I'm looking at rabbits from my normal reptile prey supplier. The best $/lb price is on the largest rabbits, but I wanted to feed them whole, and don't want to overfeed, or have Isis get sick from eating too much in one sitting.

Does anyone have an idea of what the edible percentage of a whole rabbit would be? The medium rabbits are on sale for $5.50 each, but that's still $1.83 per lb average (2-4lb rabbits). The largest rabbits are 12 each, but weight 10-12lbs each.

Ive never heard of feeding real animals to huskies, is this common?

Domingo wrote:

I'm looking at rabbits from my normal reptile prey supplier. The best $/lb price is on the largest rabbits, but I wanted to feed them whole, and don't want to overfeed, or have Isis get sick from eating too much in one sitting.

Does anyone have an idea of what the edible percentage of a whole rabbit would be? The medium rabbits are on sale for $5.50 each, but that's still $1.83 per lb average (2-4lb rabbits). The largest rabbits are 12 each, but weight 10-12lbs each.

That's a great price for whole prey rabbits, and they can eat the entire animal. At that size I'd just buy them and cut them up into multiple smaller meals. Another thing you can do is a gorge meal one day and skip feeding altogether the next day. My boy is 50 lbs and normally eats 1 lb per day of raw meat, but when I do a 'gorge' meal I keep it to between 3-4 lbs and feed much smaller meals (about 1/2 a pound) the day before and after.

brady.law wrote:

Ive never heard of feeding real animals to huskies, is this common?

Raw feeding is very common, browse around this forum and look around the web for more information on it.

Is your supplier local, or internet and ship frozen?

Are these rabbits already dead or is Isis going to get to hunt them down?!

Juno and Bleeker have hunted down 4 in our yard, and I saw a near miss yesterday. I'd like to let them have rabbit, too, but not the kind running around with worms.

I'm figuring they are dead already, but this brings up a new question in my mind: In the eyes of others on this forum, would it be cruel to have the huskies hunt prey in an enclosed area for their food? Would this strengthen their prey drive? Is it cruel to feed a snake a live mouse? To feed a toad live crickets?

To me: Yes. Yes. No (ish?). No.

I'm going to run the risk of being the jerk-male here, but I don't see it as cruel to let a husky hunt down prey in an enclosed area. We buy toys and stuff to stimulate their mind while the eat because we took away the whole hunting aspect of eating. Why not let them have the real thing once in awhile?

I also think that YES it would increase their prey drive, but it might also let you teach when it's ok and when it's not to initiate a "hunting session." Just like most people believe the best way to teach a dog not to bark is to first teach them to bark on command then to stop on command. It might be best to teach "hunt" first then "no hunt" after. So the prey drive might be stronger, but perhaps more controlled?

I don't think feeding the mouse and crickets to the snake and toad are any more or less cruel than letting the dog have a hunting session. This just spurred a whole conversation at work and the boys tend to agree, let the dog get it's mental and physical exercise.

And also just to spur conversation. If someone owned a wolf sanctuary, and fed them Bison. Would it still be okay to let them hunt down the Bison and kill it?

I've been watching Frozen Planet, and saw this happen in the wild. I'm just wondering if there is a cutoff somewhere (in maybe mental capacity perhaps?) that changes from okay to cruel.

Now, let's go one evil step further. Say there was a wild cat sanctuary, and they wanted to pick up stray dogs to feed them?

Also, that's a great point on teaching hunting. IT would be great to be able to tell the pups "It's only okay to chase if I let it out of THIS cage."

And if this is off-base, someone speak up and I'll stop. Just had questions pop into my head, and wondering others' opinions.

Also, trying to get my post count up!

Tccgold wrote:

(in maybe mental capacity perhaps?) that changes from okay to cruel.

I think this is everything, mental and emotional capacity is the determining factor. As pet owners we tend to anthropomorphize our pets, we like to think they aren't the same as "wild animals."

On that point, I think most people that have rabbits as pets would say they have an amazing mental and emotional capacity, and would be appalled by the thought of recreational rabbit hunts for your huskies. Probably compare it to fox hunts.

Again, being the devil's advocate, these thoughts are meant for discussion and don't necessarily reflect my actual opinion.

Ah, yes, I'm sure the rabbits do. I was referencing the mental and emotional capacity of the owner (us). The line between cruel and natural is determined by the individual's mental and emotional capacity, not the animals'.

I would say that society in general, however, would find it wrong and cruel.

I view Rabbits as more of a prey animal than a pet. So feeding my dogs rabbit doesn't bother me too much. i've seen whole frozen ones in foodstores here and i'll have to say. It's a little creepy.

Personally, I feel it's inappropriate to unleash a live rabbit and let the dog give chase. Our dogs aren't seasoned hunters and would probably put the Rabbit through more pain than is necessary. Feeding live prey isn't something I would be a part of. Others can do what they want, I personally don't think it's appropriate when the animal is subjected to unnecessary suffering.

arooroomom wrote:

Our dogs aren't seasoned hunters and would probably put the Rabbit through more pain than is necessary ... I personally don't think it's appropriate when the animal is subjected to unnecessary suffering.

