Baby Wild weasel rescued from mouse trap need diet advice

[Deleted]

Hi everyone,

2 weeks ago we rescued a young baby weasel from a live mouse trap.  At first I though it was a baby ferret, but it is super tiny.  She acts just like a miniature ferret.  I think it is a Least weasel, others think it is a Stout.  Anyway, she  is a wild ferret cousin and I was hoping that some people on this forum would be kind enough to help with some questions.

When we found her, she was cold, dehydrated, and very skinny.  We gave her water, some chicken, and a t-shirt.  After drinking a ton of water, eating some food, and taking a nap she started acting much more alive and active.  We kept feeding her raw chicken and I started trying to interact with her.  I had 3 ferrets over 10 years ago and am very familiar with them.  This little girl has the same mannerisms, bathroom habits, and even dooks.  Well, she has become very friendly and even plays with me.  I am trying to keep her until spring and then considering trying to release her somehow. 

Here is a video of her a few days after rescue.  www.dropbox.com/s/bvm1vbcxz2u2a51/2015-02-16%2021.03.11.mov?dl=0

And here's the first video I have of her playing.  www.dropbox.com/s/rr82vndsrxqohcq/2015-02-17%2019.00.04.mov?dl=0

picture of me holding her 
www.dropbox.com/s/3osn4k6ldo042a8/2015-02-22%2019.51.05-1.jpg?dl=0

video of her playing after being here about a week  www.dropbox.com/s/c05mqalgetcg2vy/2015-02-24%2020.57.57.mov?dl=0  you can hear her dooking in this video

I need help with her diet.  She only weights 2 3/8 oz., she weighed about half that 2 weeks ago. Very tiny.  She loves meat, no problem getting her to eat raw, she has never seen kibble.  So far I have been feeding her raw chicken breast, raw chicken wings (she is so small that she never eats any bone, ground beef, ground turkey and chicken livers.  She has no interest in egg yolks.

I was going to order some food from mypetcarivore.  Does anyone have other suggestions?  I have been doing some reading on this forum and I see she needs bones.  So I was going to order the whole chickens ground, whole goat, and whole duck.  What should I be feeding her?  And where do I get it?  Should I try to find mice and rabbits which would be her wild diet?  Where does one get such things?

[Deleted]

I forgot to mention, the weasel eats 1/2 to 3/4 oz of meat a day. So she needs highly nutritious food.

[racheld]

She is gonna need some heart and liver. The ratios she requires should be the same as for a ferret: 80% meat (with edible bone), 10% heart, 5% liver and 5% other organ.
Your best option if weasels are a native species where you live is going to be to find a wildlife rehabber to take her to. They will be prepared to care for a wild weasel and may even be able to raise her in such a way that she can be rereleased when she is ready.

[Celene]

So cute! Based on the video I would say your new friend is a Least Weasel. Stoat's are a little larger (although it's hard to say since you don't know her age and she was skinny already) but stoat's also have longer tails with dark/black tips.

I'm no expert on stoats/least weasels, but based on >>this video<< I would assume they could follow a raw diet similar to ferrets. I would recommend reading this thread which has links to a bunch of intro resources.

I'm sure someone with more experience in this arena will soon answer your question! I would also recommend checking out Ozzy the Weasel's facebook page. He is a least weasel and his owners might be able to offer some advice.

[Heather]

You're going to have to offer her bone as well as meat or she will get sick. She will be able to eat bone, it's in her nature but you're going to have to consider what her natural diet is....I would be trying her on some rodents, mice, rats and supplement her diet with some of these types {The least weasel's diet consists of mice, rats, moles, small birds, bird's eggs, rabbits, and poultry. The least weasel's claws and sharp teeth help this animal to catch their prey. The least weasel is the smallest carnivore in the world. It can kill prey up to 5 times its own size. } "
Go to our nutritional section and you can get information on a frankenprey diet for your little one but if you're planning on releasing her in the spring then I would be feeding mostly prey animals if at all possible
ciao

[RedSky]

I think if you want to release her you need to get some help from a wildlife rescue, I personally think she is probably too tame for release, you don't want her running upto a person she thinks is you. With all the play and time spent with you she is just going to get more and more dependant and that's not really what you want.
I'd give a wildlife group a call if you want to release her in the spring, or get in touch with the person on the link above who has kept one as a pet, if that is something you're willing to do.

