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Post by Deleted on Oct 5, 2015 7:54:44 GMT -5
Sorry, stand corrected on Saturday muscle, as I was taught 3- 4 muscle meals, but yes poops would definitely tell the tale. You were fine and correct on 3-4 muscle meats. I just wanted to make sure that Oberyn's daddy knew to keep an eye out on poops and then he could decide if he wanted to make Saturday's meal a bone in meal or a muscle meat meal. It's great that you're keeping an eye out and helping him. :wave3:
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Post by Deleted on Oct 6, 2015 20:43:30 GMT -5
Oh yeah you guys are all awesome and me and Oberyn appreciate everything you guys have done for us! UPDATE: Oberyn is eating turkey gizzards tonight, I'm warming the meat up in some warm water now. He likes it warmed up like that On Tuesdays I usually take turns feeding Turkey gizzards or Pork Tongue because they're both tougher meats and give him the mental stimulation of chewing. Wednesdays I feed heart, I currently have lamb, pork and duck hearts that I feed. On Monday I usually feed ground rabbit without any organs. He likes that because it's softer I guess? haha Also the little stinker got out of my room today while I was gone! Luckily my roommate was home to keep an eye on him. I usually keep Oberyn in my room while I'm away just because I know he's safe and can't get into anything. However he is learning to climb really well, annoyingly well. Lol he is definitely keeping me on my toes! I will hopefully be getting him a friend before Christmas. I'm hoping that will make it easier on him while I'm away because they can play together and maybe not be so tempted to escape lol
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Post by Deleted on Oct 7, 2015 6:47:51 GMT -5
Hehe! I'm pretty sure everyone who joins the forum is also very awesome, especially when they transition to raw. Turkey gizzards sound awesome! I wish I could get some of those! I'm so happy to hear that he loves his warmed up. I do that sometimes with chicken gizzard. You've got a great variety going on. Thats a great thing for oberyn. I'm pretty sure that ground meals make it easier for them to eat, so less of a deal to have to chew down too much. My Yuki & Haru tend to eat more when it comes to mince (ground) meats. Does Oberyn free roam in your room while you're not home? He really does sound like a free roaming ferret hehe. Getting into no good while dad is away. He's still quite young, so its really understandable that he's beginning to learn to climb. My boy Yuki started becoming a great climber around 6 months and was climbing over the couches and even jumping out of the bath tub during bathtime ! (Sigh) I'm excited about news on a new friend. He will love that for sure. It's also very lovely to see them snuggle up with other ferrets, and then play during play time. He'll have some company while you're away which is always a good thing. I'm sure he'll still be excited for when you come home to play and feed him too. They're such a joy to have around. Expect him to become extra cheeky with a new play mate. New friends means a partner in crime hehehe. The only reason he's wanting to escape is due to being a very curious little animal. I had most of our rooms closed off so Haru & Yuki would scratch or find a way in all the time after a while. Now I have a few rooms ferret proofed and the only place they cannot get in is the kitchen, laundry and garage. You could also try moving things around before you leave the house if he's out in your room to make things more interesting. It will surely keep him occupied when he gets curious. Do you have a ball or peanut pit? I made one for my three and they go crazy for it now. I actually have a heap of boxes where I put old clothes in for sleepy times in it, and they're all hooked up to tunnels so they all chase eachother in and out . haha
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Post by Deleted on Oct 7, 2015 9:42:55 GMT -5
I'm working on a peanut pit. I will need to find the peanuts though, I need the edible biodegradable kind so if he swallows them they won't hurt him lol. Oberyn is currently not a free roamer, I'm working on that. It just isn't very safe for him to be out of my room unsupervised. Our apartment is TINY and my roommate keeps a lot of his tools and other sharp objects in the living room. I'll have to start up a ferret proofing thread here soon to see what everyone is doing. Also my other roomate has a cat and his litter box is in the living room as well. Everytime Oberyn gets in the living room he is in that thing rolling around (it's a very dusty litter so I do not like that at all.) I get free vaccinations for the second ferret so I'm definieetly going to get one once I've saved up a bit more money. I'd like to get a girl if at all possible haha.
