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Post by raynebc on Jan 12, 2016 13:47:38 GMT -5
They got duck neck and egg for dinner the other day, but collectively didn't eat too much of it. Copper did sit at the bowl and eat when I set it down though, so he seems to be coming around. I'm going to mix their next chicken wing and turkey neck meals (their favorites) with duck neck to get them more used to it.
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Post by raynebc on Jan 13, 2016 16:51:23 GMT -5
Their dinner last night was turducken soup (turkey neck, duck neck, chicken FDR broth) and they ate almost all of it. Rusty was being a pest and stealing Reska's food until I brought in another empty soda box for her to use as a feeding den.
Today is a double bone-in meal day, so I gave them more duck and turkey neck mix for breakfast. This time I just added some warm water instead of FDR broth, so they can get better used to the taste of duck. The girls both hung out at the food dish while the guys pretended to have better things to do. The next time I serve duck I might do it without turkey (but maybe with some FDR broth).
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Post by raynebc on Jan 21, 2016 14:00:12 GMT -5
The ferrets will all eat duck neck pretty well as long as it's mixed with bone in chicken or turkey, but will hardly touch it when it's by itself. I'm going to keep working on it with them and mix increasing amounts of duck into the next several of their bone in meals. The grocery where I usually get turkey neck hasn't stocked it for a while so I ran out, but I had them special order more.
I hadn't weighed them in about a month so I took weights last night. Rusty and Cally were both down 20-30 grams but they still have a good weight to them so I'm not worried. Copper was about the same and Reska actually gained 20 grams or so.
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Post by raynebc on Jan 29, 2016 14:25:16 GMT -5
They were eating duck neck mixed with chicken/turkey bone in so I tried them with another meal of just duck neck a couple days ago and the spoiled brats barely ate any of it. Even mixing a chicken egg with duck doesn't seem to entice them much. Last night they got 2 parts duck neck and 1 part chicken wing and of course they ate almost all of the food. I'll probably have to try making several in a row of their bone in meals mostly duck and then try an entirely duck meal again.
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Post by raynebc on Feb 10, 2016 14:09:12 GMT -5
They were all playing weasel war last night and seemed to be having a blast. Rusty plays pretty rough though, he'll grab Cally or Copper and pull them around a little bit, but Copper will actually accept the challenge and chase him around after this happens. Cally still hisses when the others engage her in play, but I never hear her squeal anymore so I think she feels pretty safe and at home.
Their appetites have slowed down a bit, but sometimes they will still pig out on their favorites like turkey neck. Especially if they play a lot.
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Post by raynebc on Feb 25, 2016 15:35:33 GMT -5
Their appetites are still decreasing, but they are maintaining their weights pretty well. Cally's weight went down a little bit but it appears to just be her Winter weight. Most meals have a fair amount of leftovers (couple ounces) so I'll probably decrease their portion size from 7oz to 6oz and then judge if any other reductions are warranted.
They scarfed down their dinner though (frog legs and chicken egg), and Rusty wasn't happy about the bowl having gone empty when I visited them this morning, even though there were meat stashes in their pen. He went to the bathroom in the food corner to show his discontent. I rarely see any of them except Cally go outside the litter box so he must have thought he was putting on quite the protest. No biggie though, the vinyl mat that makes the floor of their pen is extremely quick and easy to spot clean compared to the rug they used to use so these kinds of indiscretions don't leave an after effect.
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Post by raynebc on Mar 7, 2016 17:41:43 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2016 9:40:55 GMT -5
What a fun video to watch. They're adorable and having so much fun. (dance)
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Post by raynebc on Mar 14, 2016 14:06:15 GMT -5
I stayed up way too late with them this morning, re-arranging their stuff and they really got to playing hard. When Rusty gets really worked up, he'll grab the ferrets by the skin on the top of their head between their ears and tug them around. None of them ever seem too upset about this, and they takes turns chasing each other. Copper seems to be the only one to offer much resistance to this, perhaps because he's the next largest of them. Even Cally doesn't squeal anymore even when they all play rough, she just dances, crouches and does some poorly-judged crazy leaps into stuff. She'll even play fight with my hand if she's really worked up. She'll bite at ferret play strength, but it doesn't hurt enough for me to put a damper on her good time.
