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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2014 13:29:28 GMT -5
Thank you so much! The amount of food to give is definitely something that is confusing for me sometimes. I don't want to leave too much because if he doesn't finish it, it makes my apartment smell badly. But if I don't leave enough that he might be hungry. I definitely look forward to a more steady intake. The liver that was in the soupie yesterday was also chicken. He ate the chicken liver before with the breast meat, so I guess I just assumed he would eat it with the thigh meat. I didn't realize that the dried flavor wasn't as strong as the raw flavor, but that does make sense now that you mention it. The first raw thing he ever ate was beef liver, which he seemed to really love. Do you know any online sources I can purchase chicken hearts from? I can find local beef liver/hearts, but the chicken hearts are hit and miss. Thank you again, he really is. He is just like I read ferrets would be. Very smart, mischievous, but just a wonderful little fuzzie. We're going to the park today since this is the first weekend, in a while I haven't been busy. So it's time to spend some real time with the fuzzie. (dance) I love the Finger Lakes region! I go every year with my family in the fall. It's about an hour and half away from me I believe. I wish I had know you were going, I would have suggested some good local restaurants to check out. There is a fantastic pizza place in this little college area that we stumbled upon. But generally we eat at the same family run Chinese restaurant for the entire weekend we are in the area. I've been to NYC once, but I haven't made it to the Manhattan area. I love Tennessee, I was going to Nashville once a year in the summer for a few years to get together with a bunch of friends. But we weren't able to do it last year and this year I haven't heard anything about trying to do it again.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2014 17:20:34 GMT -5
So after almost an hour of running around at a local park, we came home. Loki became super excited when he saw me breaking down the duck I picked up a couple of days ago. (Which I am excited to say had a neck, heart, liver, and probably some kidneys.) I showed him the carcass and after sniffing at it for a few seconds, he zeroed in on the wing and tried to steal it. So of course I gave it to him...
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2014 17:39:55 GMT -5
Go Lok1! What a good boy. For good onl1ne sources, use HareToday or MyPetCarn1vore (remember, 1'm "eyeless). Shppng can be expens1ve though. 1 ordered dr1ed hearts from Amazon unt1l 1 could f1nd fresh hearts. Also, check out your local As1an markets, they are a great source for hearts and organs and other exot1c meats. 1 just bought some duck hearts and duck g1zzards at a Nashv1lle As1an market. Turns out, m1ne are crazy for anyth1ng Duck.
We haven't l1ved 1n Tennessee that long, we moved here from Flor1da. 1 am lov1ng Tennessee though, and Nashv1lle 1s a pretty cool c1ty w1th so much to do.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2014 19:17:08 GMT -5
He chewed off the tip and that joint he has in his mouth in the picture and then stopped. I'm just thankful that he independently tried it.
I got the duck from the Asian market down the street from me. I am going to check around at some of the other ones in the area. Thanks for the tip, I'll have to check out those websites.
I lived in Florida for about a year, right in the middle of the state. I didn't like it down there, it was too hot. But every once in a while there will be a warm, rainy type day and it will make me think of Florida and how it smelled down there.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2014 19:34:42 GMT -5
The hardest part of feed1ng a ferret (for me) 1s f1gur1ng out how much they eat. A baby ferret or "a Tummy w1th Teeth" w1ll eat an amaz1ng amount. Just ask GFounta1n. Females eat so l1ttle, 1ts rather scarey. My two g1rls barely eat 2oz a day. They love to stash food, so 1ts even harder to tell. Boys eat a l1ttle more, maybe 3-4 oz a day. 1n the Spr1ng, they slow down and lose the1r w1nter we1ght. 1n the w1nter, they eat more and the1r w1nter coats show up and the1r colors change. My Jul1et has her seasons backwards, so she 1s eat1ng more and wear1ng a very soft, s1lky coat.
The stash1ng 1s part of the1r charm, except now that 1ts Hot, bugs become an 1ssue, as you ment1oned. 1 check every morn1ng and n1ght, and trash the1r treasures. S1nce we are free roam, 1ts qu1te a treasure hunt.
You can g1ve Lok1 a l1ttle help w1th the w1ng. Take a cleaver and h1t the w1ng lengthw1se and then across 1t, once or tw1ce. He w1ll bu1ld h1s jaw strength up gradually and eventually be able to handle more bone. G1zzards are also good for bu1ld1ng jaw strength. G1zzards are a muscle meat. 1f you've looked at the bas1c frankenprey menu, you know that 7-9 meals are bone 1n and 3-4 meals are muscle meat. Then the other two meals are organs.
