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Post by Sherry on Nov 13, 2017 12:29:37 GMT -5
He does indeed appear to have a major temper. Wow!
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Post by runningdog on Nov 13, 2017 13:58:02 GMT -5
And Achilles is eating raw meat! Tonight’s minced rabbit and chicken (including ground bones) did the trick and he barely hesitated before taking a mouthful, then several more. Now he’s got the idea, he’ll have no problems with learning to eat different flavours and textures. He even hunched his shoulders up a bit, defensively, when Bane came up beside him to have his meal. Plenty in the dishes for everyone, though, so no need to worry even if you’re a ravenous growing young ferret. Chicks again in the morning - it’ll be interesting to see if he and Ajax have figured out how to eat them from scratch yet.
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Post by runningdog on Nov 13, 2017 18:21:44 GMT -5
Yay, I remembered the phone! From the left; Ajax, Achilles, Ivy, and Holly making off in the hopes of sneaking out of the nestbox and up my arm. I love the sandbagged expression on Achilles’ face!
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Post by runningdog on Nov 14, 2017 4:47:04 GMT -5
Blimey, those chicks went fast! I handed out a chick per ferret and at least two of them went three ways with ferrets tussling over them! Ajax and Achilles have definitely got the taste for meat, and they’re willing to wrestle their chicks into pieces to get it, even if Joker or Bane are attached to the other end! I’m going to step their meals up another couple of sizes - I added in another 100g of meat to the ration to allow for them being there, but I wanted them to get peckish so they’d make the switch from kibble. Now they’re well and truly eating raw, I’m going to bump it up again to get ahead of their ravening young appetites. That means 500g of meat per day between 5 ferrets will go up to 1kg between 7. If that’s more than they can swallow, all well and good and I’ll trim it back, or if it’s all still vanishing I’ll add more in until there’s about 1 mouthful left over each meal (which Holly or Ivy will stash.... ). The dogs are always happy to do disposal work for me when I clean up a stash (if it’s not too ripe!) or if there’s anything left in the dishes. Once I have that worked out right, I’ll weigh it and see how much those two young appetites are scoffing. At 3 months old they still have a lot of growing to do.....
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Post by Sherry on Nov 14, 2017 11:59:15 GMT -5
They are adorable in that pic <3 And glad to hear they are all eating as they should! I can just imagine how much those two will be able to put away lol
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Post by runningdog on Nov 14, 2017 13:50:00 GMT -5
Happened to see fresh sprats in one of our local supermarkets tonight so I picked up a sprat for each of the 8 ferrets as a treat. Gone already! Achilles and Ajax didn’t hesitate, just grabbed and ran off to start eating immediately. The only one who mooched about complaining was Loony, who has no excuse as he’s been eating raw for 5 years and more! It was only a snack to put them on - I’m running a little late this evening and they’ll be getting chopped beef tongue later. Actually, no, there were two more complaints - the dogs thought they should have been getting sprats, too. They probably should - next time I’ll remember to get more. 8 sprats cost 27p so it’s hardly going to break the bank to double it for the dogs! I’ve also discovered Morrisons (UK supermarket chain, for non-UK readers) sells frozen chicken livers so people can make their own pate. Never mind the pate - another source of liver for the furries! I cleaned the shelf out.....
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Post by lee on Nov 14, 2017 15:00:05 GMT -5
Sounds like you have your hands full, good luck. Keep the photos coming
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Post by runningdog on Nov 15, 2017 10:42:36 GMT -5
All the beef chunks disappeared over night and this morning’s chicken wings vanished in all directions. How much the boys actually ate, I have no idea! I lost track of who’d eaten what off which wing with all the stealing and stashing that was going on. As a result, I decided that I’d offer the two young bears an extra meal mid-day and see if they were hungry, without ‘assistance’ from the other ferrets. It was easy to arrange - they all came in to play and I took the older ones out first, leaving the youngsters playing a while longer. After half an hour’s additional play, I offered them some finely-chopped fresh chicken breast and they both took some - Achilles about half an ounce, Ajax scarfed down a couple of ounces (about 14g and 50g respectively). Both were very civilised about taking pieces out of my fingers and didn’t try to bite. They were also both picked up and given their salmon oil treat while being brushed gently and didn’t mind that at all, so it’s been a succesful morning!
