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Post by firestar on Nov 21, 2011 14:59:04 GMT -5
I Just got a new ferret (I'm not new to owning ferrets, I swear these guys are like pokemons, gotta have them all! ) Anyways, I was trying to adopt some, but the rescue wouldn't let me take younger ferrets since I have a young child (She's 3, and is a Dr. Dolittle just like I was at that age) so we ended up just picking up an older one at PetCo that they couldn't get sold. He ended up being an extremely well mannered boy, to which my daughter promptly named him "Buddy". He is about 7 months old, picked up litter training within a week, and I decided to see what he would do with raw meat for his diet. I wanted to get an idea of his pickiness before I even posted anything, so I started out a few days ago by syringe feeding him a raw egg, which he readily took. The next day chopped up some raw chicken breast and hand fed it to him, to which he promptly chowed down on. So I went to the store and picked up some raw chicken livers and hearts and gizzards, chopped them up, and added a bit of my fish oil supplement (a high quality one I take myself) and then 1/4 tsp of crushed eggshell powder. I'm fairly certain this guy must be part garbage disposal, he chows it all down without any complaints. I even fashioned a corner litterbox into a "feeding den" for him, to which he promptly stashes all his meat into when I hand it to him. I have given him a fuzzy overnight, to which he only ate the front half. I would really like to get him to eating whole prey, so I'm curious as to what I should do for that switch? I've given him a chicken wing, but he just carried it around instead of eating it.
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Post by firestar on Nov 21, 2011 15:07:14 GMT -5
Here's my handsome little guy! He goes to the vet this wednesday too!
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2011 15:50:15 GMT -5
Oh my, your little guy is adorable! You're so lucky he is such a good eater of chunks! Did you try signing up for the mentoring program? It's nice to see that you put some fabric down on the floor for him and that he has a hammock. In my experience, having lots of fabric bedding everywhere (except in the litterbox) really helps them learn litterbox training and not have accidents!
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Post by Heather on Nov 21, 2011 16:03:40 GMT -5
He's gorgeous. What a little sweety. You're off to a good start. You could try checking out the mentor section. There is a lot of good start up hints in the various threads. You can't post to any of the threads so if you have questions post them here in this thread that you've started. Stashing is all about being a ferret, your wee boy may be just saving it for later . He's obviously eating some of it. You only want to give limited amounts of liver (organ meats) as it will give him rather liquid, tarry stools. You've mentioned he ate half a mouse that's great, just leave it with him and he can finish it later. Let him carry his chicken wing around or at least let him keep it for awhile, he might get into it...some like their meat to "ripen" a bit first You might try trimming through to the bone too, to let him know that the good stuff is under the skin. I cut deep knicks into the flesh making it easier for the newbies and some of my oldsters to tear the meat off the bone and to get the hang of actually chewing bone ciao
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2011 16:52:41 GMT -5
He's very handsome and he knows it! I love his little white toes!
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Post by firestar on Nov 21, 2011 17:39:04 GMT -5
Thanks guys! My other ferret "Jack" is still in Italy with my husband. (We are military) He will be coming back with him in a few months when he moves back to the states. We couldn't bring him with us as the military flights only allow cats or dogs He's a really big boy, approximately 5lbs (the vet in Italy calls him the bear ferret ;D ) but he is still rather fond of his kibble. Anyways, I will definitely try cutting the meat on the chicken wing next time. I like to try and give him the boney type stuff overnight, to encourage him to try it out since he can't beg me while I'm sleeping. How long would you say it's safe to leave fuzzies or the chicken wings in there before they need to be removed?
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Post by firestar on Nov 21, 2011 17:43:20 GMT -5
It's nice to see that you put some fabric down on the floor for him and that he has a hammock. In my experience, having lots of fabric bedding everywhere (except in the litterbox) really helps them learn litterbox training and not have accidents! That's exactly what those are for! It's just a huge pack of dish towels I got from Sam's Club for like 5 bucks. I'm currently sewing bunch of hammocks and beds for him too, I just like to use the hand towels until they are all trained up since they can be easily cleaned! He just about doesn't spend anytime on the floor in his cage though, he prefers to hang upside down out of his hammock.
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Post by Heather on Nov 21, 2011 20:28:14 GMT -5
Anyways, I will definitely try cutting the meat on the chicken wing next time. I like to try and give him the boney type stuff overnight, to encourage him to try it out since he can't beg me while I'm sleeping. How long would you say it's safe to leave fuzzies or the chicken wings in there before they need to be removed? I like to tell them they can't keep their meatzes any longer than 12 or so hours....they tell me that ferret jerky cannot be rushed and if I take it away then they can't have it ....a ferret basically won't touch bad meat. What is the difference between meat that has definitely gone south (bad) and something that looks like a mummified finger...I don't know but they will eat that but they won't eat the horrible mushy thing The rodent, again...same thing. I've yet to see them eat a bad one but they drag out these horrible little furry mummies every now and then and then scream at you if you take them away...they are definitely offended. I try not to let them have them longer than 12 hours, though I've seen them eat nom on them closer to 18 hrs....after that I would consider them finished....ferrets on the other hand do not ciao
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Post by Sherry on Nov 21, 2011 20:33:40 GMT -5
I'm bad. I only leave large chunks in for 12 to 18 hours, but whole prey I leave for up to 24 hours. Again- if it's bad, they won't eat it
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Post by firestar on Nov 21, 2011 22:17:52 GMT -5
Okay, so I'll give him a bit more time than just overnight to try it out. It just looked pretty gross, so I chucked it.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2011 0:43:09 GMT -5
LOL!!! I know what you mean about mummified mice corpses... I have seen my fuzzies drag out a 5 day old mouse carcass that stunk to high heavens, and all 3 of them greedily nommed on it! On the other hand, I have seen a mouse get all bloated after just a day, and they wouldn't touch it ;D They definitely know the difference between jerkey and junk! ;D
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Post by firestar on Nov 24, 2011 20:41:51 GMT -5
So yesterday I smashed up 2 chicken wings to break the bones up in them and gave it to him at about 10pm. They were gone by this afternoon with no complaints or eating protests by him! Also, he checked out good at the vet. He weighed in at 2.8 lbs, got his rabies shot, and I got some ear drops for ear mites.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 24, 2011 20:56:09 GMT -5
Isn't it so wonderful switching kits? My boys took to that easy as well. They know eating raw makes them feel better.
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Post by firestar on Nov 24, 2011 23:37:18 GMT -5
This has definitely gone much smoother than I expected when I first started reading about it! The vet was also very happy to hear that I had him on a raw diet and was aiming towards a whole prey diet as well!
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Post by Deleted on Nov 25, 2011 10:23:46 GMT -5
Wow, he's beautiful - such a sweet sweet face Looks like you have a natural! Are you aiming for 100% whole prey, or raw meats like chicken etc with whole prey meals throughout the week? Whole prey is terribly expensive, and you need at least 3 proteins to have a balanced whole prey diet. Anyway, if you have any questions at all, don't hesitate to ask! We are all here to help each other learn and grow
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