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Post by Sherry on Apr 24, 2013 12:38:40 GMT -5
No, not necessary at all
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Post by Deleted on Apr 24, 2013 12:48:11 GMT -5
Good Now that I'm home, it's time to portion off some pumpkin!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 24, 2013 12:52:55 GMT -5
Oh, do you have any recommendations for my first order from Hare today? I know shipping is expensive so how much should I be ordering to get my "money's worth"? Also, what "exotic" meat is easiest for ferrets to adjust to? I was thinking some rabbit (maybe organs and bone/meat grind or whole ground rabbit), whole quail chicks, whole mice, dehydrated meat of some sort for treats, coarse pheasant ground, possibly goat, etc...whatever is the most affordable while having the biggest nutritional bang for it's buck and still be plenty appetizing...I definitely want to order some organs and whole prey from there though since it can be hard to find at good prices here.
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Post by Sherry on Apr 24, 2013 13:04:51 GMT -5
I'm not familiar with what Hare Today sells since I live in Canada. As long as you have a base of 3 proteins(more is always better) you're good All of what you mentioned sounds fine!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 28, 2013 11:30:14 GMT -5
It's been a few days since I last posted...Since then, Javik's stools have stiffened up and are no longer super liquidy. He's eating heart and his organ soup very well, and LOVES whole frozen mice (hoppers, pinkies, and fuzzies), so I'm thinking about getting him a live mouse for dinner tonight. Are there any concerns I should be aware of? Should I be looking for a specific size to prevent harm to him since he's only 5 months old ATM? He does seem to have a pretty solid kill method, as he demonstrates daily on his stuffies so I'm not too worried about a prolonged death for the poor mouse, but I will be willing to step in and end it if necessary.
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Post by Sherry on Apr 28, 2013 12:19:00 GMT -5
Some prefer starting with hopper mice since they tend to move more erratically and attract attention better causing instinct to kick in. As soon as you can though move him up to adult mice to eat. Even frozen/thawed. Once he perfects his hunting technique then you can move him up to live feeding with adult mice.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 29, 2013 14:49:32 GMT -5
I'll let Sherry give her opinion on that, or I'll get it from her and get back to you I'M BACK! haha! Sorry about the absence! Glad your vet visit went so well! I am getting with Sherry/the others on how your menu might change when including the whole prey. I feed basically what they refer to as "frankenprey," so I'm not 100% on the different number of meals of organs and what not that you may need or not need. As far as Hare Today goes, I'm not sure if you have already ordered, but I can tell you what my critters like and don't like, but keep in mind it ALWAYS varies from fert to fert. LIKES -Bison chunks -Any of the chicken, they LOVES the feets and necks! (though the organs don't exactly provide the best balance. I like ordering the 3 lbs chicken pieces selection because it gives you a good choice of bone-in parts, including wings) -Ground mouse -Turkey (hearts, whole ground, etc. Just noticed that they have a turkey piece choice, just like the chicken - i'll have to give that a go) -Ground Pork -Ground mutton/sheep They looooove the venison chunks, but I stopped feeding it because I found it gave all 3 of them HORRRIBLE diarrhea. I was literally cleaning it off of walls around the cage for about 3 days after feeding it. Other ferrets tolerate it just fine, though, so you could always give it a whirl. DISLIKES-Anything rabbit, though I force the organs on them From what I've read on here, though, other ferrets LOVE rabbit. So don't take this and a discouragement to try it! -Duck hearts - they'll eat them, but they aren't too keen on them. They usually let them sit there until they realize they aren't getting anything else. Even then, they stash them around the cage/living room. Can't blame them. They don't smell too pretty. I haven't come across much they won't eat. Of course their favorites are the full ground animals. I generally mince up hearts or mush together the ground organs with the ground animal to make them eat it. I have to say that the ground organ selections make that part easier on me (as you said, they're kinda stinky). Again, don't take anything I listed as a dislike and think "oh ok I won't order that." They're all different!! I really wanted to try to ground cavies, but they don't seem to have them right now. So if you can, just let me know what your menu is going to look like for now, and how often live/frozen whole prey will be fed Also, please include the type of meats (chicken, turkey, beef, mouse, etc). I'm glad he's moving along so quickly!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 29, 2013 14:50:31 GMT -5
Ok I didn't notice that Sherry had already told you not to bother with the powder - sorry!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 29, 2013 15:11:46 GMT -5
Welcome back Rinrose! I hope you're feeling better now There have been a few minor changes to his diet, I only plan to feed whole/live prey once a week, although I might just get the ground mice from Hare Today if it's a reasonable price. I have not made a purchase yet as it was rather overwhelming and I wanted to wait to see what meats would be best to start with, plus I still don't have much freeze space yet. I have incorporated organ soup into his menu, it's just a blend of equal parts of liver and small intestine. His menu currently is as follows; Monday, Wednesday, Friday: AM- 2-3 oz bone-in PM- 1-2 oz bone in with 1 oz organ soup Tueday, Thursday: AM & PM- 4-5 oz total muscle meat Saturday: 4-5 oz cow heart and chicken gizzard mix Sunday: 1 oz organ soup, 2 oz bone-in and 1 grown mouse Types of meat: Bone in - all bony pieces of whole chicken, CGH, and turkey. Muscle meat - pork, beef, poultry muscle, cow heart, chicken gizzard, sometimes he gets the trimmings from the meat my family or friends have for dinner (my friend always saves steak and pork trimmings from her dinner for him ) He isn't a fan of salmon oil yet, and hates his organ soup so I do add a few drops of ferretone to it to get him to eat it, other than that he doesn't get anymore ferretone. I am thinking about buying either freeze dried lamb lung or some dehydrated ground meat from Hare Today to use as training treats. I made chicken jerky, but he didn't care for it and my dogs went crazy for it, so it turned into their treat lol
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Post by Sherry on Apr 30, 2013 9:02:08 GMT -5
And given that Rinrose is back, I'll bow out now
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Post by Deleted on Apr 30, 2013 9:33:37 GMT -5
Hey your help/2 cents is always welcome haha!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 30, 2013 9:40:05 GMT -5
On the cow heart and chicken gizzard mix, is it half and half?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 30, 2013 9:46:04 GMT -5
No, it's more cow than gizzards. About 3-4 oz heart to 1-2 oz gizzards.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 30, 2013 16:52:18 GMT -5
OK so as far as organs go, keep it around 2 oz liver and 2 oz other organs per week - which with your soup proportions it looks (to me) as though you're doing just fine. Just remember to keep an eye out for other varieties of organs, which I know we've hammered in to your head already Feeding whole once a week won't make much of a difference in the ratios that need to be sustained. (10% organ, 10% heart, 10-15%bone, and muscle meat). My recommendation would be to try to add another half to whole heart meal per week. The meal of cow heart & gizzards could probably just strictly be heart, as your organ ratios are good. Or you can just add some heart in with another meal, for example along with a bone-in. I usually just mix and match stuff, but that's just me. All of the muscle meats look fine. Are you just adding them in with meals or giving them as "treats"/when you get them? Looks like you are doing well, just need to find ya some more options! It's easiest to introduce new varieties to the young'ns, so you don't want to possibly wait too too long. Oh I forgot to mention when I was listing stuff from Hare Today - the ground mouse smells terrible. So if he eats whole ones and it doesn't bother you and/or is more cost efficient, by all means, stick to that! haha! I understand the freezer space issue. My boyfriend gets thunked in the head with tupperware complete with scrumptious labels(ie chicken feet - he's Cajun and very superstitious so I tried to hide the fact that I even had them) every time he opens ours. After we move, I am going to look in to buying a small additional freezer to store their goods in!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 30, 2013 17:26:27 GMT -5
Muscle days are tuesdays and thursdays (saturdays if you count heart). I do plan you add more variety in the next month or so. I will probably end up buying a small freezer for his meat alone next time I have an influx of money in savings... I don't really really remember what else you had asked :/ the mobile site doesn't let you see previous posts in the thread while I'm typing a message so I'll probably end up editing this. Also, how many ounces exactly of heart should he be getting weekly?
Edit: Okay, so I probably won't get mice from Hare Today then lol, my order so far involves the following: 1 lb ground rabbit organs (idk if I should get these or not though since the ratio is high in liver, or I can just add additional organ and heart to the mix from the store), 3 lbs coarse ground goat/bones/organs, bag of 30 quail feet, 1 lb whole ground quail carcass, 3 lbs coarse ground duck/bones/organs, 5 lbs pork trim (muscle and fat only), 3 lbs turkey pieces, dehydrated lamb gullet (for a treat - is it worth anything?), dehydrated beef lung (treat).
Are there any problems I should worry about when feeding primarily grinds if I choose this order? Should he be getting more chewing to promote better jaw strength and cleaner teeth? Or will he be fine if I give him some quail feet and pork and turkey chunks a couple times a week? My other concern about grinds is how do I know if he's getting enough bones and organs from them?
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