We l1ved 1n St. Petersburg (Tampa Bay), but 1 grew up 1n Sarasota. 1 Love the beach, and m1ss 1t, but 1 don't m1ss the heat. Hav1ng four seasons 1s wonderful, and gett1ng to wear cute w1nter coats and boots, makes me very happy.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2014 22:05:15 GMT -5
I am interested to see how Loki looks when he starts shedding and changing for the seasons. I have no idea if he has his seasons backwards yet or not.
I don't let Loki free roam when I am not home. I try to feed him while he is in his cage because I don't mind him stashing his favorite toys under my couch, but I don't want him doing the same with a chicken wing. lol If it was my own house it would be different, but it's a rented apartment.
How should I prepare the gizzards? Since he's still on the soupie over all. Should I just cut them into strips? Or give them to him whole?
Yeah, I definitely enjoy having the different seasons, even though I wish I could live in a more Mediterranean area. I don't like the extreme winter weather anymore than the extreme summer weather. I can't wait to introduce Loki to snow.
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Post by Sherry on Jul 28, 2014 8:38:09 GMT -5
You can try him with slivers or strips, but don't be surprised if he doesn't quite know what to do with them yet. He still has to learn how to eat meat chunks by scissoring them
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2014 21:05:24 GMT -5
I've been giving Loki smaller servings of the raw and that seems to be going over really well. He ate about 2 oz this morning of turkey soupie and then another 2 ounces of beef soupie (he seems to really prefer liver to kidney). I was just wondering if I should try giving him three servings (6 oz). I am hesitating because he tends to not be hungry in the afternoon, which I know is normal. He usually prefers to eat while I am at work, after 7am, and in the evening while I am sleeping, after 10 PM. I plan on trying the gizzards soon with him.
He had a small case of hiccups just before I went to bed. But I did a quick search on the forum and saw that it was nothing to be too alarmed with. Energy has been great and he is doing really well over all.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2014 21:07:31 GMT -5
Also, does any one else have ferrets that are obsessed with eggshells? He is constantly crawling into the box that I keep my ferret stuff (when we are going away for the weekend). He by passes toys and other snacks in the hopes of running off with my eggshells? Just wondering!
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Post by Thérèse on Jul 29, 2014 7:16:46 GMT -5
Clever boy, he knows he needs calcium, he just wants the easy way out...eggshells are much easier to crunch then bones
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2014 9:04:51 GMT -5
I never even thought about it that way! He did get his first duck wing recently. I gave him strips of chicken gizzards today to start working on his jaw muscles.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 1, 2014 5:24:58 GMT -5
1. Ferret's name: Loki 2. Ferret's weight: 44 ounces (-1 ounce since the last weigh in on 7/26. He was 39-40 ounces when I began on 7/18) 3. Ferret has eaten "X" amount on average per meal: I still haven't found a base amount for him. It averages some where between 1/4 of a cup to a whole cup a day. It all depends on the protein that is being offered. He still gets an occasional piece of FD liver. He got his raw egg yolk this past Sunday and for the first time didn't finish it. 4. Stools on various proteins: Overall normal for being on a completely raw diet. He had a few incidents where his stool was running, but I added more eggshell and that seems to have helped. 5. Activity levels: Extremely active! Yesterday we went to a park and when he wasn't tunneling through tall grass he was running all over the place. Below is a picture from that trip that had to be shared. 6. Weekly menu: I try to rotate beef with a "poultry". He loves chicken and turkey, but was slow to accept the duck. I'm hoping a second try on that will help him warm up to it. There were a few days, which I think I already posted about, where he didn't eat much. But the last two days he has gone back to eating a cup of raw a day. He actually held still and stared at me, when he saw me go for my camera, as if to say: "Come on human! I know this shot is too good to pass up, but I have tunneling yet to do!"
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Post by Deleted on Aug 5, 2014 15:55:25 GMT -5
So i just realized I haven't updated in a while. I keep meaning too when I get home and it never happens. Loki is still going great. He is back to eating a cup of raw a day now that I figured out the combinations he enjoys. He had a huge outdoor day this past Sunday. He went to a picnic with me which involved almost three hours of play and trying out his new playpen. He had a nap while I drove us home and woke up to a surprise park trip. We had an hour nature trek which involved hiking on a trail, tunneling in weeds and generally running all over the place. He was a thoroughly exhausted fuzzie when he actually got home.
One concern though. He isn't finishing his egg yolk. Any thoughts on why?
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Post by Thérèse on Aug 8, 2014 7:52:40 GMT -5
He may just have filled up on other things. Also like us sometimes you just don't feel like something. If it's just once, I'd just put it down to a whim.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 8, 2014 10:49:51 GMT -5
It's been two servings in a row. I give it to him on Sundays. He might have been too excited this past Sunday as we were at a picnic. That's the only thing I can think of. But those are really good suggestions.
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