Ferrant of 5 needing help with my newest...

[mamasfuzzbutts]

Hi all. I am new here so I hope I post this correctly. I have 5 beautiful fuzzies- 3 boys- Chewy, Butter, and Lincoln and 2 girls- Ginger and Pookie Roo. they range in age from 4 months to almost 2 years. I have a few questions as I have only had ferrets for about 2 years now... I got Ginger 1st as a gift for my hubby who has had ferrets as a child. Then I wanted one for myself, so I got Peanut Butter. Both came from Petco (I didn't know better then) and when I went back the next day one of his litter mates was and had been crying since he left! Well, I just couldn't have that-so, we acquired Chewy (he actually turned out to be everyone's favorite-sweetest little chubby weasel Ever!) They are all about the same age maybe 2 mos apart (19mos) The last two were both rescues. Pookie Roo is (guessing) about 8mos she was living in a dangerously home made cage being fed God only knows what and she was just abandoned outside a storefront-poor baby! But my newest Lil baby is the reason I'm here- Stinkin Linkin is 3 1/2 months old and he is my little hunter! He is the only one (right now) that will kill and eat mice. But, he is really good at it! So, a few questions for ya....

1) He is still eating kibble mainly (Marshalls & Purina One cat food mixed) and 1 live adult mouse every day. I want him to eat only a prey diet (he has an amazing amount of energy since he started the mice!) So, I'm wondering how much this little kit needs to be taking in daily.

2) Should I forgo clipping his nails since he is using them to take down his prey???

and finally...
3) any suggestions for switching the others over...they seem to have absolutely zero interest in the mice- live or dead. Also, no matter how much I spend on high end, quality food, they turn their noses up at it or spill it all over my floor to get to the other stuff in their bowls.
They are also eating the Purina One CF but its mixed with Wellness Core CF ( I also have two cats and that's how the ferrets discovered this lovely diet- now it's all I can get them to eat)! Each of them get a small amount of Ferretone daily and every now and then they LOVE Chicky sticks (Nu Bone ferret chew treats) oh and they will also take the Ferretvite but other then that, they are all pretty picky, stubborn little eaters.
Nonetheless, they are all very healthy, happy weasels with no health issues, nice looking coats and tons of energy (the girls are a little on the small side but still kinda young).
I'm sure that I will have many more questions but lets start with these. I'm so grateful I found your site, there's so much good info on here. I will try to get some pics posted as soon as I can so, they'll all be current. Thanks in advance for your help!

[Sherry]

First, let me say hello, and welcome to the forum Congrats on all the furbabies And congrats to Linkin for being SUCH a great little hunter!
I really think you should check through the nutrition section- tons of dietary info there ! Getting on a complete whole prey diet is fantastic- but...They really need at least 3 different proteins to be certain of covering all the nutritional bases. So, he could have mice, rats(prekilled only!), guinea pigs, rabbit, basically any small mammal. That, however, can get very expensive. Check out the section on whole prey and live feeding in the nutrition area. A lot of us feed raw meat/bone/organ, and add in however many whole prey meals we can.
For getting your others on a more natural diet, you can either apply for a mentor here:
holisticferret60.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=switch&action=display&thread=61
as well as starting a switching thread of your own in the "newbie questions" section in nutrition
The problem is ferrets imprint on a particular diet as a defence mechanism to prevent them from eating something that might be poisonous, or not meet their needs in the long term.
I'd still clip his nails, as they can get caught on bedding, etc and cause some serious damage. He'll do fine with just his paws and his teeth
I'd also go easy on the ferretone, simply because of all the BHT's and BTA's in it. The key is moderation. I do use it, but as a rule, only on nail clipping day, or to teach biters hand can be good things
And lastly- please post some pics of your little ones? We can never get enough of them ;D !!!

[Heather]

Hi and welcome on board ;D
Please feel free to prowl around, check out the various sections and subsections. Read threads and ask questions about anything you don't understand or just for information. Everyone's friendly and there's a ton of information available. Sherry has already given you some suggestions regarding the whole diet thing. I feed the full raw deal...some commercial ground, frankenprey and whole prey. Prey diet is expensive. It's the best for them but with a minimum of 3 types of prey of varying ages, the price tag gets steep really fast. Many of us use it as treats. I use it as a bedtime meal. Your wee one may be one amazing hunter but you really don't want to go there with the bigger prey. Rats, rabbits, guinea pigs can make a real mess of a ferret, especially a solo hunter. Ferrets aren't usually used to kill prey when being used as a hunter anyway....they're used to flush underground prey. Many places it's against the law to allow a ferret to "kill" prey and where I am it's against the law to hunt with a ferret (I believe that is the way it is in most US states too). My guys make do with hunting mice, which I rarely do anyway because hunting in a bathtub isn't really hunting I'm thinking of setting up a tunnel system so that they can actually hunt their mice but for now, they like their mousesicles .
I hope that I will be seeing you around, pictures of your wee beasties would be nice too ;D
ciao

[Deleted]

Yes, unfortunately in the u.s. of a. using a ferret to hunt is illegal, no one can figure out why, in fact, most of us hear don't even know ferrets exist and can go 40 years with out seeing one, hearing them in conversations, finding store products of them, or even books on them, so their is no way of ever finding out why.
But hay, most of the people who write the laws don't even follow them them salves any way, so, who knows. ;D
Welcome to the forum, we are a friendly bunch and theirs more info hear then one can read in a month on wonderful ferrets:).