How often do you bathe your ferrets @machan ? I tried to give Obes a bath once and the poor thing crapped himself :/ lol. I mean he doesn't get into anything messy so I'm not really worried about giving him baths, they obviously scare the crap out of him, literally. lol
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Post by Deleted on Oct 7, 2015 15:23:53 GMT -5
I'm working on a peanut pit. I will need to find the peanuts though, I need the edible biodegradable kind so if he swallows them they won't hurt him lol.
Avoid getting the styrofoam ones. Those ones are quite dangerous, however as long as they are the cornstarch packing peanuts then those ones are good. Oberyn is currently not a free roamer, I'm working on that. It just isn't very safe for him to be out of my room unsupervised. Our apartment is TINY and my roommate keeps a lot of his tools and other sharp objects in the living room. I'll have to start up a ferret proofing thread here soon to see what everyone is doing.
He will really love exploring the rest of the house when you do ferret proof it. ;u; My place is also very tiny ;A; I couldn't believe how many things we had laying around that were dangerous to ferrets before I brought them home. Ferrets are such an eye opener Also my other roomate has a cat and his litter box is in the living room as well. Everytime Oberyn gets in the living room he is in that thing rolling around (it's a very dusty litter so I do not like that at all.)
What kind of litter do they use for the kitty? I used to own many cats, and foster cats. Dusty litters are very triggering when it comes to feline asthma, so even with the kitties, dust free ones are best avoided. Maybe you can convince them to try using the same litter as Oberyn. You use a recycled paper pellet type don't you? (like me~) I get free vaccinations for the second ferret so I'm definieetly going to get one once I've saved up a bit more money. I'd like to get a girl if at all possible haha.
I'm incredibly jealous! Vaccinations cost me around $55 per ferret. When I do them all together I get discounted though, so I shouldn't complain. Oberyn is going to have so much fun with his new friend. Just make sure that she's spayed in advance to avoid aplastic anemia from occurring. I had to pay $190 to have Haru spayed. She wasn't a happy girl- a couple of weeks later she nipped the vet a good one when they tried removing her stitches. LOL You're going to love when they bond and become very close. My Haru and my boy Yuki are bonded, its unbelievably adorable. She follows him everywhere and they always got and get into mischief hehe. Do you have any names picked out already? ;u; It's great that you're being prepared by saving up some money as well. You're a very responsible ferrent. I look forward to meeting the new little one when she arrives. How often do you bathe your ferrets machan ? I tried to give Obes a bath once and the poor thing crapped himself :/ lol. I mean he doesn't get into anything messy so I'm not really worried about giving him baths, they obviously scare the crap out of him, literally. lolI try not to bath them too often. I probably use a shampoo once every couple of months only when necessary like accidents where one of the ferrets would get poop or food on their fur (like all over, rarely happens though) Shampooing too often can strip their coats of natural oils, so their skin works over time to produce oils. Since its coming into summer, I put them in the bath with simply water just to cool off only on the hot hot hot days. Otherwise I would leave a bowl of water out for them to have some water play. None of my ferrets enjoy baths either. Yuki can jump out of the tub, so I have to do him first out of my three ;A; Don't worry too much about giving him baths, just don't do it too often when it comes to shampooing, only when its needed. Every couple of months to around 6 months is best. Some people do it only once a year and some not at all. If he gets dirty only on a spot, just wipe with a damp cloth. If he manages to get something all over his fur, like my trouble maker boy Yuki, then a bath will do. ;u;
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Post by Deleted on Oct 7, 2015 21:50:14 GMT -5
I let Oberyn run around today and there really isn't much I'll need to ferret proof. (He didid get under the stove and scared me half to death! ._.)
I haven't thought of a name for the new ferret just yet. I didn't know Obes name until I met him lol. I named him after Oberyn Martell from A Song Of Ice and Fire, a series of novels I've read. Oberyn Martell is a prince who is described as being very handsome with dark features and I thought both of those things fit Oberyn lol. When I get the new ferret there is a high chance that he/she will have a name for a book too. Lol I love to read.
