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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2015 9:36:26 GMT -5
To be honest, I was just too lazy to cut up a quail and had no latex gloves left (I hate touching meat)
So I just gave Sherlock the quail as it was (headless, featherless and had been previously gutted but still had heart, liver, lungs and kidneys)
It took him a whole day for him to finish it. So 1 quail = 1 day's feed. And I don't know how to feel about this. I felt it was so easy. I didn't crush the bones either to see if he could handle bones on his own and he did perfectly, the only remains I found was a piece of bone that seemed to be a bit too large for him to break down.
So I am actually considering trying whole prey but I don't know what else apart from quail can Sherlock handle as a 1 day's feed.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2015 9:58:08 GMT -5
Wow! Good for Sherlock. Are you thinking live whole prey or frozen whole prey? You could try Cornish game hens, but I'm not sure what they call them, where you are. You can buy mice, guinea pigs, or rats. You never want to feed a live rat to a ferret. I don't feed whole prey but here is a good link: holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/17717/prey
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Post by FireAngel on Jul 30, 2015 10:12:55 GMT -5
Go Sherlock! I feed mice, guinea pigs, rats, quail, and sardines as my base whole prey diet and then supplement with frankenprey to keep plenty of variety going. To me if I have to butcher it and portion it, it is not whole prey it is just something for the frankenprey parts.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2015 12:08:30 GMT -5
I'm not too happy of having to feed rodents, since I keep those as pets and I home many rescue rodents and I'd like to keep that type of meat away from him. I would feed frozen, but I was hoping it could be quail, rabbit, chicken and partridge. I could supplement with Frankenprey no problem, specially for the red meats. But how do I know how to portion it in a way that he gets all the meat,bone and organs? Specially when I bring in the new ferret, how could I make sure they are both eating well? I don't know what Cornish game hens are exactly but here in Spain I've seen "Picantones" for sale at supermarkets and they are basically a tiny chicken in a bag (usually male) and I just assumed they are the same thing
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Post by bitbyter on Jul 30, 2015 12:23:02 GMT -5
Whole prey is complete as is. Frankenprey you should only feed one type of meal per day (bone in, organ + heart, organ, muscle meat, etc). That way you know if someone is snubbing something. I weighed everything they ate for a week, compared that to weight of any leftovers and then averaged the results. That gives you a pretty good idea of how much they eat a day (keep in mind each season is different). See below for the Frankenprey menu and our document on how to sub-in other meal types: Frankenprey MenuBalancing Alternative Meals with Frankenprey
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Post by raynebc on Jul 30, 2015 12:55:55 GMT -5
He had the motive and opportunity, but didn't manage to remove all of the evidence. Consider "The Case of Sherlock and the Missing Quail" solved!
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Post by FireAngel on Jul 30, 2015 13:01:06 GMT -5
When you bring in a new ferret they should be kept separate for a couple of weeks to make sure the new one does not have anything he can give to Sherlock. This separation usually gives you enough time to make sure the new addition is up to speed with diet. If they are eating different stages it is usually best to keep them separated for feedings so you can make sure each one is getting what they need. Once they are on the same page and the "quarantine" time is up you should have already figured out which one is going to be an issue with which protein or organs if there is any issues to begin with.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 31, 2015 11:44:50 GMT -5
Yea, I was thinking of doing the quarentine, the new ferret is already familiar with raw feeding, so it will not be a problem (dance)
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