I'm sorry that I haven't checked in on you. I've been fighting a bug and my husband has been sick.
So, I've been fine in the morning and napping away my afternoons.
Gidget is just adorable. I don't know where you find yours, but gosh, they are all so cute.
RedSky is right, Elwood has some competition.
Everyone is doing so well. Let's talk about the basic Frankenprey menu. You're ready to move onto that menu:
First, you want a minimum of three proteins.
7-9 meals will be Bone In meats. Bone In is the Non Weight bearing bones of an animal the size of a chicken or smaller.
Quail, Cornish game hen, chicken/duck/turkey wings and rabbit are some good choices.
3-4 meals are Muscle Meats:
One full meal must be Heart. Chicken/duck/pork/beef/rabbit are the easiest to find.
Gizzards are a Muscle Meat and they are great for cleaning teeth and building jaw strength.
I buy duck gizzards. It gives me another protein, without buying pricey duck.
That leaves two meals for beef/pork/turkey or other meats.
Mine don't care very much for beef, so I use a ground beef and mix an egg into it. That gives me a red meat, which is high in Iron and Vitamin B and egg for Omega 3's and to help with grooming. Eggs help them process fur that can get stuck in their throat from overgrooming.
Organ meals:
One organ meal must be Liver plus another organ
One organ meal must be Liver plus another organ plus a half meal of Heart (which is a muscle meat)
Organs are defined as secreting organs.
Liver/kidney/spleen/thymus/pancreas and brains.
The idea is that with Frankenprey, is to mimic what they eat with whole prey.
So, the overall weekly menu is ten percent heart
five percent liver and five percent other organ.
Liver is full of Vitamin A. It can build up in their system, so stick to the five percent.
Heart has taurine, which is water soluable. So, we don't have to worry about an overage of taurine.
Taurine is essential for ferrets. It is important for their central nervous system, brain function and especially for their syesight. Too little can lead to blindness. So, it is important that they have their ten percent of Taurine in the weekly menu.
Ferrets on raw will not need to eat as often as on kibble. Observe your ferrets and you will find that generally they will eat the most at one meal and eat a little less at the second meal.
Mine eat the most at breakfast. I leave food out all day long, and when I put out their dinner, I pick up their breakfast plates. Then I pull out their breakfast to defrost for the morning.
In the morning, I pick up their dinner plates and put their breakfast out. Then I pull out their dinner to defrost.
Boys generally eat 3-4 ounces a day. Girls eat maybe 2 ounces a day. They eat a little more in the winter and a little less in the spring.
Gidget who is a tummy with teeth may happily eat you out of house and home. Don't worry, she will slow down.
Each new protein is rather like starting over. You will want to coax them and hand feed them.
Getting them use to bones is a little scarey, but they will get use to them.
In the beginning, crush the bones up into tiny pieces.
Here is a before and after picture of what I did with Quail:
One way to approach bone is to feed them three or four bone meals in a row. Ferrets eat better as they become familiar with food.
I built a basic menu and stuck with that for the first month or so. They ate much better as they became use to these foods.
Here is a picture of my basic menu. Later, I bought a small whiteboard and put it on the fridge. Now, I just refer to it each day and can easily change out foods based on what I have in the freezer. I just follow the Frankenprey guidelines to make sure that each day, they get what is scheduled for that day. Whether it's a Bone In day, Muscle meat day or Organ day. On organ days, I follow the organ meal with a bone in meal to help firm poops:
This is my Juliet approving the menu:
One small note. You mentioned chicken necks. They might be a little tough for them in the beginning. Let them build some jaw strength and get used to eating bones and then you can include the necks.
I hope this helps. Any questions so far?
You've been doing great. Very nice job ferrenting.
:thumbsup: