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Post by katt on Feb 18, 2015 19:53:13 GMT -5
Checking in
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Post by katt on Feb 23, 2015 7:16:53 GMT -5
Keeping in my feed
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Post by katt on Feb 27, 2015 22:58:46 GMT -5
checking in
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Post by brittles888 on Mar 4, 2015 2:13:26 GMT -5
Hello!
I'm back from vacation and am almost finished with the weekly packaged meals I worked on before I left. . I have about 3 days worth of the packages meals I had prepared for my trip then I can take the next step up. They have been eating well...they are still a little more reluctant with the beef organs but they eventually eat it.
Zin is 2.5 lbs and Lola is 1.9 lbs. The poops look good, they have high energy.
So let me know the next step to take for when they finish this batch.
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Post by katt on Mar 5, 2015 17:04:19 GMT -5
So when this batch is finished we need to work on increasing bone and chunk size. Remind me - what size chunk and bones are they eating right now? Basically you want to start making them bigger and bigger every few meals, stopping for a few days at a certain size if needed for them to get used to it,then moving forward again. The goal is to get them to whatever size chunk you are comfortable preparing for the rest of time. IMO the bigger the better bc it means less prep work for you and more jaw/neck muscle work for them. I know you are wanting to eventually do whole prey too. Is that something you are wanting to do mentored or more of an in-the-future? If it's a closer goal we could start to look into how you could get access to whole prey.
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Post by brittles888 on Mar 7, 2015 17:48:05 GMT -5
They are eating chunks about an inch? Like the size of two dice. I just gave them their last bag of what I had prepared, and pulled out a game hen. How should I cut that up then?
And ya I do eventually want to do whole prey. I'm happy to do it more sooner than later. How long do you think it would take to get there from where we are now? Will I need to have other animals besides mice once I'm there?
So when this batch is finished we need to work on increasing bone and chunk size. Remind me - what size chunk and bones are they eating right now? Basically you want to start making them bigger and bigger every few meals, stopping for a few days at a certain size if needed for them to get used to it,then moving forward again. The goal is to get them to whatever size chunk you are comfortable preparing for the rest of time. IMO the bigger the better bc it means less prep work for you and more jaw/neck muscle work for them. I know you are wanting to eventually do whole prey too. Is that something you are wanting to do mentored or more of an in-the-future? If it's a closer goal we could start to look into how you could get access to whole prey.
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Post by katt on Mar 8, 2015 3:27:52 GMT -5
Honestly we can start on prey whenever you can get some. They are eating small bone pieces now so working in prey shouldn't be too hard (ahahah famous last words!!) - we just have to get them used to the taste of the new protein, and the idea of eating fur. They always need a minimum of 3 proteins, more is better. If you wanted to do all whole prey you'd really have to order from somewhere to get stuff like rats and guinea pigs. But they are eating good Frankenprey already, so you can use Frankenprey meals for the extra variety. I'll help with the balance when we get there - it can sound overwhelming at first but it's actually pretty straight forward. For bones, just chop them a little less every meal or couple of meals - however fast they will tolerate. Game Hen I would just cut up into chunks slightly bigger than their current 1" chunks but don't do extra work chopping the bones beyond that bc they are already nice small bones. I caught this 9hrs after you posted so let me know what you tried and how it went!
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Post by katt on Mar 19, 2015 17:32:08 GMT -5
Keeping in my feed. Hope you and Lola are hanging in there. Let me know when you think you're going to go to Juneau to find some new cagemates for her.
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Post by brittles888 on Mar 25, 2015 2:35:09 GMT -5
Hello!
I'm back again. As you know, I lost Zin to a horrible household accident and have kind of been out of commission. That was really, really tough. Lola continued eating after he died but smaller amounts. She's still like that, eating but not quite as much as before. I DID cut the game hen less but I think because she was depressed she didn't want to do the work so to entice her to eat more during her mourning I have been cutting the hen and organs into a little smaller pieces than we were originally doing. Like 1/2 inch. I noticed she had just been taking the larger pieces and chewing on them for a minute then moving them to the back of the cage and leaving them there. Maybe she didn't have it in her to do the work.
And as you know, I got two new ferrets yesterday. So let me do their stats here as well as Lola
1. Ferret's name: Lola 2. Ferret's weight: 1 lb 10 oz 3. Ferret has eaten "X" amount on average per meal: 1/2 to 1 1/2 oz per meal 4. Stools on various proteins. When meaty bones, poop small solid and brown, when organs or heart more black and a little runnier 5. Activity levels: Medium. She's been sleeping a lot more since Zin died. She will get up and play for 30 minutes or so then goes back to bed. I've been making her get up and play with me throughout the day so she's out and active more. 6. Weekly menu: Franken Prey diet. Has been eating quail, game hen, chicken heart, beef heart, beef liver, chicken liver and beef kidney.
1. Ferret's name: Lulu (name might get changed, fiance thinks we can do better) She's my new kit, 2 months 2 weeks old 2. Ferret's weight: 1 lb 5 oz 3. Ferret has eaten "X" amount on average per meal. About an oz. 4. Stools on various proteins. I've only seen the marshal kibble poops so far, which has been A LOT of stinky brown poop 5. Activity levels: High. She's a crazy kit with toys and space for the first time. She's been playing and playing and playing and playing and playing. <3 6. Weekly menu: Until now, kibble. Her first meal with me was soup and she ate it without me even showing her how. Her second meal was kibble because I was trying to get Piggie Smalls to eat and was hoping she could show him my kibble was good (since he wasn't touching soup even on his nose). Today I put her in Lola's cage and she went to the food plate and picked up a whole chicken heart and ate it. She ate several more. So without me even trying she is already to large chunk stage.
