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Post by Deleted on May 31, 2011 14:52:56 GMT -5
I know some people on here feed once a day and some people feed a twice a day and I'm just wondering what are the advantages and disadvantages of each?
I am currently feeding twice a day but I'm finding that:
1. a lot of food is being wasted because the girls don't seem to eat as much anymore or as often anymore now that they've been on the raw for bit (and of course I vaccuum sealed the food in the quantities they were eating because I thought they'd be eating a ton for at least another month, but maybe because they were so young, they weren't nutritionally unbalanced enough to eat as much for as long as older ferrets switching to raw?)
2. They won't eat their less-favourite foods because the next meal is coming in 12 hours and I feel like they aren't getting enough beef, pork, other proteins and are eating too much chicken/cornish hen/quail (basically "chicken" type proteins).
3. It feels like by the time their meats have been stashed and "seasoned" for their desired amount of time, I'm changing them out for the next meal and the girls are looking at me like "what the heck? - I was planning on eating that!" ;D
So my question is does it sound like my girls would do better on just one meal a day? Or is there something I can do differently while still feeding them twice a day?
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Post by Deleted on May 31, 2011 15:59:27 GMT -5
I poke around their feeding level before I drop another meal off... if there's a lot left stashed, dinner gets held over for breakfast!
You might be able to pre-bag food a little more accurately in the future, but I find that as soon as I figure out exactly how much they want, it turns to summer or winter and they change their minds anyway.
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Post by Deleted on May 31, 2011 16:21:06 GMT -5
I think it depends a lot on 1) what you're feeding (whole prey vs. raw meats). 2) the weather. and 3) the age and activity level of the ferrets. 1) So whole prey lasts much longer than raw meats, you could throw a large quail in the cage and be done for the day. I find that raw meats start to smell after 12-16 hours in the cage, so at that time I clear any leftovers out and replace with fresh stuff. 2) I live in FL and its hot (even with an AC unit in the ferret room). It hovers around 74-76 at all times. So food spoils a bit faster than other places. Colder areas might be able to put a larger portion of food in the cage and be fine until the next day. If I did that the food would start to smell before they'd get to it all. 3) Age seems to be a big factor in how many feedings you need to provide. Babies should be eating much more often than adults, so most recommend 3 feedings a day for babies. They eat so much and have such high metabolisms that they need to eat more. So, if your kids are not really eating dinner, you could try leaving larger breakfast meals and seeing how they do on that. I always have food in the bowl, so they have access to snack. My concern with only 1 meal a day is that the food will spoil overnight and then they won't eat for hours  It seems that most who feed once a day usually feed whole prey, so spoiling isn't much of an issue. |
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Post by goingpostal on May 31, 2011 17:17:59 GMT -5
When you feed beef, pork and the ones they don't like, just give them less each meal and feed that for dinner too, rather than giving them poultry for the next meal, I give less than they would eat normally and they seem to do better with that and then I can add more as needed. Mine have dropped off their eating a ton from what they were the first few months, plus we lost a male so I'm having the same issue with everything, I just bought xxlarge guinea pigs, a bunch of large rats, all my raw meat is in too large of portions and what used to be gone in 12 hours now takes over 2 days. You can also thaw your portions out slightly and refreeze what you aren't going to need for later.
