|
Post by Corvidophile on Oct 22, 2015 8:18:28 GMT -5
Update: Gave him his first chick last night alongside unfinished mouse from earlier, he bit it several times and dragged it to his storage box, but this morning it wasn't broken into at all. Mouse all gone, gave three quail hatchlings and cut one of them in half to show him that these new things DO have meat inside! I'll see what he's done this evening. Gonna be fascinated if he eats the quail but continues ignoring the chick- that would imply he thinks chicken upset his guts.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2015 8:36:25 GMT -5
I'm curious also to see how he likes his quail. He certainly likes his mouse.
Maybe the chick is just too new and strange for him. He may want it to get a bit jerkified and then try it. Try another one again and maybe cut it open for him. You know how they need to learn each new food is food, so it's worth another try.
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on Oct 22, 2015 10:31:54 GMT -5
Chicks have almost no calcium. Consider them "cotton candy" for the ferret They LOVE them as a rule, but feed in moderation.
|
|
|
Post by Corvidophile on Oct 22, 2015 19:59:14 GMT -5
Oh wow that's EXACTLY what he did- he ate all the quail chicks and left the chicken chick! Looks like he put its head in his mouth and slobbered on it, but not a single tooth puncture. What a turd. I don't want to force him to eat it in case he's right about chicken being the problem, but it might just be him being scared of all the animals that were a part of the frankenprey mix- but I don't know if that makes sense, this chick smells way different than butchered chicken. I'm gonna give him an adult quail tonight.
|
|
|
Post by Corvidophile on Oct 22, 2015 21:56:42 GMT -5
HOOOOO... I've smelled some mice, some lizards and minks, One thing I can tell you is, QUAIL STINKS
|
|
|
Post by Corvidophile on Oct 25, 2015 23:23:13 GMT -5
Update: has eaten three chicks, two eggs, three 3-week-old mice, and an adult mouse since last writing. That first chick disappeared overnight and since then he's been taking them happily. The adult quail.. Well, I placed it in there the night of the 22nd, and by the time I threw it out this morning, it looked like a Halloween decoration. He ate the beak, and the legs up to the ankle, and wouldn't go into the feathers. I ended up plucking it and gutting it (after which it didn't smell so bad) and then he rewarded my efforts by... eating a wing tip. I'll try one of those again in a while. NO digestive upset at all with the chicks so far.
Tonight I gave him a guinea pig still partially frozen, he was SO excited about this BIG mouse, I wish I'd recorded it!
|
|
|
Post by Corvidophile on Nov 5, 2015 11:09:58 GMT -5
Eating very well, getting fatter, coat getting fluffier, generally in good spirits (except when I tried to brush him to get some loose hair out, he hissed like an alligator (is a slicker the right brush choice for a ferret?)), but I can't get him to eat these big quail fully, but got closer. This time I flipped it on its back and removed the skin to the armpits, took out the intestines and tail, rinsed the body cavity, and he ate the entire legs and thighs this time, the head and neck, and the liver. I'm gonna try fully butchering the next one and serving peices of it in egg.
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on Nov 5, 2015 11:12:43 GMT -5
It sounds like he is doing better with the quail. Try just gutting, pluck the pin feathers, then cutting it in half, top to bottom.
|
|
|
Post by Corvidophile on Nov 16, 2015 23:46:03 GMT -5
Tried to minimally dress it like Sherry suggested, ended up ripping the skin any time I pulled thicker feathers because I attempted partially frozen so the gutting would be neater, so I just shimmied the whole thing out of the skin from head to toe and pulled the whole digestive tract out from esophagus to tail. I kept the gizzard and felt like I was playing with a Barbie sized chicken rinsing and peeling the weeny thing! I was surprised at how small the quail really was without the skin and feathers, so I offered up the whole thing. I guess third time's the charm because he ate it all! No other interesting news in the whole prey front.
All the taurine talk lately got me worried so I'm reintroducing chicken hearts tonight, hope he accepts them, they used to be his favourite. So far he stashed them.
|
|
|
Post by Corvidophile on Nov 17, 2015 14:57:17 GMT -5
He left the hearts overnight in favor of finishing off what was left of a mouse, but their exteriors dried up nice and neat in the drier winter air, so they're still hanging around waiting to be eaten today.
|
|
|
Post by Corvidophile on Nov 27, 2015 21:58:56 GMT -5
Frankenprey I've been able to reintroduce: Chicken heart, beef kidney, and jerkified chicken skin
Frankenprey I've NOT been able to reintroduce: Any chicken or Cornish muscle meat: white or dark, cooked, raw, or dehydrated, and any chicken/Cornish bones. Just plain will not eat them and anything that touched them has to be rinsed off before it'll be eaten. At least he picked the cheapest possible component to refuse!
Still have yet to try other components, I'm sneaking in one thing at a time inside mouse carcasses, then served alongside, then separately.
|
|
|
Post by Corvidophile on Dec 5, 2015 22:11:16 GMT -5
Frankenprey accepted as of now: chicken- gizzard, liver, heart, skin (but only dried up) Cornish- gizzard, liver, heart, and spine plus the immediate, deep red muscles around it. JUST spine. Cow- lung, kidney
Frankenprey refused as of now: all other chicken and Cornish muscle, skin, fat, bone.
Oh, on the quail front, I've gotten him to eat one just plucked and gutted. Is the croup worth saving? I've just been slicing around the anus, across the throat, and then pulling the whole kit and kaboodle out. Then I take the gizzard and trash the rest of the noodles.
|
|
|
Post by Corvidophile on Dec 9, 2015 16:05:19 GMT -5
Frankenprey accepted as of now: chicken- gizzard, liver, heart, skin (but only dried up) Cornish- every organ and the spine plus the immediate, deep red muscles around it. JUST spine. Beef- lung, kidney Bison- 80 muscle/20 fat ground Venison- muscle Rabbit: muscle, bone, liver
Frankenprey refused as of now: chicken/Cornish: muscle, skin, fat, and bone except spine Pork: muscle Goat: muscle
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2015 14:03:50 GMT -5
Corvidophile,do you get your quail with organs in from HAre Today? ?
|
|
|
Post by Corvidophile on Dec 12, 2015 7:27:22 GMT -5
abbeytheferret6 Nope, the quail came from RodentPro. Haven't seen the quail Hare Today sells yet; I got mice, rabbit, and ungulates from them, and from RodentPro I got mice, Guineas, chicks, quail. Next time I order I'm gonna go back to Hare Today because I want more ungulates again, and I'm gonna add quail, Guineas, and older chickens because I'll be running low on those around then.
|
|