|
Post by Celene on Apr 10, 2015 22:29:43 GMT -5
So many ferrets! I wish I had a whole pile of ferrets I could bury myself in, but I don't think I'd be able to handle all the poop. turkey necks are pretty big so they'd need a decent amount of smashing up. Do the party wings have the tips? I'd recommend just cutting those to start and tossing the upper part in hot sauce and sticking in the oven, or freezing for later. I recently made a video on smashing bones for ferrets (when I was trying to introduce bone I was told to use a hammer which was REALLY messy and noisy and didn't even work to boot). It's my first video and not a very good one, but gives you the idea: When I first introduced bone they would always choke on it, wheeze, cough it up, and insist on finishing what they had just hacked out of their mouths. Gave me a heart attack every time and I'd never let them eat without close supervision (they were always fine of course and it's not like I know how to give a ferret the heimlich anyway). Now they're seasoned pros and chomp bones like champs If you can find it, quail bones are really tiny and nice and soft. Cornish game hen is quite a bit softer than chicken too, although generally rather expensive.
|
|
|
Post by raynebc on Apr 11, 2015 5:11:05 GMT -5
A cornish game hen isn't that expensive compared to quail where I live. I can get CGH for $4-5 each, and that's enough for at least 8 meals. One quail costs me $2-2.50 or so and is one or two meals.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 12, 2015 9:13:54 GMT -5
I get cornish game hens for about $3 each. I found for quail hens for $8 fir 4. They sure are tiny!
I was also wondering, how many proteins Tim eat in the course of a week? I wanted to try some of that bison roast for them and see if they like that.
I love my crazy life. I live for my babies!
Also, a guy at work hunts and he is totally okay with giving me some of his food! He currently has goose! Exciting!
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 12, 2015 9:17:27 GMT -5
Awesome video, btw. Would never have have tried that! I need to go pick me up some quail. Any other type of bones I should try? It doesn't seem like there are a lot of bones they can really eat...
|
|
|
Post by Celene on Apr 12, 2015 12:37:05 GMT -5
These are the bones I personally feed: - Quail (all)
- Cornish game hen (most - not usually thigh though)
- Rabbit (most - sometimes the leg bones are a little big for my girls but they can technically eat them)
- Partridge (a little more expensive where I live, so only as a treat, but they love it!)
The softest bones to start are definitely wings and ribs. The very first bones I introduced were CGH (cornish game hen) ribs that I basically cut along the ribs into little ferret "french fries". You can also feed the wings and necks of geese, turkey and ducks. Lots of people who feed whole prey also feed mice, guinea pigs, ASF rats, day-old chicks - but I'm personally too squeamish (so far) to feed anything that still looks like an animal. And you can feed small freshwater fish. Oh, and of course basically every part of the chicken except the thighs (although some ferrets can crunch through those as well). I found this pic of a bunch of birds for size comparison (it's from a website talking about stuffing turducken) so you can basically feed any of these if you can find them: Also if your coworker doesn't need them, take all the organs! As for number of proteins, the absolute minimum is 3-4 different types a week (organs from different animals don't count) but there is absolutely no maximum! The more variety the better
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 12, 2015 22:23:49 GMT -5
Haha, I was worried I would over stimulate them with so much protein! Glad I'm just a crazy ferret mommy! Feeding bison tonight, haha.
I told him that when he guess hunting again (which he can't until his freezer empties some) to save me everything but the digestive tract. He's going to be my best friend if he's not careful, haha.
And I chopped up the party wings (smashing bones wasn't the easiest, but I'm sure I'll get better). My boys chomped then down, but my big cage doesn't seem to want to touch it ...
|
|
|
Post by Celene on Apr 12, 2015 22:32:28 GMT -5
What size chunks are the big cage currently eating? If the bone-in chunks are bigger than what they're used to then it's two steps up for them (size and bone) so might be a little intimidating. Or they could just be manipulating you I would recommend introducing new proteins one at a time, just so that if someone has a reaction to a protein (which does happen) it's easier to tell which protein caused it. The two most common allergens in ferrets seem to be chicken and beef. The two "safest" meats as far as allergies go is lamb and goat. Not that meat allergies are common in ferrets to begin with, but it's just something to look out for.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2015 11:03:36 GMT -5
I think they're manipulating me because no one had a tummy that screamed 'starving'. I will try to keep the protein introductions slow, but I think I'm more excited about their transition than they are, haha. Bison went over very well. Not a drop left ...
And still finding bone shards in both my cages. Is that normal? I am cleaning them up as I find them, but they magically keep appearing ...
|
|
|
Post by Celene on Apr 13, 2015 13:20:11 GMT -5
You're finding bone shards in the cage that isn't eating bone?
I find some, but not much. Others find a lot of shards which I've heard described as a "miniature graveyard". Ferrets are pretty good at self-regulating though and will eat as much bone as they need. Don't be surprised if you find bone pieces in poop too, as their bodies just dissolve/digest what they need and let the rest "go through".
|
|
|
Post by Celene on Apr 14, 2015 15:16:25 GMT -5
Just wanted to give you the heads up and let you know (in case you haven't already seen it) that you've been set up with an official switching thread! Sherry will be coming by to lock and archive this one. That will mean that you won't be able to post here, but you can still come back and look at it for reference if you like.
|
|
|
Post by katt on Apr 21, 2015 21:05:07 GMT -5
|
|