Post by gfountain on Aug 5, 2015 15:20:32 GMT -5
So you've had Marty about 10 months. If you can remember, did his weight gain correspond more or less with the onset of cold weather? And was the decrease when spring arrived?
Once we get the amounts right, Marty will have food available 24/7. If he gets hungry and the dish is empty and he's banging, then it will be time to adjust your amounts. If they have as much as they want to eat, there should be no problem with their weights. Marty's fluctuation sounds like it could be seasonal, which is why we recommend keeping a journal. And their eating habits should be fairly regular. Again, a journal helps keep track of that. The amount they eat can fluctuate with the seasons, the weather, the protein, their mood for the day. BUT, with the exception of their moods, once you know how those factors affect them, you can adjust their meals as needed.
To feed twice a day, you need to know how much they eat per day (a 24 hour period). Divide that amount in half and serve that amount in the morning and that amount again 12 hours later. Getting the amount correct is trial and error and there may be some waste before you get it right. Since they ate 8 oz the other day, let's start there. Give them a 4 oz meal in the morning. They probably won't eat it all. That's fine. Leave it in the cage. Resist the urge to put it away. Let them have it for 12 hours. If they do eat it all immediately, give them more. Weigh it so you know how much more they got. 12 hours later, remove whatever they didn't eat and weigh it before you throw it out. Give them another 4 oz. and leave it with them overnight. When it's time for breakfast, take out the leftovers and weigh them to see how much they ate overnight. If they have left more than one or two bites, decrease the amount you give them. If they have emptied the dish, increase the amount you give them. You WANT them to have one or two bites leftover at each meal so you know they didn't go hungry, but you don't want them to have more than that because then you're wasting too much.
The biggest problem with free-feeding like this is that they might try to stash. I always ALWAYS feed in the cage. Since they have to be caged, it may as well be a place where something good happens, right? And having their food only in the cage means that I don't have rotting meat all over my house. When they come out to play, either their food goes up where they can't reach it or the cage door is closed. If they get hungry during playtime, they know to come get me and take me back to the cage so I know they want a snack. And they get shut in the cage while they eat their snack.
Once we get the amounts right, Marty will have food available 24/7. If he gets hungry and the dish is empty and he's banging, then it will be time to adjust your amounts. If they have as much as they want to eat, there should be no problem with their weights. Marty's fluctuation sounds like it could be seasonal, which is why we recommend keeping a journal. And their eating habits should be fairly regular. Again, a journal helps keep track of that. The amount they eat can fluctuate with the seasons, the weather, the protein, their mood for the day. BUT, with the exception of their moods, once you know how those factors affect them, you can adjust their meals as needed.
To feed twice a day, you need to know how much they eat per day (a 24 hour period). Divide that amount in half and serve that amount in the morning and that amount again 12 hours later. Getting the amount correct is trial and error and there may be some waste before you get it right. Since they ate 8 oz the other day, let's start there. Give them a 4 oz meal in the morning. They probably won't eat it all. That's fine. Leave it in the cage. Resist the urge to put it away. Let them have it for 12 hours. If they do eat it all immediately, give them more. Weigh it so you know how much more they got. 12 hours later, remove whatever they didn't eat and weigh it before you throw it out. Give them another 4 oz. and leave it with them overnight. When it's time for breakfast, take out the leftovers and weigh them to see how much they ate overnight. If they have left more than one or two bites, decrease the amount you give them. If they have emptied the dish, increase the amount you give them. You WANT them to have one or two bites leftover at each meal so you know they didn't go hungry, but you don't want them to have more than that because then you're wasting too much.
The biggest problem with free-feeding like this is that they might try to stash. I always ALWAYS feed in the cage. Since they have to be caged, it may as well be a place where something good happens, right? And having their food only in the cage means that I don't have rotting meat all over my house. When they come out to play, either their food goes up where they can't reach it or the cage door is closed. If they get hungry during playtime, they know to come get me and take me back to the cage so I know they want a snack. And they get shut in the cage while they eat their snack.