Whole prey diet

[Deleted]

Hiya,
 I haven't been on the forum in a while, just had a little break. Ralphie is doing great, he's such a lovely ferret and we have great fun going on little adventures

Ralphie's current diet is 100grams of whole mince and a whole prey item per day, with a few chicken hearts every few days for the taurine.
Im thinking of prehaps putting him onto a whole prey diet, and i just need to know a few things.
Is it 100% necessary to gut whole prey? He has mice, chicks and small rats and he never leaves anything.
Im planning on getting mice, rats and quail, with rabbit every now and again and chicks as a treat. Is that a good balance?
Also If I give him a large rat or quail or something, can I leave it in his cage until its finished? He lives outside , its scotland so its never really gets too hot.
Any extra tips would be much appreciated
thanks

[Deleted]

I'm so glad to hear that Ralphie is doing well.

I don't feed Whole Prey and right now I don't see anyone online who does.
I'll tag bitbyter and Heather for you and link a thread that should offer some help until someone who does is online.

I can answer some of your questions but a whole prey feeder will be better able to help you.

Im planning on getting mice, rats and quail, with rabbit every now and again and chicks as a treat. Is that a good balance?


The more variety the better. Different animals have different nutrients. Beef for example is high in iron and vitamin B. Ralphie should have one red meat meal a week. You can use a mince for that.

Also If I give him a large rat or quail or something, can I leave it in his cage until its finished? He lives outside , its scotland so its never really gets too hot.


Whole prey is fine for up to 48 hours. If it does get hot and the animal turns then Ralphie most likely will not eat it.
I'm sure you know this but never feed a live rat to a ferret. They are far too fierce and may hurt a ferret.


This takes you to the Whole Prey board and you can skim through for the threads you are interested in.
holisticferret60.proboards.com/board/40/prey

I'll keep an eye out and make sure someone who feeds whole prey answers your questions.

:wave3:

[bitbyter]

Regarding gutting it depends on the size of the prey. Small prey usually everything gets eaten but as you increase the size the more likely they are to leave the guts behind.

Yes you can leave carcasses with them. It just depends on how quickly it would go off in your climate and how comfortable you are handling the leftovers if you have to clear them out.

[Heather]

This is so annoying. I answered to this post and yet again it goes off into cyberspace :pullhair:
You've got a 3 different types of prey plus a bonus fourth (though I would try an increase your variety of proteins just because supply has a tendency to dry up) The strange thing about prey is that ferrets sometimes will latch on to a protein type, for example rat...you then change suppliers and they won't eat rat. I think it has a lot to do with what the animal is fed so I would be tempted if you can to have a couple of suppliers and a variety of proteins it would be best.
ciao