I'm pretty sure in America all pet stores that sell ferrets already have them dissented and spayed/neutered. I'll be getting the new ferret at my store since it's the cheapest route. Sadly the ferrets we get are barely 2 months of age so that means they're fixed very early. :/ But I guess the risk of adrenal is better than someone getting a ferret and not spaying her. It's sad how ignorant a lot of ferret owners are
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Post by Deleted on Oct 7, 2015 23:03:22 GMT -5
At least Oberyn wasn't like my Haru. She managed to find holes under our kitchen door things. I think the holes are for wires of something but she got in them and ran around and I'm out here freaking out. Grabbing some oil, trying to sweet talk her to come out and once she did I snapped her up and put her somewhere FAAAAR away from there AHAHHA I ended up using a large piece of cardboard to close off the area.Its really handy because I can lift it out and put it away in the side of the fridge. If you're worried over under the stove, you could cut some wood to fit, or cut foam and then tape over with masking tape. Honestly the name matches him so well. Its also a very unique name. I doubt I'll ever come across another Oberyn If the name comes from the same book as the name oberyn did, then it's sure to be awesome. I might google the book later, it sounds great. If I read it, I'll probably always be thinking of Oberyn AHAHA I heard that America does Descent and Desex all there ferrets. Before joining this forum I had no Idea how horrible it was. Descenting is illegal in australia, thankfully. Oh yes, 2 months of age is very young ;n; They also get taken from their mothers too young as well and I'm sure the whole ordeal would be quite stressful on their little bodies. Even ferrets on a raw diet can get adrenal or any other health issue. However by being on raw, we minimise the chances quite alot. I'm sure as long as you give her a healthy life, which you will obviously, that both her and Oberyn will live a long life. I actually panicked alittle the other day when it came to thinking 'what if'. Its probably best not to dwell on the negative, and just be happy because they're healthy. ;u; It's sad when an owner not intentionally being ignorant, but its even worse when they're aware, and don't even care for proper ferret nutrition. The world is filled with crazy people. The best we can do is pass on the teachings we learn for the sake of all ferrets.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 11, 2015 11:32:10 GMT -5
Hey guys. Today starts the 4th week of Oberyn's raw diet. Can you guys believe I've been feeding raw for nearly a month already??? And I've had the little guy for almost 2 months. Time is flying by! Today Oberyn had Cornish for breakfast and will be having an organ meal of Beef Liver and Pork Brains for dinner. For his bones I now give him much bigger pieces and he has learned to start tearing the meat and crunching the bone. He's doing just fine and his weight is right at 2.5 lbs! He also is up to date on all of shots so (fingers crossed) He shouldn't have to go to the vet for another year! :-) With all that being said I guess it's about time I end this thread. I will keep it up because there is a lot of information in it to help other people with their transition but I think I've gotten the hang of everything now. Of course, if I ever have any questions I'll definitely post here. Thank you so much to anyone who has contributed to this thread, I couldn't have done any of this without this forum! Keep an open for other threads I will post in the future because I'm sure I will have encounter tons of questions especially after I get the new ferret.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 11, 2015 20:43:22 GMT -5
Hi! Oh my goodness, your signature is completely adorable. It's really great that you switched Oberyn so early. He's still young, and growing, so he's bound to get lots more nutrients from his raw diet compared to kibble. Time does fly, and it always feels like its been years. [img src="http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h352/JW_2012/Emoticons/ .gif" src="http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h352/JW_2012/Emoticons/ .gif" style="max-width:100%;"] oooh~ Oberyn is going to love breakfast! I'm also impressed by his weight. He'll probably lose some of that as he grows out into an adult ferret so don't be freaked out when that happens. How big roughly are the bones you're feeding? I would love to see some photos. I'm sure Oberyn is handling those pretty well. Before you 100% decide on ending this thread, Would you care to answer a couple of questions? I might give you some challenging ones. 1.How many meals a week should be organ, and of those meals how much needs to be liver? 2.How can you tell if your ferret is getting too much or too little bone? 3.What is a healthy diet item that can be used for hairballs, and how often should you give it? 4.What protein is high in Iron and Vitamin B? Lastly, it would be great to see the current weekly menu plan for Oberyn, including types of proteins. See you around~ ^^