I think you have had lots of great answers about diet, and I just wanted to say that a balanced diet is definitely something you need to look into. Depending on your plans for her you either need to feed a wild diet (mice, rats, quail, pigeon) or you can feed a more 'pet diet' (ground meats, chicken wings/necks and add in a few whole prey to keep her teeth clean).
As for getting her to eat bones, do you feed the wings whole or do you smash them up a bit? Even for my adult ferrets who are still lazy at eating bone I take a chicken wing and hit it repeatedly with a cleaver until the bones are broken into little bits. Otherwise they eat around the bone.

[Deleted]

Definitely give a lot of what she eats in the wild---she is gorgeous I would keep her diet as close to wild prey as possible-----it is so perfect,and when you let her go,she will not be missing pork and beef and other things we feed on frankenprey and have to re-adjust. i would check out the wildlife rescues or rehabs and then make an assessment  what you want to do.

[bitbyter]

Yep, that's a least weasel and looks to be almost full size (they are very small). You could also supplement her diet with insects from the pet store (crickets, superworms, etc). They are very nutritious. Here is our Frankenprey diet for better guidelines:

docs.google.com/document/d/1ysfT1bIvXixXYv6QFjW_EZZqHymtRXRTc3E_wAxLbxU/edit?usp=sharing

[FerretsnFalcons]

Oh my goodness, she is seriously cute! If you are planning to release her, I would isolate her more from you and other humans, since wild animals are supposed to fear people. Unfortunately, this would mean no playing or snuggles. I would feed her whole prey, or even live prey, since that is what she would be eating if she were in the wild and it will get her used to hunting. If you are planning to keep her as a pet, definitely socialize her. And, of course, make sure they are legal to keep where you live. Since she is so tame already, I think she could probably be happy in captivity as long as she is well-cared for.

[Deleted]

Thank you everyone for the advice. This little weasel won the weasel lottery, I just ordered her chicken hearts, ground whole rabbit , ground mutton, whole ground chicken and turkey, and ground whole mice. I will try some whole mice too. 10 lbs of food coming and she only eats 1/2 an ounce a day. She is some what tame. She will allow me to hold her to transport from her pen to the play area only if I catch her first with a paper towel tube. If you just reach into her pen or try to grab her she will bite. She will not allow anyone else to touch her. She will wrestle with my hand but never allows herself to be caught. If I sit still she will run all over me. But she certainly isn't snuggly. She does not like to be out in the open. She plays by running from one hiding pace to another.

[bitbyter]

You'll need to let her chew on some actual bone in meats to keep her teeth clean. Grinds are convenient but they need whole bone in meats as well.

[raynebc]

If you decide to keep her, you may want to fashion a tiny saddle so she can ride birds without being thrown off easily (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-31722410). On topic, I wonder how often a least weasel can manage to take down such a large bird?

[msav]

Mar 5, 2015 5:45:20 GMT -5 abbeytheferret6 said:

 I DEFINITELY agree with Bitbyter---those teeth need to be cleaned! You do not want her to loose teeth to tartar or get infections of the gums, which can lead to other infections in the body, I know ground is easy,but one month from now---what is her teeth going to look like?? you want to keep them healthy, so she can eat instead of having to gum her food one day. NOT GOOD.

She will have no chance at all for surviving without human assistance,then.


sorry i feel adamant about this--saw a labrador retriever a couple of years ago, and all he had was nubs for teeth. It was very disturbing.


The best thing you can do for the little one is let her go as soon as possible, just treasure the time you had with her and

LOOK AT THE BIG PICTURE---what u r taking away from this little one

1. She/he will never get to react with its kind again
2.The urge to mate will never be satisfied
3. She will never enjoy raising her babies
4. She/he will never enjoy the thrill of the hunt again

You could feed the food u ordered to your other animals, so really no loss there.

this brings up another question, does this weasel have the same need to be mated when she comes into season as ferrets do.  If so, if she does not mate she will die. 

[Deleted]

Yes, I agree she needs bones to chew on. I have offered her chicken wings and she eats the meat off them and doesn't touch the bones. I need bone sources she will chew on. Suggestions....

[Deleted]

I am not sure what is best for her at this time. Least weasels only have a life span in the wild of about one year. It's winter here, a severe winter, wildlife rescue says she would never survive release right now. Weasels are supposed to be born in the spring so that they are adults by winter. They bred rapidly because unlike ferrets, most don't survive.