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Post by LindaM on Jan 24, 2018 23:01:32 GMT -5
Hmmm, well, you could always use a curtain instead. My curtains go around the cage all the way to the floor, but the top panel of the cage is open to air, and the back of the cage which is against the wall. That works perfectly fine for ventilation in my opinion. It really does make for cozier sleeping spots, so that doesn't surprise me. Awesome, sounds good to me! The hubby and I call that squishy face when Athena does it.
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lycorisousa
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Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
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Post by lycorisousa on Jan 25, 2018 21:47:04 GMT -5
We just finished shopping and not were we like kids in a candy store. This one we found had more selection than the one that I already knew about.
We grabbed:
Frog legs 2 whole rabbits Quail (whole but not sure if organs are there) Steaks Bull testicles (which counts as an organ, right?) Tukey necks Bunch of hearts. 2lb for only $2.71 (whooo)
They did have goat and lamb also... thing spike the whole heads. Joked about getting the goat leg but we don't have the room yet. Have to get my mom to get her furniture out of my gaarage so we can get a deep freezer.
How do we go about with the rabbit since they are too much for one meal.
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Post by LindaM on Jan 25, 2018 22:32:49 GMT -5
Score! You made a pretty decent little haul off of it, and now you know where to get other bone-in options like frog legs, rabbit and quail! The turkey necks will also do great! Surprised it's not duck though, never really seen turkey in our Asian stores. The quail will generally be dressed, so defeathered and gutted, no head and no feet. At least that is how the quail I get from the Asian store comes, even though they'll sell duck with head and feet lol. The bones of bigger animals like lamb and goat will be too dense for the ferrets anyway, so not worth the money, unless you plan on eating it. I tend to just cut up the whole animal and portion it into meal sizes, then refreeze it. They can eat all of the bones in a rabbit, so it should provide you with several bone-in meals and some muscle meals.
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lycorisousa
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Post by lycorisousa on Jan 25, 2018 22:52:12 GMT -5
We were also shocked that there wasn't any duck, lots of turkey they even cut up the wings and the necks which was super awesome and will make portioning those better. I wanted to get them more but I had to remind myself there isn't a deep freezer yet, it's good to know that something like that isn't too far away. So if they need something right away we can get it.
Gave them the frog tonight, Arioch seems to be taking to it but Orion forfeited and went back to bed. He used to do that with the mice also but now eats them like a champ.
I'll have to do that with those, going to have to get a good knife to cut those suckers up.
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Post by LindaM on Jan 25, 2018 23:12:11 GMT -5
Funny thing about frog legs.. with some ferrets it's like instant love, some it's instant hate, and others still will warm up to it, haha.
A Ulu knife is the most recommended here on the forum. I need to get a bigger ulu myself, as I only have a small one, so I've been making due with a very nice, very heavy full tang cleaver most of the time (just not on the granite kitchen counters, I go chop with a board on the cement garage stairs for a counter if I need to heavily slam a knife). Muscle meat or organs are usually so easy that I just use a pair of sharp KitchenAid scissors, mine can also go through softer bones.
How do you feel about a little pop quiz to see which subjects you still need some help with?
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lycorisousa
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Post by lycorisousa on Jan 26, 2018 0:03:11 GMT -5
Arioch carried hers away and ate a little bit of it, Orion came back a few times and has eaten part of his also he took the feet off first. I think they're a little unsure what to think of them, they look like little pants.
I'll have to look into that knife thank you for that suggestion.
Sure sounds like a good thing to do.
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Post by LindaM on Jan 26, 2018 13:49:12 GMT -5
Ah! I am so glad they are taking to them to a degree at least! Keep it up, they'll get used to them. To note, when offering frog legs, they are a very lean meat, so I like to follow it with a fattier protein for the next meal instead of another lean meat, eg. pork muscle or duck muscle/bone-in. Try to answer these without looking the answers up, if you get any wrong or have questions about them, we can go through them together. 1. You have run out of hearts! Which two things can be used instead? Is this only temporary or can it be permanent? 2. Does freezing degrade Taurine? 3. Name 3 other organs, aside from liver. 4. Name 3 different sources of bone-in. 5. What counts as a different protein? 6. Is it a good idea to mix different meals together as one?
