Question Regarding Wild Rabbit

[MajickSprings]

My sisters roommate killed a wild rabbit this morning to give to me for my 8 foot red tail boa. What I'm wanting to know is if I were to freeze it for a while (at least a week) would it be safe to feed to him? Thanks!

[C.m.pyrrhus]

Honestly I would not risk it. I would play it safe and just feed large rats. I have used caught and frozen WC K rats for some of my snakes before, but these were WC snakes and I used them to help switch finicky eaters. Buying frozen rats is the way to go, and risking your boa is certainly not worth the free meal.

[mark129er]

Freezing may kill bacteria and other parasites but what if the rabbit ingested poison or some other toxin? I wouldn't chance it either.

[reverendsterlin]

I take the other route, here rabbits other than jacks are common food for people, granted cooking changes things a small bit. Boils down to the F&G guys would tell us of any problems in the wild population. I do freeze to near 0 F on any I get before feeding them off.

[BigPlaya]

Nope, I wouldnt risk it either. A rat is only 5 or 6 bucks. Definately worth a healthy snake.

[Linds]

Freezing will kill any parasites, however it is not effective against killing bacteria (in fact many labs will use the freezer to store bacteria), nor will it do anything if that rabbit has ingested anything harmful. Captive snakes should eat captive bred food ;)

[NewLineReptile]

I agree with Linds

Brandon

[MajickSprings]

Main reason I was wanting to find out is because I currently have some feeder rat babies BUT they are only 4 weeks old. Peanut would eat the whole litter alone in one setting. There are absolutely no pet stores out here so just going and buying a couple of large rats or even a rabbit is out of the question.

Man I hate where I live O_o

[Invictus]

Getting rats and rabbits shipped to you is very easy.

[eyespy]

If there's farmland, golf courses, yards with lots of landscaping, etc. within 10 miles of where the rabbit was found that rabbit is probably full of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides. They tend to accumulate in body fat and the liver and neither freezing nor cooking will reduce the toxicity levels.

I woulndn't risk it.

[MajickSprings]

Ok. Thanks guys. I just wanted to be sure first before doing anything with this now very frozen rabbit. Looks like I'm just going to toss it out now :)

[BOAS_N_PYTHONS]

MAJICKSPRINGS:

I am understanding this rabbit is wild from nature, if yes I would avoid feeding anything from the wild where you have no idea where that animal was or if it is clean or safe to feed, even if it is dead that do not make it any safer. Find a reliable breeder and clean outfit.

Cya...

Tony

[munchy]

i agree. very bad idea. also how was the rabbit killed? if it was shot with any kind of gun or pellet gun, it will have traces of lead in it and that cant be good for snakes. but either way, its not a good idea. like invictus said, you can get them shipped to your door easy enough.

[chas*e]

Not a good idea..who knows what the rabbit ate before it died...poison,pestiside laiden vegetables.....be careful

[Scotty Allen]

For what it's worth, a friend of mine many years ago kept a huge African Rock Python on a diet consisting primarily of road killed jacks and cotton tails. I watched this snake grow for a number of years, wild rabbits certainly did not harm him any. Most were frozen before feeding, but not always.

[eyespy]

How do you know the rock was fine? Did it have bloodwork to monitor developing toxicity? Most animals that die from ingesting toxins show no sign of illness until very shortly before they die. Death is the first sign anything was wrong in about 85% of cases brought in for necropsy.

Snakes have such slow metabolisms it can take years for toxins to kill them, even if it was a one-time ingestion of a near-fatal dose.

[UpscaleBoas]

nooooooooo....don't do it...don't risk your pets life to save 10 bucks....when it comes to feeding rabits..you can honestly ask your self would you feed it to your kids....if yes then go...wild rabit?