They are both really beautiful. They look healthy and you gave us some good information on them.
They're already eating well except for the bone.
You have a great variety of proteins already and I love that they get Salmon. It has the important fatty omega acids they need.
We can skip the soupie stage at this point and get them onto a balanced diet.
You're already well on your way and doing super good.
I would suggest picking up some bonemeal powder to supplement until they get use to bone. They need the calcium.
Now Brand is a good human grade bonemeal powder and so is the KAL brand which I believe Walmart carries. You want 100 percent bonemeal powder with no added sweeteners. You can lightly dust this over their muscle meats and sort of mix it in so they don't notice it.
The average male eats around 3-4 ounces a day and the average female eats 2-3 ounces.
The slight weight loss may be due to their losing their kibble fat and becoming leaner like they should be.
Winter is here but Spring is coming and they will lose their winter coats and lose some weights.
They may already have started this so don't be frightened by small weight fluctuations.
If you weigh them regularly then you will see what their normal weights are during seasons and a sudden weight change can alert you to possible problems.
I'm going to tag @machan to give you advice on Whole Prey. She's a great Mentor and is feeding and learning about Whole prey.
Rabbit is lean and you won't want to rely entirely on it but it's a great Bone/whole prey meal.
As for bones, think small. Chicken and turkey necks are difficult for new to bone ferrets.
Chicken wings, quail, Cornish game hens, rabbit, mice and guinea pigs are easier for them than necks.
Later they will learn to manage those but they will never eat large bones like pork bones or cow bones.
Gizzards are wonderful for building jaw strength and cleaning teeth. I buy duck gizzards for several reasons.
One is that it gives them pricey duck for very little money.
Two is that Duck is fatty and Fat equals energy for Ferrets.
What we want to work on now is getting their menu balanced. The Frankenprey diet is what we call the diet that comes from meat that is bought at the grocery store. It's designed to mimic eating whole prey.
Do you have access to a good Asian Market? That's a great place to buy Organs.
Here is the basic Frankenprey menu.
holisticferretforum.com/natural-diet/raw-diet-the-meat-of-the-site/basic-frankenprey-menu/The important things to know about that menu are:
You want a minimum of 3 proteins in their weekly menu.
They need one red meat meal a week. Red meat provides Iron and Vitamin B
Organs are an important part but Liver has Vitamin A which is Fat soluable and so we limit that to five percent of what they eat in one week.
Once you are including Whole Prey then you will subtract the whole Prey from the Frankenprey meals and base your organs on the Frankenprey meals.
Five percent will be another secreting Organ like kidney, thymus, spleen, pancreas or brains and lungs.
Heart is a muscle meat. This is absolutely essential for Ferrets. It is full of Taurine and Ferrets must have Taurine. Taurine is found in the tissues of muscles so the more the muscle moves, the more Taurine is produced. For that reason we use Heart but Tongue is a good backup.
Heart will make up ten percent of what they eat and since they are already eating Cow heart, even if it's not their favorite (lol) they are getting a red meat meal.
Muscle Meat meals make up 3-4 meals a week for them.
This is a great time to offer beef, pork, turkey, and other proteins with bones that are simply too big for them.
Gizzards make a great muscle meat meal.
Heart must be one and Heart as I said will be ten percent of what they require in one week.
Bone In meats will be 7-9 meals a week.
Each Ferret is different so you will watch their poops and if they have too firm poops then you offer one less Bone In meal.
If they are too loose then up the Bone In meals.
Chicken is a common allergy/intolerance so you don't want their meals to be too heavy in chicken.
You're off to a really really good start. Give yourself a pat on the back and give Aris and Arya a big hug for being so good.
Keep learning and posting and we will help as much as you need.
(dance)