|
Post by goingpostal on Feb 7, 2011 22:25:53 GMT -5
And on top of that really long post, another question!
I have read ferrets need a lot of fat in their diet, and that whole prey usually doesn't have much fat, I know someone on here gives their ferrets lard all the time to make up for it. Is that a big concern? I have never seen lard for sale, although my store does sell beef suet which is kind of the same I think. Right now all of mine except Craven are pretty chunky, although I noticed Pandora seems to be getting more firm and not so soft. I could also starting breeding more brindle mice, they are prone to obesity, lol.
|
|
|
Post by goingpostal on Feb 7, 2011 23:24:42 GMT -5
Also I weighed them all tonight on my deli scale, not sure if it's super calibrated as I got it used but should give me an idea of weight gain/loss
Pip 3.35 pounds Koda 3 pounds Craven 2.5 pounds Pandora 2 pounds
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on Feb 8, 2011 1:01:51 GMT -5
I think their weights look pretty good, lol! Just keep an eye out. You'll see who's losing too much, and who isn't. It's not uncommon for them to lose just before they pack on the muscle, though. That's what you are seeing with Pandora right now. As for fat, I don't worry about it overly much. As long as you are leaving the skin on the meats, and not trimming them, it should be fine. If you want to leave a small lard lick for them that's ok, too. Lard is simply rendered beef fat. The only thing that concerns me about that is I've never been able to find any without preservatives in it, like BHT. But I don't stress about it too much. We've got so many things in our environment that are supposed to be cancer causing, I figure with almost anything, moderation is the key. As for food 24/7, if mine finish off one meal early, they wait til the next one. If they are finishing it off consistently, then I give more, because I'm obviously not giving them enough. The rest of what you are doing sounds just fine And be happy you don't have a particularly stubborn boy BORIS!!!! ;D
|
|
|
Post by goingpostal on Feb 8, 2011 20:49:32 GMT -5
I gave them chopped pork chunks for breakfast, meaning to give the big piece on the clip for supper but realized I still had a gizzard in the fridge so I gave them half and the cat half for "lunch", they're still snacking on it, I didn't chop it up, although I did slice it a little. I was re-arranging some stuff in their room today and caught both Koda and Craven chowing down on it so that's good. I took out some liver too, been slacking on the organs bad so they are going to get some tomorrow, see who takes to it and who needs it hidden. My whole prey order should be here Thursday sometime and then I can try that, still not sure what to try first with them, maybe the smaller quail. Been noticing a decrease in poops and a huge decrease in the odor of said poop. Which is good, because someone has decided to use a corner rather than the litter pans at least once a day lately.
|
|
|
Post by goingpostal on Feb 9, 2011 9:04:27 GMT -5
Well they cleaned out the pork chunk last night, this morning gave them chopped pork with chopped chicken liver mixed in with fish oil, taurine and eggshell. Koda was actually the first to dig in and Pandora and Craven were right behind him. I took out the rest of that CGH for tonight/tomorrow. They are really attacking the raw now!
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on Feb 9, 2011 20:24:06 GMT -5
Oh, that's excellent! So glad they are coming along nicely I should warn you, as regards to your "secret pooper", lol! Organ meat will usually cause blackish, tarry stools ;D Bugger to get out of carpets! Can you refresh for me exactly WHAT meats they are now eating, how well they are accepting them, and which ones will not take the particular meats? (sorry- have a few students all at different places )
|
|
|
Post by goingpostal on Feb 9, 2011 22:41:44 GMT -5
Thankfully there's no carpet in their room, that was ripped out as soon as we bought the house. I put a blanket in the poo area along with general room re-arrange so hopefully that will stop. I was wondering, can either ferrets or cats handle chicken legs? Or is the bone too large, the grocery store has 10# bags for like $6 but wasn't sure if they could really eat that or not. My other question was how much liver should they be getting per ferret again? Couldn't remember.
Ok, so I am feeding
venison (ground) pork muscle meat, they eat both chopped and in large chunk CGH big chunks and chopped chicken various parts with bone, big chunks and chopped turkey and chicken liver turkey and chicken gizzards mice turkey wing
So far ground venison they eat but not nuts over it, turkey wing a large part was left (too big?) Liver is always gone, but not sure if all are eating it, pork/chicken/cgh they will all eat in large chunks now, with bone in the poultry, mice they eat whole. Gizzards I've fed both chopped and hooked to the cage. I am currently slashing and ripping large pieces a little before giving them because some of the ferrets didn't seem to know where to start otherwise. This seems to help a lot.
