lycorisousa
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Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
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Post by lycorisousa on Jan 18, 2018 11:04:54 GMT -5
So I see on the fraken prey menu it says pork rib ends is this the same as rib tips? Feeling it I guess I don't feel any bone, what about pork neck if I could crush those up well enough? Trying to think of possible things I could get for now.
That would be fantastic the whole balancing is what was freaking me out the most. Orion, he seems to have more energy now instead of just wanting to eat and sleep. Arioch has been getting into more trouble but that's always been her norm.
Goal is by next week heading to the Asian market, but I might try sooner if there is nothing around j can grab other than the mice.
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Post by LindaM on Jan 18, 2018 16:27:29 GMT -5
Rib ends and rib tips are the same thing, but here's the thing, not all ferrets are willing to accept those. You are totally welcome to try hon, so feel free if you want. But a lot of ferrets will end up just ignoring them, they can be a bit dense and tough, I know none of my four want anything to do with them other than shear the meat off. Which becomes a problem if your ferrets get a bone-in meal, but never consume that bone, as we discussed earlier.
Can't recall if I mentioned this before or not. Turkey isn't too hard to get a hold of, at least not here in Utah, not sure about Georgia. Turkey would be a great bone-in addition. Duck is awesome too.. uh, the normal grocery stores tend to be expensive on that though compared to an Asian market.
A raw diet will provide many benefits, among them the extra energy, softer coats, nicer smelling ferrets, less stinky poops, better hydration, and with bone-in meals clean teethies!
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lycorisousa
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Post by lycorisousa on Jan 18, 2018 18:27:04 GMT -5
I'll look at Turkey again but last I looked it was mostly smoked legs. I'll check it out again and maybe I can special order frog legs or something.
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lycorisousa
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Post by lycorisousa on Jan 18, 2018 18:49:14 GMT -5
Goodness I am a clueless nelly sometimes. I actually raise ducks.
I currently have my male away from my female at the moment hoping to get more females come spring. I normally sell the the babies but could probably raise some to an older age for the ferrets.
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Post by LindaM on Jan 18, 2018 18:55:50 GMT -5
LOL! Yes.. you can most certainly breed and feed your own ducks to your ferrets, haha. I'd love to be able to do something similar, but it won't do for the house we bought a few months ago, will have to be a future venture for me. There are some of the whole prey feeders who simply breed their own food for the ferrets, which can sometimes work out cheaper.
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lycorisousa
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Post by lycorisousa on Jan 18, 2018 19:39:14 GMT -5
We ventured into it randomly when my mother sent me to get her some fowl and dad wanted chickens. So I randomly grabbed some ducks. Lots a few last year one we assumed hurt herself but much like ferrets they are good at hiding pain. We assumed she was doing better but when I went to check on her since she was in quarantine she had passed away. The other I kept and I assumed were female were all males but one. Just my luck. I have khaki Campbell which are good meat and egg laying ducks. Could also do the same with the chickens and the guennie fowl other meats I'd have to look into.
All of them stay at my mom's since she's in the country and I'm in the city.
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Post by LindaM on Jan 19, 2018 0:06:36 GMT -5
If you can breed them and raise to adult (since babies are just treats/snacks and not meals), they'd make a great addition to your overall diet for your ferrets. Heck, I know my ferrets for one, LOVE duck and pheasant. Those are absolute favorites, along with rabbit lol.
If you had the extra space, you could do some quail too, those are great for whole prey for the ferrets and in a nice size too. Plus the eggs can also be used the same way you offer raw chicken eggs, you just offer a bit more due to the size difference.
That'd be worth the drive to stock up every once in a while, yea?
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lycorisousa
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Post by lycorisousa on Jan 19, 2018 8:56:19 GMT -5
We have plenty of room, have 7 acres up in the mountains. I'll have to see when spring comes around if we have any pheasants, one of the people I purchase from had turkeys but we went against them since they run up in the wild at the house. It will take a while to get some going but once it's in order than looking at a steady food source.
All of it would be worth it Asian market and raise the poultry up, I had to start taking eggs for the fuzzies because they are producing 18 eggs a day on average. Not that the fuzzies can eat that much at a time but it certainly helps. Dogs have been eating them also. We managed to get some turkey wings last night and they had one of those this morning.
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Post by LindaM on Jan 21, 2018 17:25:43 GMT -5
If you can get that going for them in the future, I'd definitely say the rest of their little lives will be filled with yummy foodies. Until then, we do what we can, thankfully there are stores and online raw options. Any issues with them eating the turkey wing at all? Oh also, sometimes it helps to ask the butcher in the store or a private butcher directly about something (even if you need to explain it is for your carnivorous animals, haha). Last night I asked ours in our local Harmon's grocer if they had any turkey necks for me, they sadly didn't have any this time, but they are willing to order a big box for me if I wanted. So even if it isn't always on the shelves for public view, you can sometimes get somewhere by personally addressing the butcher. Chicken backs is another I often have to ask for, and they usually have some I can purchase cheaply. Either they may have what you need in the back, or could possibly order a bulk unit. So it's always worth a shot.
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lycorisousa
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Post by lycorisousa on Jan 22, 2018 17:35:51 GMT -5
Mom is already cringing at the thought of me raising them for the ferrets.
