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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2015 10:23:26 GMT -5
Hello all, I am a ferrent to be and want to feed the little ones raw. I am not sure which bonded pair im going to pick since the rescue I am going to has about 10 pairs, thats not including singles and bonded triplets. They will probably be at the youngest two and some are already pn soupies so thats a plus. The resuce curator said some would love to eat all raw so I am excited about that. I am curious once they are transitioned over if it would be okay to pre portion meals and freeze them? I would probably make my frankenprey meals weekly or biweekly depending how much I have to buy. I am just curious on time they can be frozen for? I know I can handle the meat and organs I just do not know if I could ever feed whole prey...I am a sap when it comes to animals....hence why I am a veterinary technician in training. I pick out my pair on wednesday so I will post pictures and information on them when they get home  Thank you all in advanced!  |
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Post by Celene on Mar 23, 2015 11:22:04 GMT -5
Congrats! Definitely the easiest way is to pre-portion and freeze! I freeze each meal into mini 4oz tupperware, label with the date and AM/PM, then take out and put in the fridge about 12 hours before to thaw. Pretty please post pics when you get your fuzzies  |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2015 12:09:22 GMT -5
Hello (dance) Welcome to the forum! I second the request for photos as soon as you take them  How old are the little ones you are planning on taking? I don't know what type of soupies pn ones are.. :/ (is it store bought, or prescription ones?) I would suggest getting some chicken thighs, hearts, livers, and bone-meal or eggshell powder ready (rinse and dry your eggshell and grind them either in a coffee grinder or with a mortar and pestle). This is what you will need to start. And after you find out what your new fuzzies will be willing to eat then you can add more protein types. Usually we start switches to raw with soupie, then add little meat slivers to it, then make the meat pieces bigger until they start eating bigger and bigger chunks and eventually whole prey (if you want). But young ferrets often take meat right away and if you can skip cutting the meat into teeny tiny pieces then your life will be that much easier. I'd recommend not rushing to prepackage a frankenprey menu just yet, because we don't know how long they would take to transition, or if they have any allergies/sensitivities. Sometimes it takes a little while to work them up to the frankenprey menu. When you get them home, if they are quite young, try giving them a couple of small bits cut from the chicken thigh. Don't be discouraged if they don't eat them, then you will just have to try with the soupie. To make the soupie you will need to blend up: 8oz (240 grams) of chicken thigh 1oz (30 grams) chicken heart 1oz (30 grams) chicken liver 3/4 tsp bone-meal or eggshell powder and water to blend the soup until it is approximately the consistency of yogurt. To portion the soup you would freeze it in an ice cube tray, then keep it in the freezer in a ziplock bag. Hopefully it goes smoothly for you to get them eating! And I really can't wait to see the pictures |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2015 12:16:02 GMT -5
How many meals do you usually make when you prep? I am still trying to find someone who has hearts, plenty of kidneys and livers though. I will have to keep looking for hearts though. Im super excited about going to the rescue, a lot of the pairs have some health issues, adreanal or deaf and one pair even has kidney damage from their previous owners being negletful  I don't know if this is a question for this thread or not but does anyone have experience with kidney issues in ferrets? We only see adreanal issues and insulinoma at the clinic I work at. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2015 12:24:13 GMT -5
@sveta im looking into a pair of dew males who are about two, but there is also another pair with a dew male and a sable blaze female who are two and three...she said she has a few young pairs but I'm not certain on age. I wasn't setting my heart on any until I can meet them and see if they have the personality I am looking for. Plus I couldn't love just one pair |
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Post by Desiree on Mar 23, 2015 12:24:59 GMT -5
When I was doing raw I would prep about two of the soupie recipes at a time. This gave me about two ice cube trays full. It lasted my two about 5 days. Ferrets eat a different amount depending on gender, season and the ferret themselves. Males eat about 2-4 ozs a day while females eat about 1-3 ozs. So for the first couple of weeks you will have to do some adjusting while getting used to your new pair and their eating habits.
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Post by RedSky on Mar 23, 2015 12:27:18 GMT -5
I don't envy you having to pick out which ones to bring home. I got my trio from a rescue but the rescue asked me questions and felt that these three would match me best. I was actually looking for older/middle aged ferrets rather than youngsters.
We went to meet them before hand and if we hadn't already booked and paid for a weekend away we probably would have taken them home straight away.
It was so hard though walking past all the other ferrets, I tried not to look to much.
Please share pictures ASAP. We all love to see pictures.
