Welcome to the HFF
How old are your ferrets? Is this the first time that you have had ferrets?
Ferrets imprint on their food sometime between six months and a year old. They simply don't recognize other foods as food. They will however, happily find and eat foam and rubber and all sorts of other problem items.
In the beginning, any new food will have to be introduced with patience, coaxing and hand feeding. That takes a little effort. If you put down a plate of new food and walk away, they simply won't know to eat it.
We can help you with that. You can sign up for our Mentor program (it's free) and you can build your own switching thread and all the Mentors will offer advice and support.
You can also follow along on Member/Mentor switching threads. We just ask that you don't post to those threads.
If you are new to ferrets, then you will want to ferret proof. Eating foam or rubber can cause a blockage, which may result in surgery or worst case, they don't survive a blockage.
There is a blockage protocol that you can read about, if you know that they have eaten something.
Pick up a can of pure pumpkin (no sugar or additives) and a jar of vaseline for your emergency box.
Ferrets are lactose intolerant. They are complete carnivores and derive all their nutrients from meat. They can't digest or receive nutrients from starches/grains/veggies or fruits. Unlike other pets, treats consist of meat. Resist the urge to buy those Ferret treats/Ferretvite or even Ferretone. We all love to give treats, but they need to be healthy ferret treats. The others will cause illness down the road and result in large vet bills.
As for their diet, you have several choices in a Natural Diet.
Frankenprey is designed to mimic eating Whole Prey. Properly followed, they will receive all the nutrients and vitamins they need. This will help to explain a Frankenprey menu.
docs.google.com/document/d/1ysfT1bIvXixXYv6QFjW_EZZqHymtRXRTc3E_wAxLbxU/editWhole prey is exactly that. Either live or Frozen animals, such as mice, guinea pigs, rabbits, chickens. I don't feed Whole Prey, but there are some ferrents here who will help you with that. If you feed only whole prey, then you have a nice balanced diet, since the prey already has organs/muscle meat and skin/fur.
There are also good online providers such as HareToday or RodentPro.
Commercial grinds are ground meat with organs/bones/muscle meat and skin and fur.
It is easy to use, but the downside is that it doesn't help clean teeth and can be expensive.
FDR (freeze dried raw) is expensive. It has the benefits of raw but does not help to keep teeth clean.
You will most likely have to find it online. Stella & Chewy's for felines has good products, so does Whole Life and Fresh is best.
You've already chose to feed the little guys a carnivore diet. It just needs to be a little more balanced than just quail, rats and chicken if they don't have all their bits in them. They also need a variety of proteins, organs such as liver and other organs and muscle meats including Heart.
Getting them to eat bones will take some time. They need to build their jaw strength and gizzards are great for that. The quail that I buy is already defeathered and cleaned.
I started out smashing bones and slowly they worked their way up to larger pieces.
Here is a picture of our first quail and what it looked like after I chopped it into edible pieces with a cleaver:
Then after it was chopped up:
You're off to a good start: Here is some basic reading to help you balance your little ones diet, so that they get all their needed nutrients:
holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/17480/intro-raw-newbies-readThe Forum is full of lovely Ferrents. We have alot of fun talking about our ferrets, sharing stories and discussing all the related ferret issues from litter box training to Health and Medical issues.
We also love pictures, pretty please.
Have fun and see you around the HFF
(dance)
Links to more info on that