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Post by Deleted on Nov 12, 2011 9:17:34 GMT -5
yeah he is almost there. he has been eating beef this morning really well and trying to stash it around the house, which i know is a good sign.
I will wait longer to feed the hearts next week to help the appetite.
Duck does sounds like a good idea, especially if its as easy as hen to prepare.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 12, 2011 10:31:14 GMT -5
This may seem like a simple question but i can't seem to find exactly what i'm looking for.
It has just started getting cold, 50 degrees Fahrenheit, we didn't have ferrets last winter. I woke up this morning and the house thermostat said 57 degrees, is this way too cold for them? They seemed fine when they played but we have hardwood floors so i'm sure the floor was really cold for them.
I turned the temperature about 65-70 to warm up the house. So i guess the question is should the house stay around 70 degrees ?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 12, 2011 16:49:58 GMT -5
Good boy baby legs I'm not sure what the minimum temperature is for ferrets, but usually it is higher not lower temps you need to worry about. That being said, ferrets CAN get hypothermia and according to ferrets for dummies you should watch for these symptoms: "Symptoms of hypothermia in ferrets include shivering, slow shallow breathing, lethargy and unresponsiveness." That being said, aren't you freezing at that low of temp?! I would keep it around 60-70F to be safe. Anything above 80F is too hot for ferrets. Most are probably quite comfortable around 60-70F I would imagine.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 13, 2011 2:27:19 GMT -5
What do you know, Someone else posted a thread about this the consensus was high 60's - low 70's so 70ish is probably ideal just be extra careful if you are using space heaters as opposed to central heating. Ferrets can and will get into them and you don't want your little ones getting burned/electrocuted.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 13, 2011 7:41:38 GMT -5
Heh it was kinda sudden temp drop so we werent expectig it like that overnight. We have been keeping it 70 overnight and it tends to warm up alot through the day. I will post the feeding later once we weigh them
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Post by Deleted on Nov 13, 2011 17:51:28 GMT -5
Dids, 2.70 lbs, large chunks and eats well around 3-4oz daily, poops are fairly normal depending on meals ( darker on beef and organ days). Somewhat lazy, not very playful mostly wonders around the house alone and then sleeps, up for about 1 to 1-1/2 hours at a time. Cici, 2.07 lbs, large chunks and eats well around 3oz daily, poops are normal sometimes a little loose, very active play for about 30mins and explores around 2hrs. Baby Legs, 2.31 lbs, large chunks chicken and hen are going well, pork and beef is working up to about 2.0oz daily, He is eating pork and beef on his own without us hand feeding, Super active like usual, plays for around 30 minutes and explores the rest about 2hrs. Menu since tuesday: (AM/PM): Wednesday: 4oz beef / 5oz chicken wing Thursday: 3.1oz hearts / 5oz chicken wing - hearts went ok, alot of leftovers, we covered most of this already this week Friday: 14oz organ soup with 3oz hearts / 4oz beef Saturday: 5oz chicken wing / 4oz pork Sunday: 12oz cornish game hen. Is this anywhere close to what you were needing?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 14, 2011 0:17:26 GMT -5
Dids, 2.70 lbs, large chunks and eats well around 3-4oz daily, poops are fairly normal depending on meals ( darker on beef and organ days). Somewhat lazy, not very playful mostly wonders around the house alone and then sleeps, up for about 1 to 1-1/2 hours at a time. Were these weights done on the same scale as the previous ones? Dids was 3.1lbs+ before the switch, dropped down to 2.57lbs the last weigh in and is now up to 2.70lbs. A little bit all over the place but his body looked fine in the pic you gave me, so as long as he is eating well, doesnt appear to be losing too much weight, I think he's fine. Weekly weigh-ins are definitely a good idea for him though. The weight gain now could be explained by winter chub too As for his activity level, he is an older boy, but he should still be fairly active. Does he splat out a lot when playing? When was his last vet check? Cici, 2.07 lbs, large chunks and eats well around 3oz daily, poops are normal sometimes a little loose, very active play for about 30mins and explores around 2hrs. Baby Legs, 2.31 lbs, large chunks chicken and hen are going well, pork and beef is working up to about 2.0oz daily, He is eating pork and beef on his own without us hand feeding, Super active like usual, plays for around 30 minutes and explores the rest about 2hrs. Sounds like these two are doing great Cici has gone from 1.96lbs to 2.07lbs and Baby Legs from 2.30lbs to 2.31lbs so that's good news, they are maintaing well, gaining a bit of winter chub too Baby legs will always be a little bit behind the others, so no worries there but keep on him with the beef and pork, it sounds like he is almost up to speed with the others. If you find they are doing more exploring/sleeping outside the cage than playing, one thing you can try is to let them out for 2 or 3 shorter play times during the day instead of one long one. I find the first 15-30 mins of the out-of-cage time is when they go the craziest and burn the most calories, so with the multiple play times I feel like mine burn off more of their crazy energy ;D Menu since tuesday: (AM/PM): Wednesday: 4oz beef / 5oz chicken wing Thursday: 3.1oz hearts / 5oz chicken wing - hearts went ok, alot of leftovers, we covered most of this already this week Friday: 14oz organ soup with 3oz hearts / 4oz beef Saturday: 5oz chicken wing / 4oz pork Sunday: 12oz cornish game hen. Is this anywhere close to what you were needing? This is perfect exactly what I was needing Everything looks good. Keep working on the hearts, they will get there I promise The organ is going great though which is awesome news. Are you going to try just one organ meal next week? Other than that, just let me know when you pick up the new protein and we'll go from there
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Post by Deleted on Nov 14, 2011 0:22:28 GMT -5
I will wait longer to feed the hearts next week to help the appetite. Duck does sounds like a good idea, especially if its as easy as hen to prepare. Perfect Just don't leave Dids without food for longer than an hour, because of his age and decreased activity level, I would hate to find out he has insulinoma the hard way. But he goes without food when he's out the cage for a couple hours at a time and is fine, right? Duck is super easy to prepare. I buy a whole frozen duck, half-thaw it IN THE FRIDGE (less bacteria this way) and then chop it up, bag it, and re-freeze it in portions. It's wayyy less messy if you chop it up half-frozen (less blood, etc.) and pre-packaging it in portions make it super easy when it comes to meal time
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Post by Deleted on Nov 15, 2011 12:44:01 GMT -5
the original weight for baby legs and dids might not have been 100% because we didn't weigh them right before the switch. We started the switch mid august and i think those weights were from around june. But they might have been really close. Dids did lose alot of weight during the switch but he is putting it all back on. I feel like his energy level is up when his weight was down and low when his weight is up. It could be winter chubb and he is over 5 years old now, been a cat food fed ferret his whole life until february this year.