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lycorisousa
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Post by lycorisousa on Jan 26, 2018 16:13:33 GMT -5
I made the mistake of giving them each their own which was over their food budget. Whoops... I didn't notice how heavy they were until I weighed what was left this morning. They had 3/4 of one left this morning and I gave them some beef this morning, looks like they each eat a chunk of it but most of it is still in their bowl, I'm about to remove that because of dinner coming up in a few hours. There was a white poop in the litter box when I got home, got a photo of it this time. They haven't had one of these since the last time, both are eating and acting normally. Not sure if this falls into the category of strange new food poops. tinypic.com/r/ke9640/9 1. You can use tongue instead but I believe that should only be used on temporary bases. There is also a taurine powder I believe but not sure how long that can be used if there is one. 2. Freezing does not degrade taurine 3. kidney, pancreas, and testicles 4. Rabbit, Chicken, and duck 5. Different protein would be if they were getting chicken you would want to feed them something other than another bird like cow, rabbit, or pork so they would have something other than poultry to get used to. 6. I don't think it is (not sure about this one for sure)
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Post by LindaM on Jan 26, 2018 17:20:16 GMT -5
Depending on the size of your frog legs, you should be able to easily split one between them. You can get some biiiiig froggies, LOL. I've also come across some dweeby little ones though, so best is to always weigh them for a more concrete idea.
Personally, I'm gonna call that one a strange new food poop. Let me know if they keep occurring though.
Good job on the quiz! I've added some notes that might fill you in better on info you might not have known.
1. Correct! So, yes, you can most definitely use Taurine powder when you run out of heart. It should be human-grade and can easily be purchased off Amazon. There is a specific dosage for it, 500mg daily per ferret, split across the 2 meals, so 250mg in AM meal, and 250mg in PM meal. 2. Correct! Heating on the other hand does degrade Taurine. 3. Correct! 4. On this one I was more hoping for the types, eg. turkey necks, chicken wings, frog legs. But you're correct on those all providing edible bone-in meals. 5. Not quite, but you get the idea. A different protein is simply a different animal. Even if it's all poultry, they are still different proteins, eg. Chicken, Duck, Quail, Pheasant. 6. Correct! The reason for it is that ferrets CAN and WILL pick out their favorites. This becomes a big problem in multi-ferret households as it can lead to one consuming all the hearts and another all the liver, thus leading to deficiencies and health risks.
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lycorisousa
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Post by lycorisousa on Jan 26, 2018 17:34:51 GMT -5
I certainly will, they did have egg this morning which might explain why it's liquid and sticky like.
When I weighed what was left of the frog legs it was 3.4oz so my guess they were around 4oz each.
Thank you, I was a little nervous on that, felt confident on some of those it's good to know I have some basic understanding so far.
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Post by LindaM on Jan 26, 2018 18:04:10 GMT -5
Egg can definitely cause poops like that. They often come out almost the same as they did going in, haha.
That's good, they're eating well.
At this stage, which proteins have they tried so far and are willing to eat without fuss?
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lycorisousa
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Post by lycorisousa on Jan 26, 2018 19:25:58 GMT -5
So far it's been the mice, chicken, beef, pork, turkey and that freeze-dried cod skin with no fuss but they had been getting some of that as treats when I first got them so they are more acquainted to those.
I got that knife ordered but I'm might attempt to cut a rabbit up tomorrow and see how it goes with what I have. Then going to try the quail next.
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Post by LindaM on Jan 26, 2018 20:44:59 GMT -5
Rabbit is a favorite in our home, in any form. The quail should be quite easy, they have small and soft bones.
Let me know how they take to those, and we can adjust your weekly menu to include these new accepted proteins.
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lycorisousa
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Post by lycorisousa on Jan 26, 2018 21:20:15 GMT -5
Sounds good also getting 50 mice ordered. Glad we found that other Asian market, went to the one I normally go to everything was pretty much double in price. We did find duck there but it was $25 for 3 duck legs.
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lycorisousa
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Post by lycorisousa on Jan 28, 2018 20:39:08 GMT -5
Arioch
1. Ferret's weight: 1.13LB
2. Ferret's Daily Medications: N/A
3. Ferret has eaten "X" amount on average per meal: 1.57oz
4. Stools on various proteins: stool normal
5. Activity levels: normal, interact more with people.
Orion
1. Ferret's weight: 2.13lb
2. Ferret's Daily Medications: N/A
3. Ferret has eaten "X" amount on average per meal: 1.57oz
4. Stools on various proteins: mostly normal did have some liquid after bone in meal but that was with a new protein
5. Activity levels: Still more active that he used to be.
Weekly Menu:
Monday: Chicken Wing dinner: pork and cheek meat
Tuesday: Large mice, egg with salmon oil, and chicken feet as a snack dinner: Turkey Wing
Wednesday: Bone-in chicken wing dinner: beef heart
Thursday: Chicken wing dinner: Frog legs *new*
Friday: salmon oil, egg, and steak dinner: Large Mice
Saturday: Steak dinner: Frog Legs with FDR Cod skin
Sunday: Turkey wing dinner: chicken liver and beef kidney
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