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Post by Deleted on Oct 12, 2015 21:24:30 GMT -5
To answer your questions: 1.) Organs make up 10% of the ferret's total diet. This adds up to about 1 and 1/2 meals of organs per week. Of that 10%, 5% should be liver. So organs meals are divided into half liver, half other organ. The other 1/2 is fed with with heart so 1/2 heart, 1/4 liver and 1/4 other organ. 2.) It is very important to monitor a ferret's stool for multiple reasons, one of them being to tell how much bone they have consumed. Ferrets who have eaten a lot of bone will have firm poops with some bone shards in them whereas a ferret who hasn't had enough may have very wet other runny poops. It's important to watch this because you don't want the ferret's stool to be too hard but also not runny. 3.) Eggs are good for hairballs, particularly egg shells. They are also a great extra boost of protein throughout the week. I believe most people feed an egg a week, as do I. On Wednesdays I feed Oberyn one whole egg. 4.) I believe red meats such as Beef and lamb are especially high in iron and vitamin b. For this reason it is recommended that ferrets have at least one red meat meal a week. I try to feed Oberyn at least two times a week especially because he loves Lamb. I shared my weekly meal plan a while ago but here it is again : Monday am -Bone (Cornish or Duck) Monday pm -Muscle (Ground Rabbit or Beef Mince) Tuesday am-Bone (Cornish or Duck) Tuesday pm-Muscle (Pork tongues or Turkey Gizzards) Wednesday am- Bone (Cornish or Duck) + Egg Wednesday pm- Heart (Pork or Lamb) Thursday am- Bone (Cornish or Duck) Thursday pm- Bone (Cornish or Duck) Friday am- Bone (Cornish or Duck) Friday pm- Part Organ (Pork or Lamb Hearts/ Duck, Beef, Lamb or Pork Liver/ Pork and Lamb Kidneys, Pork Brains) Saturday am- Bone (Cornish or Duck) Saturday pm- Bone (Cornish or Duck) OR Muscle (Pork, Lamb, Beef, Rabbit) this depends on his stools. Sunday am- Bone (Cornish or Duck) Sunday pm- Organ (Pork, Duck, Beef and Lamb Livers, Pork and Lamb kidneys, Pork Brains.) I also have whole ground rabbit with organs, bones and fur that I can feed. It would be a good part of an organ meal if Oberyns stools were rather loose, the ground bones can help firm up his poops a bit. I don't think I'm completely done with this thread. I'll just be moving on from it for the most part.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 13, 2015 0:45:26 GMT -5
To answer your questions:
1.) Organs make up 10% of the ferret's total diet. This adds up to about 1 and 1/2 meals of organs per week. Of that 10%, 5% should be liver. So organs meals are divided into half liver, half other organ. The other 1/2 is fed with with heart so 1/2 heart, 1/4 liver and 1/4 other organ.
Correct & Fantastic answer! 2.) It is very important to monitor a ferret's stool for multiple reasons, one of them being to tell how much bone they have consumed. Ferrets who have eaten a lot of bone will have firm poops with some bone shards in them whereas a ferret who hasn't had enough may have very wet other runny poops. It's important to watch this because you don't want the ferret's stool to be too hard but also not runny. Great answer! The bone shards that you mentioned are undigested fats. 3.) Eggs are good for hairballs, particularly egg shells. They are also a great extra boost of protein throughout the week. I believe most people feed an egg a week, as do I. On Wednesdays I feed Oberyn one whole egg. Yes, Raw eggs help prevent hairballs by breaking up the fats that clump the hair together in the digestive system. Egg shells are also good for calcium for ferrets under the age of 18 months that are still growing. I also have an egg day on a Wednesday haha! 4.) I believe red meats such as Beef and lamb are especially high in iron and vitamin b. For this reason it is recommended that ferrets have at least one red meat meal a week. I try to feed Oberyn at least two times a week especially because he loves Lamb.
