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Post by Deleted on Apr 4, 2013 4:32:40 GMT -5
Hi guys,
Got an opportunity to feed my guys their first mouse tonight (hopper stage) as the runt of my first breeder mouse litter passed on. I showed the mouse to the ferrets and did a little scruff on both of them - they sniffed it over the first time I offered it to them and then ignored it, they didn't chew on it when I scruffed them and clearly don't recognise it as food at all. They were even stepping all over it like it wasn't there. It is still fresh - has only died in the last couple hours.
My first idea was to cut it up for them or put it on a hook as I have seen suggested in here, but I can't stomach doing it - for some reason I can breed them and kill them, but not chop them up!
Is there anything I can try tonight to encourage them to eat it that skirts around my personal reservations? I may have to ask a friend to cut up the mice for me in future until they are eating them whole.
They are at the 'minced soup' stage of switching them from kibble to raw - chicken only so far and they also eat human grade ground beef and lamb.
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Post by Heather on Apr 4, 2013 11:26:01 GMT -5
Sorry....things wrapped in fur often are packages they don't want to play with. This is one of the reasons why some people allow their ferrets to hunt....there is no thrill to get past the food in wrapper stage when they're already dead. They just don't recognise it as food. You can try Darlene's trick of tying a string around the dead mouse and playing with it like you would a cat. It might activate their prey drive and they will bite into it, releasing the juices and then maybe getting them to recognise them as a food source. It's a thought. Usually, I get people to cut them open or cut them into chunks and put them in the soupy. It's not as messy if they're frozen, would that work for you? You can also put them in the food processor and whip up a mouse frothy to put in their soupy too...not sure you're into that though either (I've not done that yet....can't seem to get past the smell  ) There are a couple of ideas for you to try if you can ciao |
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Post by goingpostal on Apr 4, 2013 15:21:42 GMT -5
I would also recommend freezing it a bit and chopping open, i find ferrets to be highly interested in mice then often walk away when they can't figure out how to get in. You can also try starting with pinks and working up.
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Post by Sherry on Apr 4, 2013 16:46:46 GMT -5
To get them past the fur stage I'd cut open the belly and fill it with oil. Didn't take long to go from licking to chomping  |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 4, 2013 19:26:32 GMT -5
I may be able to stomach the frozen, I've put the hopper in the freezer for now anyway - at first I think its going to be a case of lining the knife up and putting a hand over my eyes! I'm sure it will get easier with practise.
Putting it through the blender... hmm, as long as I can pour it out without looking then there will only be one mess to clean up! Lol! I have thought about getting a cheap blender just for this purpose as I don't really fancy making my morning berry shake in the same appliance...for some reason my mum's chicken liver pate recipe doesn't bother me though (yum yum!).
When I decided to do this, I had a picture in my head of chucking a dead mouse in the cage without having to touch it with my bare hands and walking away while they ate it... silly me!
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Post by Heather on Apr 4, 2013 22:08:14 GMT -5
You can do that once they learn what they're all about...before that....you have to deal with the furry little critters  ciao |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 4, 2013 22:24:23 GMT -5
I'm kind in that place too with mine eating his ratty...  the thing stunk too... |
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Post by Heather on Apr 5, 2013 12:50:32 GMT -5
Rats and mice smell bad anyway  ciao |
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Post by Sherry on Apr 6, 2013 10:18:04 GMT -5
It's really funny in a way. When I first started with feeding mice, I started with pinkies. Of course the little snots wouldn't touch them  So I wound up with these teeny pinkies on the chopping board, put the cleaver on them, shut my eyes, and CUT ;D Talk about queasy  And yes, you do get used to it. |
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Post by Heather on Apr 6, 2013 11:05:22 GMT -5
That's ok.....I can chop them up, clean them...I still can't bring myself to throw them in the blender  ciao |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 6, 2013 12:17:40 GMT -5
This is how I felt the first time I had to behead and eviscerate a pigeon..even though it was de-feathered...I still had a hard time with it ;D Took a few times but now I can do it with no problem.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 30, 2013 7:51:39 GMT -5
Last night I decided it was time to chop up the mouse in the freezer. I felt like a serial killer but I did it! Just a word to anyone reading this about to do it for the first time - they defrost really fast and the stomach contents is particularly gross, so if you don't fancy seeing goop swirling around the bowl when you give it a stir put the mouse in last once the other meat is defrosted - not a mistake I will repeat! Hid it in the ferrets chicken... all gone this morning to my relief! I don't think I could've coped if they didn't eat it. Hopefully next time I can just cut the mouse in two instead of six.
I'm quite impressed with how quickly my ferrets are accepting these new foods - it seems to be one of those things where you just need to know how to go about it and then you're unlikly to have the ferrets refuse the food.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 30, 2013 11:19:02 GMT -5
Not sure if you are still looking for ideas, but maybe try covering the mouse in some soup? I've never tried it, but if they're at the soup-with-chunks stage they might try to chew some of the mouse with the soup thinking it's just chunks.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 30, 2013 18:57:37 GMT -5
Yeah thats pretty much what I did - they are still at the pudding stage, mostly because I've been working alot the last 2 weeks and haven't had the energy to think about stepping them up to the next level, but I have been cutting up slices of beef in increasingly bigger chunks and putting it in with the chicken pudding and they are eating that no problem.
I've also added pureed pumpkin a few times - they pull the funniest faces and there has been some gagging but they eat it with enthusiasm anyway.
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Post by Sherry on Apr 30, 2013 19:43:23 GMT -5
Since they are eating the beef bits no problem, start increasing those in number and size and decreasing the soup.
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So I wound up with these teeny pinkies on the chopping board, put the cleaver on them, shut my eyes, and CUT ;D Talk about queasy