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Post by Deleted on May 31, 2011 17:28:11 GMT -5
Thanks guys! I like the idea of feeding the pork and beef for 2 meals, because 1 meal of beef a week and 1 meal of pork a week probably isn't enough of those proteins anyways. I definitely want fresh food in the cage at all times, since the girls are only 3 months old and I find that in our extremely dry climate, the diced raw meat actually drys out before spoiling, and they just won't eat it when it drys out. I think I will have to play around with the menu a bit and just see what works the best for the girls having fresh food at all times, eating enough protein variety and me not wasting so much food. and yes I could cut all of the food out of its vaccuum sealed bags, thaw it a bit and reseal it and re-freeze it but I spent like 8 hours vaccuum sealing (not at once, just over a few days) in the first place and I'm just way too lazy ;D ;D ;D Perhaps I should get a 3rd ferret to not waste so much food ;D Just kidding  Do ferrets eat less as the weather warms up too? Because I'm finding that on hotter days they don't eat as much, or they'll eat most of their daily quantity at night time because it's cooler then. Actually maybe I'll still feed 2 meals a day, but simply take the one meal and split it into 2 meals... hmmm  I'll have to figure out a couple of menus and post them on a thread and see which one's the best I think. |
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Post by goingpostal on May 31, 2011 18:33:20 GMT -5
Perhaps I should get a 3rd ferret to not waste so much food ;D Just kidding Lol I almost suggested that, I thought about telling James we really needed another now because I just ordered all those even larger rats and GP and now they take forever to eat them! I could chop them in half I guess but not really of fan of that, had to chop up a big whole rabbit the other day into four pieces and that was disgusting and bloody enough that I don't want to make it a habit. Oh and yes they eat less in the summer so you kind of have to play around a bit. I'll either leave the rest in the fridge and just feed it over a couple days instead of just one, or give it to the cat or the dogs. But the cat only eats poultry and her and the dogs won't touch whole prey. |
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Post by Sherry on May 31, 2011 21:06:51 GMT -5
You're kidding, right? You're girls refuse the self made jerkies??? ;D That's my guys favourite  When you take a baggie out, give them 1/2 of it, and put the rest in the fridge. If they finish what you've given, then give them the rest. It's going to take a while to learn how much to put out. Also, if mine have left a fair bit, I just add less next time. By the following meal, pretty much all of it is gone |
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Post by albionlass on Jun 1, 2011 1:45:42 GMT -5
I feed Freca twice a day, he eats the item there and then and doesn't stash his food.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2011 4:36:14 GMT -5
When you feed twice a day is it at 12 hour intervals? I don't have an issue with leaving uneaten food until the next meal if my job keeps me tied up. But I prefer to offer them a fresh selection for each meal.
Since I started feeding them in their cages ONLY, I don't have those aromatic tiny hidden surprises located under furniture and behind bookcases! Even though they seemed quite pleased with their seasoning & aged morsels.
You may want to condition them to eating dried meats. Will come in handy during any emergency, vacation or power outage; plus gives them an all day chew.
Summer ferrets do eat differently than winter ferrets. My guys get downright lanky during summer even though they eat the same products.
Cheers,
Kim
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Post by albionlass on Jun 1, 2011 4:59:02 GMT -5
At the moment I feed at around 6.30 am and 4 pm, I'm considering increasing the size of his evening meal and to try and gradually move it to later as he letting me know in no uncertain terms in the morning that his is hungry!
He already eats around the recommended amount for a hob and I will have to keep an eye on his weight during any diet adjustments.
I guess that being an outdoor ferret he has a slightly higher energy requirment for maintaining warmth than an indoor ferret with the same activity level.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 4, 2011 19:11:57 GMT -5
Thanks everyone! Sorry for the late reply, I've been called into work this week for some crazy shift coverings. I am definitely playing around with the food amounts and I think I'm getting better at guesstimating how much to feed ;D Oh and my girls have decided that "jerky" is good now ;D They've also learned if they stash their food under the liner and make it look really flat, mommy won't find it and they can eat it later I found them munching on some meat the other day and I was where did that come from?? ;D Poor girls, I know their trick now. I feed at midnight and at noon, just because with being off for summer I like to sleep in and I go to bed fairly late. I am slowly going to change that so it's more like 9am and 9pm, but for now it seems to be working. Thanks for all of the advice!  |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 4, 2011 20:46:17 GMT -5
I feed around similar times - works fine for us!  Glad you're getting the hang of it |
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I'll have to figure out a couple of menus and post them on a thread and see which one's the best I think. 