Baby Legs and Cici are filling out nicely. I can feel and see the difference more than the scale seems to notice. Cici was just the smallest thing when we got her August 2nd, i bet less than 1.5 lbs. Baby Legs looks like he is just getting thicker and more muscular.
We can try the multiple play times during the week for sure, they are out right now unscheduled.
We will be trying the whole organ soup in one sitting this week, Friday morning.
We got a small turkey neck, hearts, giblets, liver. It was kinda unexpected because we got a turkey for the heck of it and what do ya know the neck and all that stuff was in there so we freezed it.
We might try duck next week. Probably monday.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 15, 2011 16:54:05 GMT -5
It sounds like they are doing fine weight wise then Turkeys do usually come with all the parts, and you can definitely feed them (as long as it wasnt a pre-seasoned turkey, you can feed the meat too but brands like Butterball, etc. are spiced so you shouldnt feed the meat - the organs/neck are usually unaffected). The turkey neck can be fed for a bone-in meal (with other food, since it won't be enough on its own for them), cut it into sections with one or two vertebra per section (you will have to cut the spinal cord) and trim the meat so some is hanging off the bone. You can also take a hammer and smash the vertebra a bit to see if they can eat it. You can definitely throw the liver in with the organ meal too. The gizzards (which you called giblets - giblets are actually all of the organs/inside pieces) count as "muscle meat" and are great for cleaning teeth (they are very chewy). Give the heart a try as well, who knows they might like the taste better than the chicken hearts. Sounds good with the organ meal and the duck, keep me updated
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Post by Deleted on Nov 17, 2011 7:58:16 GMT -5
Baby Legs ate hearts today without my help! He was a little cautious and was licking the olive oil off the pieces so i picked one up and he took it, then ate it right away!! I did this same thing again, he ate right away. Then he came back for more ON HIS OWN and took a whole heart ( I leave a few whole ones but most are cut up pretty small bite sized) and ate that thing right then and there.
I'm going to throw that turkey neck in tonight with a chicken wing.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 17, 2011 15:37:28 GMT -5
That is SO great! Yay!!! #boing# Hopefully the turkey neck goes well too definitely cut it up so they all can steal piece
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Post by Deleted on Nov 19, 2011 11:07:48 GMT -5
the turkey neck went ok, it did get chewed on more than eaten. we cut it up pretty good but some was gone, about half. weighed about 2.8oz i believe. The organ soup didn't go over as well as i hoped. When i made them soup last week, I was so used to only making 3oz/3oz, so when i feed them organ last week they only got half, sunday evening we fed them the other half. They only ate about half of it, this time it was 6oz/6oz. So i am going to try all bite sized pieces this week instead of soup, in two separate feedings. This won't be too much food, what kinda of meat should i feed with this? Bone in or muscle ? Other than this little hiccup everything else is going great. Oh they all got their energy up alot, i feel like it happened thursday morning after the heart feeding. If this is the case i might feed them a few every other day as well .
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Post by Deleted on Nov 19, 2011 22:33:56 GMT -5
Don't worry too much about the turkey neck, they are hard to get through. As for the organs, if you are feeding bite sizes pieces throughout the week (to equal 6oz/6oz) I don't think it really matters if you feed them with muscle meats or bone-in meats. Think of it as similar to people feeding whole prey - the ferret eats organs with every meal. You just gotta keep a close eye out that everyone is eating the organ at each meal. So I would use the same method you used to use with the soup. Feed them organ first, watch to make sure they all eat some, then give the rest of the meal. Let me know how that goes and give me your full week report tomorrow or Monday
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Post by Deleted on Nov 19, 2011 22:54:57 GMT -5
Also feeding heart every couple days with other meals + still having one full heart meal per week is a great idea.
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