I have a bunny.. next?

[Deleted]

yep, they ate what i left intheir cage. i currently have the rest of the rabbit in my freezer, I had put a bunch of organ meat in my fridge to defrost so I fed that to them last night, I want to get all the defrosted stuff gone before i go itno the frozen stuff again. Yeah I think rabbit can stay up to 6 months if it is wrapped correctly. Also....What is your kit eating now that he wont eat the stuff in your freezer?

I found with my fuzz when i was switching them I didnt feed them for a whole day, then just put some raw meat in for them to eat, by that time they were too hungry to really care, although the first 2 days they were a little unsure of it, they would nibble a little, leave it, come back, nibble some more. Until eventually one of them jsut started going crazy for the meat, then they all sorta went nuts for it. Now sometimes I find them fighting over a chicken wing (mostly chicken that they fight over) or some other piece of meat.

I mean, they are animals, they will give in to their hunger, unless they are really sick, then they might just starve to death, which is terrible, and you should definitely have them checked out by a vet.

I tried doing the soup thing with my fuzz also the first few days, and decided it was a lot of work for me and made a lot of mess, so i just ended up putting chunks into their food dish and a few days later started putting in whole pieces.

Thats just my experience though. Other people say it takes them a lot longer to get them to switch, but i think that partially has to do with the fact they are giving their fuzz an option of what to eat. I simply just gave them what i wanted and they went to town. However, they still LOVE dog food and their ferret kibble, I gave them some for a day when i ran out of meat a few weeks ago, but i left a bowl of cat food out for my cat and they never touched it. weird.

Anyways!!! I wish you the best of luck! and.....yes, usually if you give them a piece of meat you want them to eat, and just leave it in their cage for a few hours or even overnight, they will most likely start to taste it and nibble onit. I mean, wouldn't you be a little curious as to how it tasted if you were a furry little ferret???

[Sherry]

Sept 9, 2011 16:38:05 GMT -5 @fleapop said:

I found with my fuzz when i was switching them I didnt feed them for a whole day, then just put some raw meat in for them to eat, by that time they were too hungry to really care, although the first 2 days they were a little unsure of it, they would nibble a little, leave it, come back, nibble some more.

Be very, VERY careful with doing this. If your ferret is in early stages of insulinoma without showing symptoms yet you can trigger a seizure. Also, kits shouldn't go for more than 6 hours without food. Their metabolism is way to high, and they can go downhill really, really fast.
And yes, ferrets WILL starve themselves to death if they continue not to recognize the meat as food.

[Deleted]

Please be very careful doing that, kits cannot go without too long they are young and growing rapidly and starving an adult can lead to shock at the very least. At the end of the day you know your own ferret best. Don't rush the switch you need watching now much they are eating, what they are taking to ie. likes chicken, not beef so we will stick to chicken for now until we can tick that off. You need to be looking at their stools to make sure the diet isn't have a negative effect on them ^^

I'm feeding chicken tight filets that are only sale for 8.99kg (Wooot) cutting them up into chunks then adding olive oil (for taste) and water (so he can lap it up and get a taste for the chicken). I give him the bowl and get goes to town, before I take it away I put him in my lap and let him feed of my hand. If he doesn't take he meal for what ever reason I will offer him a bowl of kibble or mix some kibble into the chicken and try again.

My freezer contains so many other proteins and not much chicken as it was my main source of bone. I will not force him to eat any of this because I know he will resent it.

[Deleted]

Over the years I've had a total of 16 ferrets (so far). Of various ages and all kibble crunchers. All but one switched to natural diet and did so basically on their own. I did have to get somewhat inventive to expose them to the new "foreign" food. But once they did start showing interest it was pretty much downhill from there and soon they were confirmed converts. DaVinci, though flat out refused. I don't believe in forcing them to eat food. While I am not adverse to them getting a bit hungry hungry I don't believe in starving them into converting. Several of my crew will eat kibble if it is offered, now that DaVinci has passed they don't get access to kibble anymore. Ferrets get imprinted upon kibble as their first form of solid food getting them to convert means completely undoing this imprinting. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. Give it a good "college try" and in multiple manners, but don't force them or they'll resent it.

[otto]

I gotta try that for Runt.

We are about to get couple rabbits tomorrow. He ate his first whole baby rat today (hurray!). It was nice observing him go at it and chew on the leg and pull some guts out and then start crunching on the head and fur and completely enjoying every moment of it

Annoyingly enough he dragged the rat around the house and started chewing a bit here and there.

Rabbit I think will have to be small one for him, since he does not seem to have too strong jaws yet( couple months old guy here). He is most stoked about eating whole prey than anything else. He's had fish, pinky mice, hamburger, rabbit leg, chicken and eggs so far and today's rat was a real success!

I think I will bring him with me hunting and let him have a little taste of freshly killed meat (maybe a heart too).

I'll post some info on how our hunting goes. He is not going to crawl into rabbit holes, just tagging along

[Heather]

I"m guessing you're in the UK? as most US states, Australia and Canada it's illegal to use a hunting ferret?? and you have a special collar? I've often been tempted to buy those just for the wee ones in the house (in case they escape so I can find them). It will certainly be an experience for the wee one
ciao

[otto]

Oh, that's good to know. I did not know ferreting is illegal in Canada. I usually don't look up to what is legal and what is not since way too often I find things that I enjoy doing, are regulated with a law or two anyways.

We are not hunting with Runt but he will just tag along and get a little taste of meat when the butchering happens.

He is way too young to go down any holes anyway and he would have to have an older mentoring ferret to show him what to do when he gets down to a hole. This is what I have understood.

Yeah, it is also a good idea to have a bell , most rabbiters use a electronic detecting collars though. High tech I just made Runt a little collar out of leather strip and put a bell on it, he hates it and squirms around on the floor till he gets his teeth on the bell and starts crunching it away and eventually starting to strangle himself. I no longer try to make him wear one haha!

We are in BC at the moment btw.

It is raining alot right now, gotta go again today with clear skies.