VENTURESOME SEARCH FOR FREE RABBIT FOOD

An Adventurous search for free rabbit food

Earlier this year I had worried about one particular group of bunnies in my herd. They eat almost anything; human food, scraps, woods, shrubs, leaves, greens, grasses, roots etc. Surprisingly, the rabbits proved my worrying about them wrong; they never fell or showed any sign of illness. They lived on munching, munching, grazing day after day, jumping-stretching in the air now and then. Every day was fun for the bunnies as they grazed outside on the forest of green pasture behind my home. 

Then came the dry season. Green grasses and leafy shrubs withered away leaving the bunnies and I wondering what to do; the search for new source of food begins. I start testing scrap kitchen and farm wastes. The rabbits responded positively, grew better and healthier.  From that time on I found a cheap and cost effective way of feeding my bunnies without tempering with their health.

During the first week of search for alternative feeding for the rabbits, I used watermelon backs to feed them. They ate everything and where looking for more the first day. I was not moved by their wanting more; dam their pretty and innocent faces. Too much of it could upset their stomach. Since it contains a lot of water, and it was new to them, I had to introduce it in bits.
Once a day for seven days, I collect the watermelon backs, remove the rotten ones, strain water from the good ones after washing and serve to the bunnies.

The following week (week 2), I decided to add another scrap material to their feed. This plant has many vines, grows well in dry season and has many green leaves that are used in Nigeria to prepare different kinds of soup. It is called fluted pumpkin, popularly known as Ogu in Nigeria. The vines and leaves of this plant are rich in numerous vitamins including K, A and B Vitamins. The leaves can be costly so I decided to get the seedlings and plant them. They grow very nicely in dry and hot weather unlike other leafy plants. When it was time for harvest, I use the leaves for my soup and the vines, which were tough, fibrous, and less nutritious I give to the bunnies. The vines were just tough enough for the bunnies to grind and wear down their ever-growing teeth and to provide important fiber for bowel activity. The bunnies enjoyed the vines together with the watermelon backs.

On the third week (week 3), a friend of mine told me he had been using dried peels of yam, potato and cassava combined together to feed his bunnies. At first, I was hesitant about the use of cassava peels; I did not want to poison my bunnies with poisonous cassava. However, my friend convinced me and I tried it. The result was mind blowing.
And each time I go to collect the cassava peels I make sure to ask if the cassava was the poisonous type.
The peels do not need to be washed unless they are very dirty. I dry them on a clean surface outside. When they are dry and crisp, I give each of my bunnies slightly less than a hand full each day.

Going into the fourth week (week 4) of my rabbit feeding adventure, I discovered there has always been many scrap materials left in the farm after harvest, which am sure, will not be bad for my bunnies, to keep them busy. I made a list of the possible scraps I could get not far from me. They included:

1. Corn stalks and dry leaves – from the corn farm in my backyard 
2. Groundnut (peanut): leaves and stems (dried or fresh) – from the groundnut farm beside the road to my brothers school.
3. Soybeans: leaves and stem (dried) – I was not sure of where to get this, but I will ask
4. Beans: leaves and stems (dried) – From my friend’s farm, less than a Kilometer from my house.
5. Sugarcane: leaves (dried or fresh) – From the sugar cane farm by the road to the city center.
6. Dried grass and straw – From the farm

After compiling the above list, I set out to acquire these feed materials with the help of two young boys. By the third day of my search, I was able to count 20 big sacks filled with the listed feed materials. I was happy about this. Shortly after, the worry of storage sets in. I knew that if I did not store these materials properly, they end up getting moldy. I avoided this from happening by emptying all the sacks into one pile in a dry and well-ventilated room, and the materials kept for as long as they lasted.

Other scraps I know other people are using but haven’t tried yet include:

1. Rice bran
2. Corn, millet, guinea corn and groundnut chaff 
3. Timothy grass (dried or green)

It was a delight to be able to find very cheap and almost free way of feeding and growing my rabbits without much effort especially as things are now the way they are; the country in a recession and only God knows when she will come out of it. The prices of food items, grains and crops have more than doubled with the help inflation. The hardship we are going through is a call for ingenuity in our homes and in our society. 

This was my little ingenuity: raise meat rabbits at no cost!