|
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 19, 2015 15:41:08 GMT -5
My dad suggested that maybe I try feeding the guys beef tripe (he has absolutely no raw feeding experience, he thought maybe it would be cheap, easy for them to chew and a way to offer another type of meat)
Is it worth trying? Should I cut it in slivers? Give whole chunks? Or mix it with chicken to make a soup?
One of my guys is still basically on the soup recipe. He's not too fond of many chunks. The other is eating gizzards, wings and pinkies in addition to chunks of chicken, freeze dried lamb hearts and a thicker soup.
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 19, 2015 16:14:35 GMT -5
Tripe that comes in a natural form and is unprocessed, is green and smelly. Most ferrets won't get near it. It's rather expensive and is low in nutrients. At least it is expensive in my area.
I'm sure that Dad (not your father, your SO, right) means well and it's great that he's getting involved, but I wouldn't bother with tripe. The white tripe is processed and you do want to avoid that.
Based on what you've listed your guys eating, I would suggest pork as your next protein.
Pork is high in fat. Fat equals energy for ferrets. It's mild in flavor and inexpensive. Most ferrets take to it easily.
Each new protein means convincing them that this is really food. So, don't give up if they don't like something right away. It takes coaxing and persuasion.
Franco and Loki seem to be doing well at learning to eat raw.
I'm not too sure if you've had a chance to look at the Frankenprey menu or if you want to do a combination of Frankenprey and Whole prey.
Here's a quick rundown of Frankenprey:
7-9 meals of Bone In meals per week.
Bone In is the non weight bearing bones of an animal the size of a chicken or smaller.
Think Quail, Cornish game hen, chicken wings, duck wings, turkey and rabbit. Adult mice are a meal, a pinkie is a treat.
3-4 meals of Muscle meat:
Heart is a muscle meat and they need ten percent of their weekly consumption to be Heart. It has taurine in it and is essential for brain and nerve function and also essential for their eyesight.
One meal of Muscle meat will be Heart.
That leaves beef, turkey, pork, lamb, goat and other exotic larger animals for muscle meat.
Gizzards are a muscle meat.
Organ meals:
1 meal of Liver plus another Organ
1 meal of Liver plus another Organ (1/4 liver + 1/4 other organ + 1/2 meal of Heart (muscle meat)
Organs are the secreting organs of an animal.
Liver/brains/pancreas/thymus/kidney/spleen are all secreting organs.
Frankenprey is designed to mimic eating whole prey.
The percentages of organs are important.
Taurine is water soluable and eliminated from their system.
Liver is full of vitamin A and is retained by their system. Too much is not good, so it's important to not overfeed liver.
Does that all make sense to you? You can build your own switching thread and the Mentors will pop in and offer advice. You can follow along with a Mentor/Member switching thread (you can't post to it) or you can sign up for a Mentor to help you make a full switch and offer advice and support.
I'm glad the boys are doing so well. You sound like you've gotten off to a good start.
(dance)
|
|
|
|
Post by Jeremy's Boggle on Jan 19, 2015 19:05:26 GMT -5
Mine eat green tripe when available. Most of them love it and it seems to help keep my older and IBD ferrets stools nice an firm. Mixing it in soup might make it easier to introduce if you decide to try it. But it does smell.
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 19, 2015 19:16:53 GMT -5
This time Dad was my actual dad..haha He has some butchers he does business with so I was hoping he could hook me up with some discounted organs, he suggested trying tripe because it's cheap and some stores carry it. They probably have the processed stuff though.
Loki isn't too enthused about bone in..Franco is doing OK with it. He's having about 3 whole wings a week. The tips and drummy. So about 6 servings. We got bone in thighs for muscle meat, I removed the majority of the meat and SO smashed up the bones.
|
|