Very valid points!

I've always thought about getting a fast R/C buggy or something, that could help simulate the hunt, but on the grass, could be way too bumpy to control, and would end up either hurting a pup, or end up through a window. And I don't have the money to build a roller coaster track, like in dog racing, but that would be fun too.

Maybe a pulley system across the yard with the meat hanging... sure I'd get complaints from the neighborhood though.

rileyflorence wrote:

arooroomom wrote:

Our dogs aren't seasoned hunters and would probably put the Rabbit through more pain than is necessary ... I personally don't think it's appropriate when the animal is subjected to unnecessary suffering.

Very valid points!

Exactly why I feel it would be cruel. Just butcher the rabbit if you have to.

I use to hunt rabbits they're great to eat but I always went for the one shot one kill, if I didn't think I could pull it off I'd pass on the shot.

Nothing deserves to suffer ....thats why I got divorced once.

This is also precisely why I don't ever plan on bow-hunting. I only shoot traditional bows, not the fancy compounds with all the gizmos and gadgets. I don't think I'd be able to get a clean shot in the moment of the hunt, and I don't think it's fair to do that. If I ever pick up hunting I'll use a gun or at least a really fancy compound bow, but neither of those interest me.

Len, was that to save your suffering, or hers?

Our whole hunting party bought into the one shot one kill that ANY ethical hunter would. However, every once in a while, someone would end up inviting a "trustworthy" friend that would shoot through trees or something. That would get both parties kicked out of camp for sure.

Well, this ended up as an interesting conversation.

First, I am doing the gorge and starve, but 2-3lbs of meat isn't quite the same as a 10lb rabbit. The source I'm going through is online, not sure if it's against the tos to link or not, but it's www.rodentpro.com. They ship frozen and I've had great luck with them with the snakes. Always clean, dry, flash frozen prey animals.

As for the live feeding vs frozen thawed, I have strong feelings on that. Not that I have any issue with hunting and killing the food items, since snakes and dogs are close enough to wild animals to still naturally know how to kill quickly and easily, but it causes a lot of un-needed risk to your animals.

Mice and rats can do some damage to a snake. My oldest female has some scars on her from before I knew better. Even if they immediately strike and wrap, the rat will still try to bite as it is squeezed, and can rip a couple scales off in the process. As for rabbits, they have sharp claws and a pretty strong kick. An older rabbit could kill a snake with a well placed kick, and I'm sure it could cut up a dog.

Once you add to that, the fact that living rodents, even from the best of sources, can carry parasites which are easily destroyed by freezing, and the fact that both snakes and dogs are designed to be able to eat pre-killed (sometimes rotting) meat, it takes away any real "need" to feed live.

While I wouldn't call it cruel to feed live, I'd say that it's an unnecessary risk to take, with the only benefit of causing controversy.

**There are a few species of snake that are not designed to eat frozen/thawed, but a pre-killed should work. There are VERY few snakes who absolutely refuse to eat frozen/thawed, and I fully support feeding them live, over letting them starve to death.

Question on feeding whole carcuses: Would you feed as a normal feeding, with the bowl where they would normally eat? Or would you let them go to their spot in the yard and let them munch down on it?

I would chop it up into a few pieces. I order from rodentpro for my snake food and I never even thought about it for the dogs! Their prices are much lower than where I get rabbits from now!

When I'm feeding a whole prey item I have a towel that each dog eats on. They know that they have to keep the food on the towel. If I put it in a bowl they just take it out and put it on the floor. The towel saves me from having to clean the floor every time I feed a meal.

Tccgold wrote:

Len, was that to save your suffering, or hers?

Why mine of course!

We always feed the dogs in their crates. Isis eats much faster, and gets less food, so she's normally done for 10 minutes before Dante is done. That makes it easy to clean up and makes them happier to go into their crates.

Tccgold wrote:

Question on feeding whole carcuses: Would you feed as a normal feeding, with the bowl where they would normally eat? Or would you let them go to their spot in the yard and let them munch down on it?

As you can see from the responses already, that is a matter of personal preference. Inside I've fed: in a bowl, on newspaper, and on a cutting board. Outside I've fed: in a bowl, on a cutting board, and directly on the grass. My dogs chow down regardless, and the majority of the time I give them food in a bowl or on a cutting board they take it out anyway and eat it in the grass.

Thanks everyone. We've been doing raw, but it's mostly been butchered meat already.

One more question, though. If feeding carcuses like this, are there any cons to leaving the fur and skin on? Does the fur just pass through? Or would it be better to skin the rabbits?

Thanks again. My wife is buying into this too, looking o order next week after payday.

I'd assume the hair would pass through but you need to remember that anything they eat has the potential for blockage.