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Post by bluedragonshai on Mar 21, 2020 2:19:12 GMT -5
Im creating this thread to keep a log on mushrooms switch to full raw.
Current age: 6 months (I think) current weight: approx. 1.3kg (scales are not the best)
Current foods mice chicken mince
ultimate goal : to get him fully switched to raw current goal: to get him eating full bone in meats.
19th march 2020 - morning of 20th
my mother brought me a 1kg bag of chicken wings to feed to the other ferrets in my care (looking after 4 others for my friend while shes away) as a treat so thought i would try mushroom on it while i wait for my order to come through
I portioned out 2oz and hit them with a meat hammer to crush the bone slightly so mushroom could get a taste of the bone and the marrow, he stashed it just before i went to sleep, upon waking up i found 1oz missing, and have removed the stash its not been out long and still fresh enough for me to put in the fridge for later, ive placed his kibble back for now as im going out and wont be back till late which he wolfed down so is trying to hold back for kibble.
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cockneyferret
Adolescent Member
Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
Posts: 253
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Post by cockneyferret on Mar 21, 2020 2:49:57 GMT -5
Each ferret is an individual case when it comes to switching.
Some are easy, some take a lot of work. The single constant is that most take some time and perseverance from us keepers.
Have you tried mushroom on a soupie mix yet? That often works really well.
Cheers
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Post by abbeytheferret6 on Mar 22, 2020 13:02:36 GMT -5
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Post by bluedragonshai on Mar 27, 2020 14:31:38 GMT -5
I have and he has currently has access to, chicken, ox, duck, mice and lamb, when it decides to get here as with eh virus about deliveries are a little muddled
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Post by bluedragonshai on Mar 27, 2020 14:38:10 GMT -5
Well the last few days haven't been eventful, other then the fact my wifi decided to play stupid and stop working, as for his diet and switch im still waiting for his order to come in they are now saying it could be another two weeks due to the virus mucking everything up. as for his bone in progress its getting there, ive been mashing the bones as best as I can and he is eating them, he now is going straight for the meat rather then kibble which is a big improvement tonight im going to try giving them to him whole, he eats between 1-2kg in a sitting so still giving him 2kg each meal but I think that is because im still having to feed kibble everyday alongside until his order finally comes in.
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Post by bluedragonshai on Mar 28, 2020 10:33:30 GMT -5
Well patience pays off, after 6 days of feeding mushroom crushed bone in, he finally took and ate 1oz of the wing, full bone and all, hopefully this shipment hurries up as im eager to start the switch properly rather then feed a daily treat.
so I can update his current foods: mice chicken mince chicken wing
my order contains 4 different meats, and I can get mice from my local shop bring the total to 5, and im hoping to find more suppliers that can sell more exotic things to add in as a treat.
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Post by Corvidophile on Mar 28, 2020 18:27:59 GMT -5
Sounds good so far! The mice are great to have because they’re always a balanced meal, leaving you lots of room to supplement with other muscle meats, organs, bone-in meals, heart only meals etc. on the side while he transitions.
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Post by bluedragonshai on Mar 28, 2020 18:52:34 GMT -5
Sounds good so far! The mice are great to have because they’re always a balanced meal, leaving you lots of room to supplement with other muscle meats, organs, bone-in meals, heart only meals etc. on the side while he transitions. Yes! im hoping to find a supplier that sells frozen meat and wholeprey on one site no luck so far as good as kizebrink is I need a minimum 2kg order which is hard to fill with 30g bags of mice as they lack in the frankenprey department I wouldn't be able to complete a full order, I could feed the full mixes but I don't think theyre full for example 30% Neck, 30% meat, 25% heart, 10% back and 5% liver is the turkey one
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Post by Corvidophile on Mar 28, 2020 19:52:57 GMT -5
Turkey mix doesn’t sound too far off, really. You want a mix of 75-80% muscle, 10-15% bone, and 10% organ for a ferret, and most frankenprey mixes aimed at cats for instance hit that. In addition you want 10% of the diet at least to be heart to hit the right taurine levels, though that can be relaxed with whole prey as you’re also feeding tongue, which has high taurine levels as well. It needs another 5% organ, basically.