1. Ferret's name: Piggie Smalls (my other new ferret, somewhere between 4 and 8 months old) (I need to call Petco and ask, I though the associate said he'd been there for six months but the girl who bought him said she thought he said he was 4 months old so I'm confused now) (He's a big fat adorable ferret) 2. Ferret's weight: 3 lb 3 oz 3. Ferret has eaten "X" amount on average per meal. He's eaten about half to one oz the few meals he's had. 4. Stools on various proteins. He also has been purging his little fat body of that marshals kibble crap, so large brown stinky poops 5. Activity levels: Medium to High. He's been very excited being out of Petco and suddenly having space and ferret toys. He's not as energetic as the kit but is more than Lola. 6. Weekly menu: Until now, kibble. He wouldn't eat at first but I finally got him to eat some soupie last night by forcing him. Today he ate it if I poured it in his mouth with a spoon then he would lick it off my fingers then he would lick it off the plate and now he's eating it by himself off the plate.
Ya, so there's the update!
I can order a case of frozen whole prey if you can point me in the right direction and tell me what to order. I have space in my freezer for a large box worth plus some.
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Post by katt on Mar 25, 2015 18:18:31 GMT -5
Again, I am deeply sorry about Zin. And congrats on the new additions. Prey time! (dance) I would suggest looking at RodentPro or HareToday as they tend to be the most reliable. Order whatever you fancy! Try some different species. I would definitely get some mice though because if you do decide to raise prey, mice are typically the easiest and highest productivity. Adult prey are best nutritionally, but sometimes starting with younger prey makes it easier to sneak stuff in. I generally just jump into adults and have people cut them to start (the fur is the biggest thing to get them used to) and only go down to pinkies if they are really resistant about that BUT we can also start with pinkies to get them used to the taste and work up to adults from there. Either way. If you want to start with younger prey, still order some adults because we will be wanting to head in that direction AND it would be a good idea to introduce adult prey to the babies as soon as possible so they can imprint on them now while their brains are young and flexible! (giggle) For Piggie Smalls - don't be surprised if he starts to lose some weight. For one he should lean out a bit on the raw diet as you know (more muscle, less fat), and two kits are always fattest at their first winter. He is about to start losing his kit weight AND his winter weight - that first spring loss can be quite dramatic, especially if you aren't expecting it. So - DON'T FREAK OUT! lol
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Post by brittles888 on Mar 27, 2015 21:01:18 GMT -5
Cool, I'll check out those sites and order some prey. I'll just get a sampling I guess. I would also like to get them used to eating freeze dried food. I was just thinking about that today. Next winter we plan on doing a few month road trip and we plan on taking the animals. It would be easier to feed freeze dried when needed while living out of a car. Also, for when we have pet sitters, and to go in the emergency go kit. (In case of tsunami or natural disaster. I have small kennels ready to go with kibble and leashes and basic necessities for all the pets. ) Can you recommend what I should get and how I should go about getting them used to eating freeze dried meals sometimes? And Piggie Smalls is going to lose weight? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE HIS CHUB. I guess I'll accept his weight loss and won't start pumping him full of salmon oil if it starts going down. Sigh. I better get my fill of that blubber before it's all gone. *wipes tear* It makes him so awkward and cute! (He's so bottom heavy he can't climb up stuff and when he tries to get down from the couch his back end falls over his front end and he flips.) And wiggling and working his way into and out of and through the tube is pretty cute...
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Post by katt on Mar 28, 2015 20:05:04 GMT -5
I'm a fan of Stella and Chewey's FD but there are several brands out there. I imagine you will have to order online. How is Piggie Smalls doing on his chunks?
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Post by katt on Mar 29, 2015 0:26:27 GMT -5
just bumping in my feed lol
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Post by brittles888 on Mar 30, 2015 1:43:52 GMT -5
Piggie was eating the chunks when they were mixed in with soup, but today I tried them not mixed in with soup and he can't figure it out. I'm about to try again and see if I can get him to eat some without the soup. (I'm waiting for meat to thaw so I can make another batch.) I gave a meal of just liver this morning and Lil Kit wouldn't eat that at first, but finally ate a couple small pieces after I kept putting them in her mouth. Piggy wouldn't eat it at all. He was having nothing to do with that. I came back later and all the liver was gone so one of them ate it (probably Kit and Lola) and then I put the meal of quail out (but I cut it into small pieces) and coated them with salmon oil and but Piggy wouldn't eat them. Even when I got a really small piece and put it in his mouth he just spit it out. He wants it in soupie. He hasn't eaten at all today though since he didn't want the liver and now doesn't want the quail without soupie so I'm hoping he's hungry enough to eat some of the quail when I try hand feeding him again here in a minute. Fingers crossed. Otherwise I'll have to mix it in more soup later when I have some ready.
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Post by brittles888 on Mar 30, 2015 2:32:59 GMT -5
Update...SUCCESS!! I coated the quail in more salmon oil and sat down with the plate. They smelled the oil (crack) and all three came to me. Lola and Kit just started eating, no problem. Piggie Smalls wasn't sure what to do but I kept putting the edge of a piece in his mouth and he finally started chewing and then took it and went into the corner and hid and ate it. Then he came back and got another piece from me and went and ate it in the corner again. All three fuzz butts were crunching and chomping on quail. Yay! That's the last meal I have prepared so for tomorrow I have stuff to make a new batch of soup and then game hens to portion up and chicken hearts and chicken livers and beef liver and kidney. I need to go to the store and get some different muscle meats too, so I'll see what they have.
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