Things I'd like to add/need to get
turkey/chicken necks various sources heart/kidney/other organs lamb or goat beef
Whole prey coming in my order tomorrow
Quail (1 and 10 weeks) Rats (2 ages) Guinea pigs (2 ages) Also one rabbit/25 chicks
|
|
|
Post by goingpostal on Feb 9, 2011 23:23:21 GMT -5
They got a leg/breast of the CGH tonight, Craven and Koda were cracking bones and chowing away! Got a good pic of 3 of them chewing on it! Pip didn't seem hungry, he just wanted to run around and Pandora ate a little but I think she prefers to eat without anybody else there. There was still pork chunks left when I went to work at 5pm and one piece of liver, but that was all gone, couldn't even find any stashed when I gave them the CGH (around 10pm). I clipped it to the cage per normal and started some cuts in it for them.
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on Feb 10, 2011 0:04:51 GMT -5
What? OMG!!! Congrats Sorry- read the last post first, lol! Anyway- you've got a good variety of proteins in there. I know you are adding taurine, and that's fine. When you can get heart, just add it in without lowering the taurine they are getting now, unless you can get it regularly. The turkey wing likely was too much for them. I'll feed my 9 from a wing and a half As for the liver, you really need to know who's eating what, as a deficiency in vit A can cause all kinds of problems: www.merckmanuals.com/professional/sec01/ch004/ch004g.htmlOnce they are eating 3-4 days a week of whole prey, not so much of a concern. It does take a while for the deficiencies to show up, though. And as you've noticed, they can eat the leg bones for cgh. Chicken they tend to have more difficulties with, but can usually eat the end pieces, and if you crack the bone for them, they can get to the marrow, which is REALLY good for them. So, yeah, I'd get it.
|
|
|
Post by goingpostal on Feb 10, 2011 14:38:39 GMT -5
Well they left the leg, but ate all the rest of the meat, I gave it to the cat and gave them a breast/ribs chunk this morning, Koda and Craven again jumped on it. On my lunch now it looks like they ate the easy meat off and left the bone part so I crunched some of them and made a couple cuts in it, Craven dove in again, everybody else is sleeping.
|
|
|
Post by goingpostal on Feb 10, 2011 19:01:38 GMT -5
Still some of that CGH breast left, I gave them a small piece of chicken thigh but left the other meat in. Also my whole prey order is in! The heads fell off a lot of the week old quail. So I gave two of them to the ferrets to see the reaction, Pandora was trying pretty hard to eat hers but it's still frozen and Koda grabbed the other one and stashed it. The cat looked at me like I was crazy when I offered her one. Pretty much filled up the bottom of my freezer, think I'll probably need more rats the quickest but the box was 100% full. Made some bags up with the smaller prey items, and set out 3 quail and a weanling rat to try them on tomorrow night probably. I need to go grocery shopping tomorrow so will try to talk to the butcher and buy some more meat for raw days. Also can you feed lcoyote meat to ferrets? Wasn't sure on the whole carnivore to carnivore thing, my coworkers hubby hunts them and tosses the meat I guess. He traps too, but mostly beaver/muskrat.
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on Feb 10, 2011 23:10:34 GMT -5
They can eat all of it. No reason why not! Including the beaver and muskrat. Although, I actually like those two myself ;D(my first husband was a trapper, lol!)
|
|
|
Post by goingpostal on Feb 11, 2011 8:42:21 GMT -5
Awesome to hear, if I can score free meat that helps! So this morning the breast of the CGH was pretty well cleaned of meat, Koda was chomping on it still so I left it in, gave them 4 week old quail and one weanling rat, Pandora and Koda started chomping on the quail no hesistation at all! The rest stashed theirs but seemed interested. I do have some chicken in the fridge in case they refused this but so far so good.
|
|
|
Post by goingpostal on Feb 11, 2011 18:43:04 GMT -5
That post was a little confusing, they are one week old quail, and I gave them four. Anyways, checked on them at lunch and there were 3 quail left, plus some intestines draped on their cage. Now after work there were two left, and Koda chomping on the 3rd one, of course he's got it in the most inaccesible, crowded toy corner so that should be fun to clean of feathers. I weighed them all last night and they are all either over or under just a few grams. Also picked up some turkey and chicken gizzards, chicken wings and pork liver at the grocery store tonight, talked to someone in the meat department who said they can order organs so I told him I wanted any heart or kidney or other organs they could get besides liver since that's available already, they are going to call on Monday and let me know. Forgot to ask about turkey/chicken necks but they do stock those on occasion so I guess I'll just keep an eye out for them and pick up a bunch.
|
|
|
Post by goingpostal on Feb 11, 2011 21:34:13 GMT -5
Last check before bed and there is only parts of quail left, so I will let them finish that off tonight. Now let's hope they take to adult quail as easily when I try that.
|
|