Oh and as for your actual question I think you've got good enough answers above. Great point about waiting to see if they have any allergies or problems eating certain meats.
For the first few days I fed mine what they were on at the rescue, I was planning on doing that for a week or so but they seemed happy and settled enough so I started new food after a few days. Luckily for me I had Bolin who would eat certain things without a problem and the other two copied him, heart I never had to make into a soupies. Mice and chicks are a hit, without any chopping up (I was so grateful that day! haha).
I've had some meat in the freezer for months and it's still fine to feed them. They don't really care about freezer burn, it might make it a bit more chewy but that's good for their teeth anyway.
Keep in mind with the soupie you add water which really pushes up the weight, while a male might eat 3-4oz a day if the soupie is actually 2oz meat and 2oz water he's going to have to eat 6-8oz of it to get enough food. It's common for them to eat more at the start of a switch too. Really young ferrets (under 6 months especially) eat LOADS, they are known as tummies with teeth. The can easily put away double an adult male.
Most ferrets are great at self regulating, none of my three over eat and I make sure there in some in their bowls all the time. Even if that means feeding their meal of heart and then sticking 1/2 chicken wing in later just in case they get hungry (they eat ALL the heart they can get at).
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Post by Celene on Mar 23, 2015 14:34:35 GMT -5
My regular grocery store sells hearts, so I'm pretty lucky.
If you're having a hard time finding them though I'm sure your local butcher would be more than happy to order some in for you specially. Most butchers have access to all sorts of organs and meats, they just don't keep them in regular stock since they will just take up space and not sell.
Asian markets are also FANTASTIC for finding all sorts of organs and meats. My girls love the quail, rabbit and frogs legs I found there, which were really cheap too!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2015 20:01:26 GMT -5
Is beef tounge a meat source? I have a friend who has a few beef hearts but I don't know if that would be a good transition food or not?
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Post by gfountain on Mar 23, 2015 20:05:58 GMT -5
Beef tongue is definitely a meat source. Beef tongues are high in taurine so if necessary can be used as a replacement for heart in the menu. Beef hearts are fine to feed also. A lot of ferrents seem to find beef a little harder to convince their wee ones to eat, so it might not be the best starter meat, but it's a good red meat to add to the rotation.
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Post by RedSky on Mar 24, 2015 7:46:50 GMT -5
My guys are a little fussy about mince beef and beef chucks but fight over beef heart. In fact I haven't found any heart they wouldn't eat. I can't find chicken heart but our local supermarket randomly has in pig, sheep (lamb) or beef (ox) heart, usually they sell at least one, sometimes they have in all 3.
We also noticed the local butchers sell diced mixed heart for 90p a lb aimed at those raw feeding dogs. Next time I need heart I'm going to give it a try to see what the quality is like. We're in the sort of area that a lot of people will buy meat and bones for dogs or raw feed completely. Even the tiny local pet shop has a freezer full of raw meat as their is such a demand for it.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 24, 2015 9:25:29 GMT -5
it would be nice if we had a pet store local like that. They only sell 'freshpet' pet food...I might have to make a monthly trip into the city 2 hours away and stock up on organs |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 24, 2015 15:54:19 GMT -5
You're going to have so much fun with your little fuzzies. You've already received alot of good advice. So, I'll just add a picture. This is my freezer. I have prepped meals into little baggies for my five. At breakfast, I take out their dinner to defrost and stick it in the fridge. At dinner, I pull out their breakfast and let it defrost in the fridge for the morning.  Most things can be found at your local grocery store. We're in the country, so we ride into Nashville once a month and buy organs and look for other exotic items. Tomorrow is the big day. We will be begging for pictures, pretty please.  |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 24, 2015 18:54:54 GMT -5
Thank you all for the help!
I'm excited/nervous about tomorrow. I will post pictures as soon as I am able.
Does anyone know how they will do on a 2 hour car ride? Any tips on traveling? I will have a descent size cat hard carrier and will be putting a litter box lined with newspaper and the bottom of the carrier will be lined with a fleece blanket. The rescue will help me put a hammock in it carrier so they will have somewhere to curl up. Should I put a water bottle(like the ones for hampsters) in the carrier too?
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Post by Desiree on Mar 24, 2015 19:00:22 GMT -5
Most ferrets do just fine in the car. I wouldn't bother with the water bottle as it may leak. My older guys were in the car for almost 4 hours when I got them and they did wonderfully. Slept most of the way. My youngest man was 7 weeks when we brought him home from AZ and did just fine on the 12 hour car ride. I'm excited for you!!  |
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