trutan85
Junior Member
Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
Thor still "beats up" her bigger younger brother.
Posts: 192
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Post by trutan85 on Aug 6, 2014 23:23:46 GMT -5
Oh yeah, they love egg. I haven't fed them any lately, I ran out and haven't remembered to pick any more up I need to get more. I gave the boys some chicken last night and some beef this morning. Thor's rat was more than one meal, so I left that available for her today. I usually only watch them eating when I introduce a new food to them, this way I can see who is and isn't eating it. I like what I see at hare-today in regards to other whole prey, they have quail and I hear that's usually quite popular. Once the boys start eating the whole mice on their own, I'll start expanding their whole prey diet more. The rat was kind of an experiment to see if Thor would take them, fortunately she did and she loved it. I think if I could get them on a rotating schedule of mice, rats, quail, cavies, have a meal where they would get a cut of chicken or beef each week, it would be a good start.
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Post by gfountain on Aug 7, 2014 8:33:09 GMT -5
It's so funny to not have to worry about Thor eating something now, instead it's the boys, lol. Are you chopping mice for them and mixing with the chicken & beef? It might be that the boys would take to some other whole prey better than the mice. They might just not like mice, like Thor didn't like soup and chicken very much. Make sure the boys are getting enough calcium (bone) to keep their poops good while you're working on mice.
Your 'rotating schedule' up there ^^^^ looks good... 4 whole prey proteins, plus the 'grocery store' meat. You might also try pork. A lot of fuzzies LOVE pork. I get the neck bones and smash them so they can get to the marrow.
You're doing great with this switch!
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trutan85
Junior Member
Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
Thor still "beats up" her bigger younger brother.
Posts: 192
|
Post by trutan85 on Aug 7, 2014 18:21:54 GMT -5
I did try a beef/mice combo but they only ate the beef. Tonight is another whole prey night for Thor so I'll see if I can get anywhere with them tonight.
Thanks, it has had it's moments but overall hasn't been nearly as bad as I thought. I think the whole prey is my last big hurdle, and hopefully it'll be downhill after they finally start accepting whole prey.
Also, they have grape tail now, I took a sniff. That's so weird that it happens. Ferrants are surely unique, we're always looking at their poops and smelling their tails haha.
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Post by gfountain on Aug 7, 2014 20:42:07 GMT -5
Yay for grape tail, although my husband says they smell like honeysuckle, not grape. Are you doing the mouse-mix every meal for the boys?
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Post by gfountain on Aug 7, 2014 20:43:34 GMT -5
Umm... thinking.. how about mouse soup? The boys like soup, so you can make some chicken soup and some mouse soup and mix them increasing the ratio like you did before.
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Post by gfountain on Aug 7, 2014 20:44:29 GMT -5
Or mix the mouse with some egg.
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trutan85
Junior Member
Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
Thor still "beats up" her bigger younger brother.
Posts: 192
|
Post by trutan85 on Aug 8, 2014 8:26:00 GMT -5
I think mouse soup will be the next step, I'll get more mice and make some to serve with their next meal
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Post by gfountain on Aug 8, 2014 8:59:02 GMT -5
hmm... you should probably NOT talk about mouse soup at work or anything.. people might think you're weird!
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trutan85
Junior Member
Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
Thor still "beats up" her bigger younger brother.
Posts: 192
|
Post by trutan85 on Aug 8, 2014 9:25:48 GMT -5
I'm sure they already do, I've talked about my raw feeding escapades. Talking about the need to find hearts, that alone has produced some strange looks. But at least here on HFF everyone understands, and as long as I don't tell them I look at ferret poop everyday I think I'm good lol.
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Post by gfountain on Aug 8, 2014 9:53:47 GMT -5
lol... my worst 'ferret-y' day at work was the day Slinkee turned to me and deliberately spit his soup on me... and not thick soup either, soupy soup that went everywhere! I was an hour late for work because I had to completely start over with morning preparations, starting with the shower. I decided to NOT take time to wash my hair, though. It's long and takes forever to dry so I just used a rag and got the worst of it out, then put it up. My mistake. After about an hour, I started to smell like.. ummm... raw meat that's been left out too long. So then I had to explain that no, my new scent did not come from Bath & Body Works! LOL The things we suffer for our fuzzies!
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trutan85
Junior Member
Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
Thor still "beats up" her bigger younger brother.
Posts: 192
|
Post by trutan85 on Aug 8, 2014 12:35:08 GMT -5
Oh my that's terrible, there's nothing like that old raw meat smell.
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trutan85
Junior Member
Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
Thor still "beats up" her bigger younger brother.
Posts: 192
|
Post by trutan85 on Aug 8, 2014 20:37:01 GMT -5
When I feed mice, I always give them the mice first to see if they do anything before I try other methods to get them to eat. I put a mouse in the cage, Loki ate the head and left the body, to which Thor took and finished off. When attempting a 2nd mouse with Loki, he ate the head of that and left the body. Progress, at least he ate a part of the mice on his own.
And now.......CLYDE ATE A MOUSE! He chowed down on it and finished it, I'll give him a few more feedings before calling it, but he might have mice in the bag. I need to remember to get shower curtain hangers for the food, specifically for larger multi-serving prey, like rats for example. This way it stays in one spot for everyone... and hopefully Thor learns how to share instead of hoarding everything.
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Post by gfountain on Aug 9, 2014 12:29:16 GMT -5
Yayy Clyde!! A lot of ferrets like the head best; it seems to be a delicacy. What if you gave them each a whole mouse at the same time.. would Thor eat hers and still eat the rest of Loki's? I would think if Thor and Clyde both ate all of their mice, they would be too full to eat Loki's and might leave it for him to finish later. Or not...
Shower curtain hooks - the old-fashioned pear-shaped ones.. a necessary part of a raw fed ferret's life :thumbsup:
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trutan85
Junior Member
Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
Thor still "beats up" her bigger younger brother.
Posts: 192
|
Post by trutan85 on Aug 9, 2014 20:37:28 GMT -5
It was pretty much at the same time, slightly offset. Loki ate the head, then left the rest. That's when Thor took it, I gave the second to Clyde about that time, and while the 2 were eating I gave Loki another to try, he ate the head than left the rest. Thor and Clyde finished the last mouse off a few hours later. I should also add that the latest rat feeding resulted in Loki eating it's head, and the other two finishing it off.
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Post by gfountain on Aug 10, 2014 9:29:19 GMT -5
hmmm... How about chop off the head and give it to Thor and just give Loki the body? How did he do with mouse soup?
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