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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2013 8:04:38 GMT -5
Haven't been able to try with the mice for a number of weeks as I had to wait for the new mice to get big enough to make a decent meal. The ferrets are at a stage where they will mouth the whole mouse if I wiggle it in front of them but quickly lose interest. Thats a big improvement from last time. I guess I will have to make some cuts in the mouse to help them get the idea - still can't chop up the bodies unless they are frozen though!
Any tips?
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Post by Sherry on Jul 25, 2013 9:07:30 GMT -5
Try making a cut in the belly and filling it with their favourite oil
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Post by Deleted on Sept 26, 2013 23:10:15 GMT -5
I'm having this issue too, though I know it's because he doesn't recognize it's food yet. First try hasn't worked so well, I cut it up into tiny pieces and mixed it in with tiny pieces of the steak he loves but he picked the steak out and only ate that. Tried to offer it in a spoon with drops of oil he likes but he only licked the oil off. So I'm going to leave the plate of minced mice out overnight to see if he grazes at it when I'm asleep... He licks at it but doesn't really do much else. And I've noticed he does keep coming back to it and sniffing it for a while like he can't make up his mind so I feel like he's ALMOST there. I'll have to try again tomorrow night poking a hole and filling it with oil, maybe that will work...
eta: yep, he ate it overnight!
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Post by Sherry on Sept 27, 2013 8:53:57 GMT -5
Have you started with fur on ones, or pinkies? I've found chopped up small pinkies seemed to work best for introducing the taste.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 27, 2013 15:10:32 GMT -5
I actually started with fur, because the pinkies are so small! Also because the vet asked me to specifically get a little fur through his system and get a stool sample that way for his saturday appointment, so I just decided to try jumping in.
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Post by Sherry on Sept 27, 2013 19:42:16 GMT -5
Well- if he won't eat them that way, not much you can do but start smaller!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 27, 2013 20:01:15 GMT -5
Well try #2 isn't going so well either. He didn't even touch the pinky with the oil in its belly, he just didn't like the smell so i tried the same thing last night and he's picking out the food he already knows and ignoring the pieces of pinky. I don't want him to starve himself but judging from last night he'll only eat it if he's starving and there's nothing else out there...
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Post by Sherry on Sept 27, 2013 20:07:18 GMT -5
Okay. What I did was to use the tiniest pinkies I could get(maybe 3/4" long). I chopped them up into 3-4 bits, and mixed those bits in well with the regular meat. It took 3-4 meals with these bits mixed in before they were eaten. I moved from that to cut in half and well mixed to full pinkies mixed in. Remember the pinkies were still much smaller than their usual bits of meat.
Once they readily accepted them mixed in, I offered tiny pinkies on their own with meat juices on them. From there to larger pinkies. From there to fuzzies, to hoppers cut open with oil in the belly(these have fur). To adults cut open with oil to adults intact.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 27, 2013 20:09:06 GMT -5
Okay I'll try this out, I'm already at the first step with the pieces of pinky in the meat he already eats, I'll let it continue for a few days then if that's what it takes!
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