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Post by bluedragonshai on Mar 28, 2020 20:01:24 GMT -5
Turkey mix doesn’t sound too far off, really. You want a mix of 75-80% muscle, 10-15% bone, and 10% organ for a ferret, and most frankenprey mixes aimed at cats for instance hit that. In addition you want 10% of the diet at least to be heart to hit the right taurine levels, though that can be relaxed with whole prey as you’re also feeding tongue, which has high taurine levels as well. It needs another 5% organ, basically. How would I go about balancing this out abit, he eats 1oz each sitting so would I do say 0.5 mix and the other 0.5 contain 1/4 muscle meat and 1/4 other organ? I am awful when it comes to percentages also seem to have come across a decent enough site that supplies wholeprey cheap, could I feed mice and rats or would they be considered the same item, and what size would I need for rats, I tried him on a XL as that's all they had in stock and he left most of it, and what about chicks too?
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Post by Corvidophile on Mar 28, 2020 20:01:58 GMT -5
I just went to their website to browse around, and it looks like they consider heart to be an organ. As far as this site (and a lot of other raw feeding guides) measure, heart is considered a muscle meat, not an organ. Just to clear up any confusion!
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Post by Corvidophile on Mar 28, 2020 20:12:22 GMT -5
I’m honestly very bad at percentages too, I’d just break it down by adding 5% total weight to the mix, that’d be easier than adding a precisely weighed organ meal extra a week or whatever it works out to. Mice and rats are indeed considered different proteins and your ferret should be big enough to polish off an XL rat over a couple of days, but he might be afraid to bite into it at first. It helps to cut them in half and keep half refrigerated until they finish off the first half.
Chicks are usually readily accepted, but they’re not nutritionally complete because they’re babies. Do they have adult quail? Those aren’t that much bigger and they’re good for regular eating. Chicks are good as treats once or twice a week.
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Post by bluedragonshai on Mar 28, 2020 20:23:01 GMT -5
I’m honestly very bad at percentages too, I’d just break it down by adding 5% total weight to the mix, that’d be easier than adding a precisely weighed organ meal extra a week or whatever it works out to. Mice and rats are indeed considered different proteins and your ferret should be big enough to polish off an XL rat over a couple of days, but he might be afraid to bite into it at first. It helps to cut them in half and keep half refrigerated until they finish off the first half. Chicks are usually readily accepted, but they’re not nutritionally complete because they’re babies. Do they have adult quail? Those aren’t that much bigger and they’re good for regular eating. Chicks are good as treats once or twice a week. They have prime quail? heres the link in case you wanted to snoop www.tsmpetsupplies.comand yes I had to gut the rat which was extremely hard to do as I love pet rats, in reguards to the whole prey I only really plan to feed a few times a week say Monday Wednesday and Fridays PM meals are all whole prey the rest of the time theyre frankenprey as for the mix would that be 5% of the mixes total weight or 5% of his dinners weight?
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Post by Corvidophile on Mar 28, 2020 20:42:10 GMT -5
That answer is actually the same. 5% of that meal or 5% of the whole batch is still the same number in the end, you’re just building up to it repeatedly in smaller amounts if you do it each meal. If you’re gonna intersperse it with other meals like frankenprey or whole prey it might be easier to add it to the whole weight of all the mix you bought so you can forget about it those meals and know it’s been balanced out already.
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Post by bluedragonshai on Apr 1, 2020 3:10:21 GMT -5
So, yesterday was fun, His food order from Landywoods finally came, so i spent all day portioning it out, seeing as he eats 1-1.25 oz i portioned it out into 1.50 portions giving him 3oz a day.
as the order came late afternoon i started his diet with beef muscle meal, which he didnt take to all that well, so its looking like i have to start making his muscle meat a sludgy soup to start with.
Wednesday 1st APR AM meal of duck necks went down a treat, hes already eaten a third of his meal, he has heart tonight which ill most likely blend also as he has never eaten it before.
It does feel weird knowing he isnt getting kibble now unless needed, and im struggling to come to terms with the feeding him twice a day as the portions do not look a lot and its a 12hr period between meals but i trust the judgment of him knowing when he is full and this group so.
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