Good answers. Red meats also have Taurine, which is essential for ferrets. Beef is high in Vitamin B and Iron. Vitamin B is water soluable and doesn't stay in the system so It needs to be replenished thats why its recommended to have at least one red meat meal a week. Lamb can be quite expensive, but I realised that getting them in organs or hearts can be a great and cheaper way to get some lamb into the meals. I shared my weekly meal plan a while ago but here it is again :
The reason as to why I asked again, is because the meal plan can be changed over time. I'm going to colour code it so I can point out a few things. Monday am - Bone (Cornish or Duck) Monday pm - Muscle (Ground Rabbit or Beef Mince) Tuesday am- Bone (Cornish or Duck) Tuesday pm- Muscle (Pork tongues or Turkey Gizzards) Wednesday am- Bone (Cornish or Duck) + Egg Wednesday pm- Heart (Pork or Lamb) Thursday am- Bone (Cornish or Duck) Thursday pm- Bone (Cornish or Duck) Friday am- Bone (Cornish or Duck) Friday pm- Part Organ (Pork or Lamb Hearts/ Duck, Beef, Lamb or Pork Liver/ Pork and Lamb Kidneys, Pork Brains) Saturday am- Bone (Cornish or Duck) Saturday pm- Bone (Cornish or Duck) OR Muscle (Pork, Lamb, Beef, Rabbit) this depends on his stools. Sunday am- Bone (Cornish or Duck) Sunday pm- Organ (Pork, Duck, Beef and Lamb Livers, Pork and Lamb kidneys, Pork Brains.) I count 9 bone in meat meals. 3.5 Muscle Meat. 2 Organ. It looks alright, however the muscle meats seem little too close. Maybe you could space the muscle meat out little. Saturday PM looks like a nice spot for a muscle meat meal. I see 7 proteins. (1.CGH, 2.Duck,3.Rabbit,4.Beef,5.Pork,6.Turkey,7.Lamb) Thats a good variety. Remember to space the CGH out a bit so its not too heavy in the meal plan since its technically chicken. I also have whole ground rabbit with organs, bones and fur that I can feed. It would be a good part of an organ meal if Oberyns stools were rather loose, the ground bones can help firm up his poops a bit. Do you know how much organ, muscle and bone is in the mix? I don't think it would be an organ meal. I would think it could count as a whole meal but you may have to adjust the percentages of the other organ meals. I'm going to tag @poncesmom to shed some light on that
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Post by Deleted on Oct 13, 2015 9:18:12 GMT -5
Oh yeah the whole rabbit would be more of a treat but if I feed it I will have to change my organ intake, that's what I meant by organ meal lol. I have turkey bones too but they are big for Obes right now. Once I am more comfortable with him handling duck and Cornish I will add turkey in as well. I also have pinkie mice and baby quail to feed once he's really gotten the hang of bones. I'll start asking questions about that as it gets closer to that time. I'd say another month before I'm comfortable doing that. Also it turns out I an getting my new ferret much sooner than expected! I'll post another thread in just a bit!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 6, 2016 10:23:45 GMT -5
Hello everyone, It's been months since I've added to this thread at all. I figured I would provide an update on Oberyn's raw diet. He's been eating raw for about 5 months now. His brother Tommen has been on raw about 4. They are both doing absolutely great. I've also gotten the hang of meat buying, storing and prepping. There is an international market close to me that sells organic meat and they have pretty much every part of the animal for a great price! Whatever I can't find there I order from Raw Feeding Miami. Its a great site. The owner, Carla, is one of the most intelligent and kind people I've had the pleasure of doing business with. They also have a lot of awesome stuff for every cheap (Pork Uterus is only 6.99 for 2.5 lbs!) Today is a break from my very busy schedule so I wanted to write a detailed meal plan of what I feed my boys. I rotate proteins a lot because I want them to have a good variety of meat. I have used slashes to indicate different proteins I typically rotate weekly. However, sometimes I like to spice it up and feed them one or two different proteins at a time. Below is my meal plan. Let me know what you guys think! *Sunday* AM - Bone: Cornish Game Hen PM - Organ: Organ Grind A (consist of: 25% Duck Liver, 25% Lamb Liver, 25% Pork Brains, 25% Lamb Kidney.) /// Organ Grind B (consist of: 25% Pork Liver, 25% Duck Liver, 25% Beef Pancreas, 25% Pork Kidney. *Monday AM - Bone: Duck Neck PM - Muscle: Ground Rabbit /// Ground Elk /// Turkey Gizzards *Tuesday AM - Bone: Turkey Neck PM - Muscle: Pork Tongues /// Lamb Chunks /// Chicken Gizzards /// Pork Uterus >>> On Tuesdays I add about one tablespoon of Organic Salmon Oil to each ferret's food before serving. *Wednesday AM - Bone: Duck Wing PM- Heart: Lamb Heart /// Beef Heart /// Pork Heart /// Duck Hearts >>> On Wednesdays I also feed egg puree. I rotate between Chicken and Quail eggs. I'll occasionally add some salmon oil to the puree if they aren't wanting to eat it that day. *Thursday AM - Bone: Duck Neck PM - Bone: Rabbit Bones *Friday AM - Turkey Neck PM - Partial Organ: 50% Heart (Lamb /// Beef /// Pork /// Duck) 50% Organ (Grind A /// Grind B) * Saturday AM- Bone: Duck Wing PM - What I feed on Saturday night largely depends on what the boys' stools look like. I find that I typically rotate every week between Bone and Muscle meals, however a few times I have fed Bone several times in a row and vice versa for muscle. I have also fed half Bone, half Muscle. It really just depends on the consistency of their stools and what I think is best for them. I also give them pinkie mice as treats, but I can't seem to get them to move up on size. When I give them adult mice or even rat pups they just look at me like, "bro, I'm not eating this." Lol I'm being patient with them though. I have baby Quail to feed but I'm not sure when I should introduce that. I love this set up and the boys seem to love it too. They know when dinner time is and they're always ready when I bring their bowls in the room. I do feed them separately because Tommy has become alpha and will steal all of Oberyn's food . Let me know what you guys think!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 6, 2016 11:28:13 GMT -5
Heather approves our menus. Because you mix a lot of meat there I will have to take a closer, more thorough look later to comment more specifically. We usually don't recommend mixing several messages in one meal. Especially with multiple ferrets. With that kind of setup you can't moniter if one is being picky and starts avoiding some thing, or if one ferret eats all the certain bits etc. I'd recommend sticking with one meat type per meal. As with alphas, I know some people just let them at the bowl first and when they go finish their fight, just add some more for the little guy, or separate on different places. It's excellent that you have been doing raw for 5 months now! Did you take before and after pics? They change so much! If Heather approves your menu we can change your status to raw feeder. Sorry I can't delve into it atm, I'm sure someone will, or I'll do it later
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Post by Deleted on Feb 6, 2016 13:26:38 GMT -5
The boys always eat everything I give them. And since I feed them on separate levels of the cage I know exactly how much each ferret eats. The only thing I've given them they don't like is beef liver and tripe. They absolutely hate tripe! I never mix two proteins together unless they've eaten them and have handled them well before. And generally it is just one protein, sometimes i just like to make it interesting. I made my own organ grinds based on the organs they like. I've pretty much tried every organ I can get my hands on. They are very finicky with organs but I noticed if I mix them together they just gobble them up? Weird, I know, but it works. I balanced the grinds out as well so that they are half liver, half secreting organ and they are bagged into 2oz bags (1oz liver, 1oz other.) I started using the grinds over chopped up organs about 3 weeks ago and they have yet to be picky with it. As for pictures, I did get both of my boys as kits so they look VERY different simply because they have grown a lot since I got them. You can see them as kits in my signature below. But their fur is so soft and shiny. Tommen is getting his winter coat in and it is gorgeous! Another thing I've noticed too is their smell in comparison to kibble fed ferrets. Every time I bring the boys with me somewhere like the vet or to my pet store I always hear, "Your ferrets don't stink...what kind of shampoo do you use?" I've only bathed them once since getting them. I swear I think it's because they're not eating that processed crap other people feed their ferrets. When people bring their ferrets to my job its like I smell them before I even see them. Anyway, I'll probably upload some new pictures, but the boys do have an instagram page @rowdyweasels. Check them out if you have instagram.
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