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Post by raynebc on May 13, 2016 2:01:46 GMT -5
Cally had her first observed birthday this week so they all got a special treat of some salmon oil. The birthday girl got extra though, don't tell the others. For dinner tonight I figured I'd try to give them something special. I had a few frozen mice I hadn't gotten around to trying, and I picked up a fourth after work to make sure there would be enough for each to have one, and gave them thawed mice for an early dinner snack. They didn't seem very enthusiastic about it, but Rusty did carry a couple around and shook them a bit. I came back a few hours later and one of the mouse's heads was missing and I can only imagine that was Rusty's handiwork. I sliced them open a bit and mixed them with chicken wing chunks (their scheduled dinner) and will see how they do with it.
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Post by raynebc on May 13, 2016 20:53:59 GMT -5
Only 1.5 of the mice had been eaten by next meal time, but that's not terribly bad for a first try. I suspect that the fresher mouse was the one that was fully consumed. I may try again next week with some new mice.
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Post by raynebc on May 26, 2016 13:13:33 GMT -5
I probably won't feed mice except on special occasions like ferret birthdays, they're just too expensive. Local prices are around $2.50 each for small adult mice, and that's in bulk. Online prices seem to be $1.50+ each after shipping for extra large or jumbo adults if I buy 50 or so. Layne Labs seems to have the best after shipping price by far for medium sized orders like this (even when RodentPro is having a sale on extra large rats) but it still works out to $15-20 per pound.
The Asian market was out of quail so I'll have to go back later this week, but they did have quail eggs for pretty cheap so I got a pack. The ferrets got quail surprise for dinner (chopped quail mixed with quail eggs with shell fragments). They didn't seem to care for the shells, but they ate nearly all the food so they don't seem to mind quail eggs.
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Post by raynebc on Jun 13, 2016 14:03:09 GMT -5
RodentPro emailed me about a sale on mice and shipping, so I bit the bullet and ordered 50 mice for $63.50 after shipping. This is a price per mouse of just over $1.25 after shipping, and the mice are much larger than the ones they sell locally at two to three times the price. RodentPro indicates these are all individually wrapped in freezer bags, so they should last long enough to go through 4 or 5 per week as their Friday snack. If it goes well I can make this a more permanent menu fixture.
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Post by abbeytheferret6 on Jun 13, 2016 19:44:27 GMT -5
I think u have a better deal.Mine are $55 for 50 from Perfect Prey. That does not include shipping. I am going to take a pic of the extremes they put into packing:)) vacuumed packed-dry ice-and fiberglass insulation. The latter I could do without. Read more: holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/18874/meet-callypso-rusty#ixzz4BY9SIi4ySo do yu cut turkey necks into medallions, smash, short logs, or other way?
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Post by raynebc on Jun 14, 2016 13:41:16 GMT -5
I have been separating each of the vertebrae, splitting each in half on the exposed marrow side (like a tree log), then cutting each of those halves into three or four pieces. I don't mix bone in meals anymore, I've been feeding duck neck and turkey neck separately. Duck isn't their favorite meal so they usually don't pick it down to just bone fragments, but they will usually eat at least 80-90% of a 5 oz portion. I'm adjusting portion sizes back up a bit to 5.5oz because they've been cleaning their food bowl pretty consistently lately. Their weights are still remaining pretty steady.
I'm going to have to watch RodentPro for prices, because when they aren't offering a sale on product and shipping, Layne Labs may still be a bit cheaper overall. I considered ordering something else with the mice (like quail), but if I remember correctly all the feeder animals are sold intact and I didn't want to have to worry about larger animal remains scattered in the ferrets' living quarters.
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