It is a .pdf on "how to raise rabbits in the tropics on forage". It was pretty fun to read, I especially liked the pics of rabbit cages made of bamboo. However they do not know anything about "naming" rabbits, lol!! check out the pedigree record names!

Thanks for the link, it was interesting. Seems a lot of work to make a hutch out of bamboo and the buns will probably eat their hutch, but bamboo is at least a free material if there's a stand of bamboo nearby.

It was also interesting in that they mentioned avocado fruit and peel are NOT toxic to rabbits, I'd always thought all avocado was toxic to rabbits since one died after eating an avocado leaf. I'm still not sure if they should eat the avos, but maybe I could try some on some of the spare bucks. There's tons of avos here at the moment.

 

[eco2pia]

Thanks for the link, it was interesting. Seems a lot of work to make a hutch out of bamboo and the buns will probably eat their hutch, but bamboo is at least a free material if there's a stand of bamboo nearby.

It was also interesting in that they mentioned avocado fruit and peel are NOT toxic to rabbits, I'd always thought all avocado was toxic to rabbits since one died after eating an avocado leaf. I'm still not sure if they should eat the avos, but maybe I could try some on some of the spare bucks. There's tons of avos here at the moment.

I cannot IMAGINE sharing a precious precious avocado with my rabbits, lol. I even salvage the spoiled ones for guacamole.

 

[hotzcatz]

I cannot IMAGINE sharing a precious precious avocado with my rabbits, lol. I even salvage the spoiled ones for guacamole.

These are buttery Hawaii avocados but we aren't allowed to ship them to the mainland because the mainland avocado growers howl if we do. A decade or two ago they made it illegal to ship avocados to the mainland and now they've changed it, but we're only allowed to ship one variety, Sharwil, to the mainland and only during the month of August or some such silly thing. We'd share if we could.

There's about a hundred different varieties of avocados here. These are a green oval one, mostly smooth skinned with buttery flesh. Not sure what variety they are, the tree was planted way before we bought the property. The tree is huge and really productive.

The avocados can be huge, too. Cracks me up when they have a recipe and discuss how many avocados to use.

Mashed avocado, some sort of citrus juice - lime if we have any, otherwise there's pretty much always lemons on the tree, then a slug of salsa and some minced garlic and that's about it for making guacamole. Generally we need a bigger bowl, too. And LOTS of chips. But, guacamole can be put on or in a lot of different things.

If it's safe to feed these to bunnies, we could save on feed bills for about six or seven months out of the year. Maybe longer since there's some other varieties of avo that are earlier and later than ours. We give away avos when they're in season and then other folks give us whatever falls off of their tree in it's season. If everyone gives from abundance, there's abundance for all.

 

[Cosima]

These are buttery Hawaii avocados but we aren't allowed to ship them to the mainland because the mainland avocado growers howl if we do. A decade or two ago they made it illegal to ship avocados to the mainland and now they've changed it, but we're only allowed to ship one variety, Sharwil, to the mainland and only during the month of August or some such silly thing. We'd share if we could.

There's about a hundred different varieties of avocados here. These are a green oval one, mostly smooth skinned with buttery flesh. Not sure what variety they are, the tree was planted way before we bought the property. The tree is huge and really productive.

The avocados can be huge, too. Cracks me up when they have a recipe and discuss how many avocados to use.

Mashed avocado, some sort of citrus juice - lime if we have any, otherwise there's pretty much always lemons on the tree, then a slug of salsa and some minced garlic and that's about it for making guacamole. Generally we need a bigger bowl, too. And LOTS of chips. But, guacamole can be put on or in a lot of different things.

If it's safe to feed these to bunnies, we could save on feed bills for about six or seven months out of the year. Maybe longer since there's some other varieties of avo that are earlier and later than ours. We give away avos when they're in season and then other folks give us whatever falls off of their tree in it's season. If everyone gives from abundance, there's abundance for all.

I think that I have those avocado.

 

[hotzcatz]

Do your avocados have a variety name? I don't know if the tree here is a specific variety or just a 'wild' avocado. We get a lot of them that are mix and match and not any specific variety. The same with bananas and coconuts. At our last house we had a 'Lehua' avocado, but it was round and purple so it wasn't this type at all. Still tasty, though.

Well, 'they' say bunnies can eat avocado fruit and peel, just not the leaves. I have not personally tried it since I did have one young bunny die after eating an avocado leaf. From that experience, I'd just thought everything avocado would do them in. If you try feeding an avocado to a bunny let me know how it goes. I don't have any spare bunnies at the moment that I'd be willing to test it on.