After ordering some rats today from Rodent Pro I got to looking at the rabbits. The XS rabbits run in the same weight ranges and the L/XL rats. So which one is more nutritional?

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Veronica
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I would suspect the rabbit is, though I can't say with certainty. It would depend on the diet being fed as far as nutrition would be concerned I would speculate as well. I believe the calcium and protein would be higher in the rabbit because the bone and meat ratio is higher.

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.:: Rich ::.

+ Spread The Info

Awesome question. I look forward to an answer; unfortunately I don't have it. I look forward to the responses you get.

What goes into the diet is certainly something to consider and I've thought about that part some.

Rats eat everything! As long as their diet was a lot of healthy everything then they'll be less fatty with more nutritional content than those fed on a "see-food" diet. Lots of different varieties of vitamins and minerals added to their diet even limited to healthy omnivorous diets.

Rabbits being strict vegans process their foods differently but very efficiently. Of course - the quality of food makes an impact here, too. To much high energy foods or low vitamin foods will also leave for fatty and unhealthy bunnies.

What I'm trying to find out is comparing two healthy animals pound for pound...er...ounce for ounce in this case...

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Veronica
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What about guinea pigs? They come slightly larger in the jumbo size and I would imagine have a similar diet to rats. Plus, coming from Rodent Pro, it seems that they take into consideration the diet of the feeder rodent. I read on one of the threads that someone gave their snake chicks or some poultry. I'm not sure how I feel about their feet though so I'm not even going there.

Since large snakes eat hooves, claws and large bones...what are chick feet to a snake? I had one red-tail who loved her only chick...

I would be curious about guinea pigs, too. Those never even crossed my mind!

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Veronica
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I have fed both to my Jungle-Carpet Diamond Cross. He went off his food for longer than normal this winter, so I got a few small rabbits, and he ate them very well. He is now back on rats though, he really likes them better, just wanted a change I guess. The boa wouldn't touch the rabbit. He only wants his rats, the deader the better. All our snakes seem happiest with rats and mice they are afraid of the larger food. Guinea pigs just didn't feel right as food, thought about trying some chicks, but the rabbits worked for what we needed. A friend knew a guy who only fed rabbits to his burmese python, but it often bit the guy instead as he kept it mean and would only open the door to its room to toss the live rabbits in.

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Kat

Rabbits pound per pound will have more meat on them than rats.
The problem with Guinea pigs is that huge head!
Most of their body is skull!

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Thanks Merlin. You made it so obvious...;-). After all - the meat is what converts to energy and growth. Same with the piggies...if I'd only thought about that for a minute or two.

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Veronica
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Looky what someone showed me!! RodentPro.com - Nutrient Composition of Whole Vertebrate Prey

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Veronica
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