That's how I managed to get the kidney and the heart was by asking the grocery store butcher. The first one ordered it but never told me it came in so they sold it went to another one nearby and managed to get it. I'll have to ask about the turkey necks and see if they can do the frog legs also. This weekend I'll be heading down to the Asian market to see what they have available. Then will be ordering the mice and maybe something else to go along with them.
No, issues at all with the turkey. I am noticing that out of all of the meals they are taking to the organ ones with the least enthusiasm. Last night I had fed them and they went into the cage and barely looked at it, Arioch then went and pulled out half the turkey wing from that morning that she had stashed and they ate that instead. I didn't know if I should have taken that away from them or not. I'm cutting back on the organ meals as far as what they are eating. My roommate forgot to weigh what was left of the organs this morning but they normally eat between 3 to 7oz of food, when they do get something that's 7oz (which was the turkey wing) I fully expect to be taking some of it away. Yet they eat it all and come dinner they eat all of that too.
Orion, he eats a lot and Arioch just doesn't eat as much if she doesn't eat her's on time he will go into her stash and eat it. Roommate did notice while she was scooping the box, she forgot a photo, one that was white/gray but I guess she said it was foamy. Of course both are acting okay but I'm going to be calling my vet here in a moment and see if they need to be brought it. It was in Arioch's box but I saw her using Orion's when I got home so I don't know who it could have been.
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lycorisousa
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Post by lycorisousa on Jan 22, 2018 18:14:23 GMT -5
Arioch
1. Ferret's weight: 1.14LB
2. Ferret's Daily Medications: N/A
3. Ferret has eaten "X" amount on average per meal: 1.83oz
4. Stools on various proteins: normal but someone has a white/grey abnormal stool calling vet to ask questions
5. Activity levels: plays for around 5 hours
Orion
1. Ferret's weight: 2.13lb
2. Ferret's Daily Medications: N/A
3. Ferret has eaten "X" amount on average per meal: 1.83oz
4. Stools on various proteins: normal but someone had a white/grey abnormal stool calling vet to ask questions
5. Activity levels: More energy about him has been playing for as long as Arioch with fewer naps.
Weekly Menu:
Monday: Chicken Legs/Wings bone in dinner: Chicken neck
Tuesday: Chicken Legs & wing, egg, and salmon oil dinner: beef cheek and pork
Wednesday: Bone-in chicken wing dinner: beef heart
Thursday: Chicken wing, drum, neck dinner: Large mice (2)
Friday: Turkey Wing dinner: beef heart/kidney and chicken liver salmon oil
Saturday: Chicken wings dinner: pork and FDR cod skin
Sunday: Turkey wing dinner: chicken liver and beef kidney
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Post by LindaM on Jan 22, 2018 18:23:58 GMT -5
So, it's fine if they stash, but if you are feeding too much and they end up stashing it, it can become a problem of them using it to avoid certain meals such as the organs that they like less. I'd be cutting down a bit on how much they are offered so they don't have a lot of spare to stash and end up eating it properly instead, it you notice them doing it more and more often. If they do eat the full amount you are giving without too many left-overs hidden about, then you're okay and can keep at it.
So, around the time of the odd poop, did anybody have something "especially" fatty to eat? That can sometimes make for a poop looking like that one sounded, though not usually foamy. And nobody is on any meds at all, according to your post, yes?
The weights sound good to me. Do you have any dangle photos of each of them? Females do eat less than the males, that's pretty normal.
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lycorisousa
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Post by lycorisousa on Jan 22, 2018 18:51:13 GMT -5
That was the first big case of stashing I saw, I guess because the wings are so big is probably why that happened. We even broke them up but seems like I'll have to try and make them smaller to avoid stashing. Just sometimes when they have the smaller meals they look at me then the bowl like they were expecting more to be in there or they are still hungry. The vet that treats ferrets wasn't in today and the one that does my dogs owns a ferret but doesn't treat them he's supposed to be calling me back before they close up. There is an emergency vet if it's really needed right down the road. I'm wondering if it's Orion, he's just kind of being lazy right now. Which granted he's always been a lazy boy but he had been playing all this past week. Now he just kind of walks and then lays down looking sad. Their breakfast was chicken wing this morning other than that they had their freeze dried raw cod skin in with them but I don't think it's ever caused strange poops. Didn't have any recent dangle photos so I took some. Orion Arioch
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Post by LindaM on Jan 22, 2018 19:04:44 GMT -5
Such cute little buggers! How are you currently offering the wings (both chicken and turkey)? Cut into little pieces? Big chunks? Sectioned into only 3 pieces? Turkey wings are a lot bigger than chicken, so you'll notice if you weigh it too, it'll be like several chicken wings, which could make you go over the usual offered amount in weight. Hmm. Does he engage with you in play at all right now? Perhaps with a cat teaser toy, a towel ride or anything like that? How has he been eating and drinking so far today? How's the weather over there right now too?
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lycorisousa
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Post by lycorisousa on Jan 22, 2018 19:07:10 GMT -5
Arioch pooped and her's is normal if anything just indicated a muscle meal for dinner. Which to get that and Orion went to poop. This was his, which I'm not sure what to think of, the roommate said the poop she saw didn't look like that. Might sound gross but I might sound I went to find remnants of it just to see what it looks like. Luckily she didn't throw away the bag she used. I found it but of course the color is hard to see because we use yesterday's news... it's kind of sticky to me. Photo is of the poop he recently did. tinypic.com/r/2lszc75/9
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