Whole Prey and Frankenprey Questions?

[Deleted]

I have decided to add whole prey into my female's (Violet) diet. She was super easy to switch into the frankenprey. I have problems keeping the meat good. I would have enough boned in meat to last a week by the 5th day it would end up with a funky smell so in the trash it went. I was suggested by my friend and ferret sitter she believe Violet would do very well on whole prey. I have tried 2 mice which the first she just moved around in her cage and licked it. The second I opened up it's chest to get her interested in eating and success she ate the whole thing over night!

I have another problem.. my male (Remi) is still switching he will eat his soup no problem and I am working with him to get him switched. But Violet will eat his soup if they are in the cage together and she has her own food. So I have tried with her in a separate cage just to eat in and she does ok in it. She gets bored rather quickly and she doesn't like to be in the cage very long and will refuse to eat. That cage has nothing in it maybe that is the reason she is refusing to eat?

I hope I can get some of my questions answered or at least some advice to work with both to get them on the same page. I have been trying as hard as I can but with a household to run and 2 kids that demand 85% of my time I can't sit with Remi and Violet to make sure they eat their food. HELP PLEASE

[raynebc]

Meat won't stay fresh out of the freezer for very long, have youb een storing the bone in meat in the fridge? Generally it's best to portion while it's thawed and then put in the freezer for longer term storage. I pull each meal out a day ahead of time and put it in the fridge to give it time to thaw slowly.

[Deleted]

I usually freeze enough for each week at the beginning of each week I pull out the meals and give them throughout the week.

I don't have a very good memory so remembering to pull out the meals before I give them is extremely hard.. Haha sad excuse but it is very true.. I can talk to someone and 15 minutes later I forget the convo. Lol

[FerretsnFalcons]

Can you maybe set an alarm on your phone or clock reminding you to pull out a meal to thaw? Honestly I don't think it is safe to leave raw meat in the fridge for a whole week, the temperature isn't low enough to dramatically slow the reproduction of pathogens (hence the smell lol). I have found that the easiest way is to buy enough meat (muscle meat, bone-in, and organs) to last a month or two or more, if you have enough freezer space. Weigh, cut, and portion the meals into bags based on your frankenprey menu, and then keep in the freezer. Organize and label each bag with its corresponding day according to the menu "Monday," "Tuesday," "Wednesday," etc. Then you can just pull out a meal 12 hours or so before your ferret's mealtime and put it in the fridge to thaw, after 8-12 hours it should be thawed enough to serve it. For whole prey the process is similar, except you don't have to worry about all the cutting, weighing, and portioning, although you might have to skin and/or gut.
Unfortunately I can't help you much with the soup problem, the only thing I can think of is to make so much soup that Violet can't possibly eat all of it?

[Klarissa]

The key to feeding frankenprey as FerretsnFalcons said is buying in advance, prepping & portioning it into individual meals. Pull as you go. Set an alarm on your phone if need be. But you will waste a lot of meat & money pulling a weeks worth at once, then tossing a few days worth.

Something to keep in mind:
Food does not have to be entirely thawed to serve. I feed muscle meats, and small wholeprey semi-thawed or completely frozen. Tonight my mousies will go straight from the freezer to the ferrets

Feeding them separately is your best bet, at least until Remi catches up a little. Definitely add stuff to her feeding cage. Have you applied for a mentor? A mentor could help get Remi further along the raw feeding road 😊