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Post by lightningkarma on Sept 16, 2021 13:04:18 GMT -5
My ferret has been fed raw meat since he was very little. He is 11 months old now and I decided to try live feeding. His first hunt, he took to it immediately and killed the mouse quickly and efficiently. However, he wouldn't eat it after. I don't think he recognizes it as food. I tried cutting it open (after it was dead) so he could smell the meat and realize it's edible, but it still didn't click. I put it in his bowl with the rest of his raw food and he ate around the mouse. I don't think he realizes that the meat he is eating comes from live animals, too! I do not want to give him another mouse only for him to not eat it again, because that is a waste and disrespectful to the mouse's life. How could I get him to eat the mouse?
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Post by Corvidophile on Sept 16, 2021 13:31:50 GMT -5
Does he like salmon oil? I got mine to start eating mice by putting salmon oil inside the cut mouse. Had to lick it to get the oil and eventually started eating them, but it took a few days of wasting mice, I’ll admit.
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Post by lightningkarma on Sept 17, 2021 15:45:18 GMT -5
He has actually never had salmon oil, but I've been meaning to try it as an occasional treat. This is the perfect excuse to do so! And I understand that it will probably take a few mice for him to get it, but if the oil doesn't work and he simply will not eat the mouse then I will just give up and keep feeding him what he likes.
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Post by Charlie on Sept 17, 2021 19:56:38 GMT -5
Try starting with frozen mice. This is what I did with my ferret. I started with just a pinky in case he didn't like it and it wasn't much. It's only a treat. Then I moved to hoppers, which are young mice with fur, again only a treat. Then I moved to full grown adult mice. You may need to start like that or remove the other food you had in his bowl and only offer him the mouse he killed.
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Post by abbeytheferret6 on Sept 17, 2021 20:32:41 GMT -5
I have made mouse smoothies before---no fur no guts---but I probably could have skipped the smoothie thing but I was really wanting them to eat them. A lot of my ferrets have been sensitive to chicken to totally feathered things I am thinking. I had to work at it before they caved to eating mice. I got mice frozen from Petco. I always skinned, cut up, and gutted. Gutted meaning just intestines out not the organs. I doused them with salmon oil too. HOWEVER, you may have to get ur ferret to like salmon oil first. I would dab my Phoebe's mouth with salmon oil. She would take off running. After about 3 times she got to liking it. My next step was to cut up, gut, but leave fur on and use salmon oil. To this day, I gut all mice since as that was how mine got to eating them and it just takes a few seconds for me to serve them that way(I think most people leave intestines in). I also wet them and serve with a good splash of water. My boy likes to have water on his meat. My Phoebe with cut up mouse with salmon oil
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