I’ve assembled two more hutches to go near the house; the big henhouse conversion has a few soft patches developing in the roof and I need to re-roof it, so I’m going to link three hutches together with tubes for them, which will give them 3 nestboxes, 3 hammock/food/water areas and three decent-sized play/litter areas to enjoy, plus two tubes to chase through. It’ll also mean I don’t have to trek the full length of the garden in the dark and slog through mud to feed them in the evenings! I just need to cut plywood masks that’ll ensure they can’t push a tube out of place and escape through the hole, then fix the tubes in place, and then move them into their new accommodation for the rest of the winter while the henhouse gets its renovation and I find some way to fix the mud for the future. I blame the chickens who used to live there.....
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Post by runningdog on Nov 16, 2017 8:57:50 GMT -5
When I checked on the fertles last thing before bed, the dishes were spotless and all the ferrets got out to bed to talk to me, which means they were hungry. Loony only ever gets out of bed that time of night when he’s after something! Ajax was chewing on the bone from a chicken wing he’d retrieved from somewhere, but all the usual stash-spots were empty. I chopped up half a rabbit and shared it out between them and everyone got stuck in immediately. No sign of anything in the hutch this morning when they scarfed down 250g of heart between them! Ajax and Achilles had another 50g of chopped chicken breast mixed with 50g of chicken liver at lunchtime and didn’t hesitate over the liver, which they’ve not tasted before, so that’s good. They’re on back end of rabbit tonight - hind legs and loin, it’s about another 500g of meat and bones. I’ll chop it up into chunks and hope that lasts them through the night.
Boy, these young ferrets can eat..... I’d forgotten how ravenous they are at that age! I think I’ll defrost another 500g of lamb mince later in case they have the midnight munchies again.
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Post by Sherry on Nov 16, 2017 12:07:52 GMT -5
They are coming along so well. And yes- there is a reason ferret kits are referred to as "tummies with teeth"
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Post by runningdog on Nov 16, 2017 19:18:46 GMT -5
Last check of the night revealed lots of stuffed ferrets all sleeping peacefully - but only a mouthful or two of rabbit left in the dish and another couple of mouthfuls stashed in the upstairs nestbox. I put out the lamb in case they get hungry before breakfast time.
Breakfast will be chicks all round, followed up with sprats for anyone with an empty corner of tum needing filling up! I’m hoping to get them into the other hutches tomorrow - I’ve worked out how to link the three hutches together and cut the ply to make masking plates through which the tunnels will pass, so even a sneaky little ferret can’t slip out of the hutch and escape. Tomorrow I need to cut the wire, bolt the plates in place, then run the tunnels into place and secure them with metal cable ties so they won’t work loose. I also have hasp and staple fittings to fix onto each door so I can padlock them all shut securely - I don’t trust small bolts not to work loose, from experience, with a determined ferret jiggling the door around. A padlock slipped through a hasp and staple is safer, even unlocked, and although we don’t have any trouble here with trespassers or ferret-thieves, if we do have any trouble in the future (and it can happen - anything from deliberate theft to small children being curious) I can just shut the locks up to keep the fuzzies safe at night.
Speaking of security, that reminds me it’s time I got the two big bears chipped. Must phone the vet and make an appointment to do that tomorrow morning.
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Post by runningdog on Nov 17, 2017 5:06:39 GMT -5
This morning I didn’t see the golden bears as I was handing out chicks and sprats, but when I glanced in the upstairs nestbox, where Holly and Ivy had carefully stashed as much as they could beg, snatch and steal, there were two big golden bears, lying comfortably in their nest, each working on a chick! Either Holly and Ivy are deliberately feeding them or they’re a bit slow on the uptake when it comes to stashing near hungry boys.... Either way, it was breakfast in bed for the kits.
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Post by Sherry on Nov 17, 2017 7:42:36 GMT -5
The girls likely believe their stash safe, and will be shocked to find it gone lol
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Post by runningdog on Nov 18, 2017 17:36:26 GMT -5
I’ve found the magic number for food. It’s 1.05kg daily, so 525g each meal. That just satisfies everyone and doesn’t leave too much over to stash.
I’ve finished linking up the three hutches so either tomorrow or Monday (depending on weather tomorrow - it’s horrible here tonight) when I can hang around all day and watch to make sure they don’t find an escape route I’ve missed spotting, they’ll be moving into their winter quarters. It should enable me to spread the food out better as well - Loony can be a grouch about sharing sometimes, and hog a whole dish while everyone else has to scuffle around the other. With six different open spaces to spread around in, I should be able to get everyone into pairs and trios for dinner rather than crowds.
Mice and then eggs in the morning - and we’ll see what the weather does.
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Post by Sherry on Nov 19, 2017 12:57:39 GMT -5
We'll need photos of the new set up then!
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