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Post by dook2dook on Oct 16, 2011 21:05:51 GMT -5
I've heard of a lot of peoples ferrets not eating raw right away? Salem has always loved raw meat but he doesn't get it very often. Why would all these other ferrets not like raw?  |
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Post by Sherry on Oct 16, 2011 21:41:21 GMT -5
When ferrets are fed a particular food from the time they are young, they imprint on it. Meaning they don't recognize anything else as food. You have to over ride that instinct that tells them this "other" that you are offering them us safe to eat.
Essentially we are doing mamma ferrets job of teaching them what is safe to eat, and what might kill them.
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Post by dook2dook on Oct 17, 2011 22:02:01 GMT -5
Wow makes sense I guess salem must have had raw already when he was younger! makes it a ton easier if I decide to switch him to raw When ferrets are fed a particular food from the time they are young, they imprint on it. Meaning they don't recognize anything else as food. You have to over ride that instinct that tells them this "other" that you are offering them us safe to eat. Essentially we are doing mamma ferrets job of teaching them what is safe to eat, and what might kill them. |
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Post by Sherry on Oct 17, 2011 23:37:03 GMT -5
Now, in spite of what I said, some for some reason take to it right away. Mr. Frodo's for some reason basically switched himself at a year if age the second day he got here. All the others(unless kits) took convincing.
It does, however, take some far less convincing than others.
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Post by Heather on Oct 18, 2011 1:21:57 GMT -5
I had two wee boys surrendered to me, Shazam and Houdini. Poor wee boys had known nothing but home shifts and hunger. I figured that Shazam was about 7 and Houdini was about 5. They had not been fed in approx 3 to 5 days before I got them (their humans, and I use the term loosely, had run out of food and because they were surrendering them so no purpose in getting more   ) They must have had food stashed in their cage but by the time I got them there was nothing and they were so thin and gross feeling that I was almost sick. My son refused to handle them because he was afraid they would break. I picked them up on Sunday, stopped in at a pet store on the way back and picked up some high end kibbles. Unfortunately, because of their state the good food made them sick (the kibble they had been eating was ferret kibble, but I've never in my life seen ferret kibble that you can pay $7 for a 5lbs bag). They had horrible poopies but they were good about it, they put it in the litter box. They were introduced within a couple of day to the guys because of an accident with a cage...Houdini managed to squeeze out between the bars (I told you he was thin) They decided that because the rest of the fuzzbrats ate raw, they would too. So, by the end of the following weekend, they were eating a full raw diet. Self taught. I've never had it easier, they were also a pair of the oldest self switching ferrets I've ever had. Usually, once you've had a ferret on kibbles past a year, you're looking at least as some work to get them to switch...rather like cats. Some jump at the idea but most drag their heals  ciao |
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