|
Post by Deleted on May 12, 2015 0:06:26 GMT -5
I spent the last bit of my money on food for my babies. They're on a set schedule for food now! Tonight was beef heart. They love running around their cage and trying to pull different chunks off of their hooks.
They're also almost completely free roam now. I didn't shut them in their cage at all today until I went to work. I'm going to leave the cage open all night the next time I have a night off to see how it goes!
|
|
|
Post by Celene on May 12, 2015 8:36:31 GMT -5
That's so awesome! No stashing, and they're excited about their food. That's probably my favourite part about raw enrichment-wise. I've never seen a ferret get excited for kibble
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 12, 2015 18:34:16 GMT -5
I spent the last bit of my money on food for my babies. They're on a set schedule for food now! Tonight was beef heart. They love running around their cage and trying to pull different chunks off of their hooks. They're also almost completely free roam now. I didn't shut them in their cage at all today until I went to work. I'm going to leave the cage open all night the next time I have a night off to see how it goes! I think you have done so well. Just for practice sake, try building a basic frankenprey menu. Let's see if are on the right track. If need be, we can tweak it. It's just for practice, but try using what you actually have for them. If your not ready to do this, that's okay. I'm not pushing you, however I believe you can do this ( after so little time). The format that makes it easier for Heather to read, looks like this. One note, she frowns all too much chicken. Sunday a.m. Bone In chicken wings p.m. Hearts Monday a.m. Bone in Quail p.m. Bone in Cornish game hen You get the idea. She likes to see that you know what that you have your 8-9 meals of bone in, 3-4 meals of muscle meat and that you have an understanding of the organ meals. I know you're in the early stages, but you seem to have a really good handle on this. I'm asking for the menu because you've been doing so well. After you post your menu, I'd like to throw a few questions at you. If your menu is good and you can pass a test, we will know that it won't be long before we can 'graduate' you and change your status to Raw Feeder. (dance) One last question? How are they doing with bone or are you there yet?
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 12, 2015 18:49:01 GMT -5
They eat bone in. I've been having to smash up chicken wings because they can't seem to get the handle of whole bone yet. They're trying though. They love chewing on bones.
We're doing a mix of beef, pork, and chicken right now. I'm going to be searching for a place that sells quail, duck, and other meats that my little ones can try. I'll post my actual menu for this week when I'm at a computer c:
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 16, 2015 7:30:10 GMT -5
So last night was organ night... but I came home from work and my babies didn't even touch it. XnX so now I guess I have to teach them that organs are okay. They've had liver before but for some reason they won't eat it now?
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 16, 2015 7:51:50 GMT -5
Okay heres the menu we're on currently.
Sunday A.M - Beef Heart P.M - Bone-in Chicken Wing
Monday A.M - Pork Muscle P.M - Bone-in Chicken Wing
Tuesday A.M - Bone-in Pork button bones P.M - Bone-in Chicken Wing
Wednesday A.M - Heart and Organ (Beef Liver/kidney) P.M - Pork Muscle
Thursday A.M - Bone-in Chicken Wing P.M - Bone in Pork Button
Friday A.M. - Pork Muscle P.M - Bone- in Chicken Wing
Saturday A.M Bone-in Chicken Wing P.M Bone-in Pork button
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 16, 2015 11:35:12 GMT -5
Your menu is a good start. Allow me to tweak it a bit. It's a bit heavy on the chicken as a bone in meal. Look for some cornish game hen or quail as another bone in meal. If you have a Walmart grocery store, you can find cornish game hen in the freezer bins next to the whole ducks and turkeys. You'll need an Asian market for your quail. If you can't find it, consider buying a duck and portioning it out. You will get a fair amount of meals for that, but duck can be pricey.
I also noticed that you simply write heart for one meal. Then you wrote Beef heart. Heart is a muscle meat. We want to know what protein your each heart meal is. Chicken heart is fine but you can also look for duck heart or pork heart. Either of those will give you another protein. Duck heart is a great way to get duck into their menu without spending a fortune.
You need one more organ meal of just liver and another organ.
You have the correct amount of Heart (a muscle meat) with a full meal of Heart. Then you have a Heart meal plus an organ meal. You need one meal of just Liver and another organ.
Your liver meals will make up five percent of their weekly intake. The Other organ will be five percent of their weekly intake. The Heart meal is going to be ten percent of their weekly intake.
I like that you have a red meat in their menu. Red meat is high in iron and vitamin B and should be part of their weekly menu.
One more small tweak would be to remove one pork meal and include gizzards. They will help build jaw strength for crunching bones and also will help to clean teeth. I buy duck gizzards, but of course, chicken gizzards are easy to find. I find the duck gizzards at the Asian market. They are fatty and mine adore them.
Your other two pork meals are fine, though you could look for ground turkey or ground beef and make one meal a turkey or ground beef meal and add an egg to it. The more variety the better. Look for fatty cuts of pork, fat equals energy for ferrets.
Does that make sense? Any questions? You did very well. Since this is your first menu, you could stick to this for a couple of weeks and let them get use to these new foods. Then on week three or four, began adding some of the other proteins. That gives you time to find some other proteins. :thumbsup:
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 19, 2015 1:06:54 GMT -5
Do you have any suggestions for places to get duck heart? I might be able to get a hunter to let me buy ducks off of them, but gun pellets and all that..
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 19, 2015 9:59:37 GMT -5
An Asian market will be your best friend. Here's a link to some markets in your area. Some markets will be tiny and only carry a small freezer section. Others will be large and have fresh produce and meats. I would say call them, but sometimes the language barrier is difficult. You can check reviews and look at Yelp. The customers often mention what they carry and how fresh the meat and produce is. Duck gizzards are so inexpensive. You'll find all kinds of fun things to try. www.yellowpages.com/ogden-ut/asian-grocery-storesAnother idea is to check out your local Farmer's markets. On Saturdays, you will often find a farmer or someone from his farm and you can talk about his setting aside things like hearts and organs. They are happy to find someone interested in them, and not have the waste to deal with.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 22, 2015 9:38:18 GMT -5
So I've come down with a pretty serious respiratory infection. I've been at my parents for the past 3 days. It was only supposed to be for one day but I'm way too sick to drive home.. my roommate is taking care of my babies but I'm worried about them and I miss them :< I really hope I can make it home tonight
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 22, 2015 10:19:18 GMT -5
I hope you feel better soon. I know your babies miss you and you miss them. :wave2:
|
|
|
Post by FireAngel on May 22, 2015 19:24:56 GMT -5
Aww hope you feel better soon!
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 22, 2015 21:33:54 GMT -5
Feel better!
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 23, 2015 18:03:30 GMT -5
I'm finally home with my babies, though still very sick.. they're going to have a whole Cornish game hen to themselves tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be feeling better enough to go out and restock their food tomorrow as well... the worst part about working in a hospital is when you get sick, it's usually terrible..
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 23, 2015 19:30:19 GMT -5
Panda has been giving me lots of "I missed you" face licks. Silly baby
|
|