How Long did the Switch take You?

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I was lucky too! Well... sorta... they still won't eat bone... but I'm grinding it in now to get them use to having small bone pieces in their mouths.. next, it's coarse ground... then full bones But for now, they're still on finely ground soups

Lyla had had raw when she was a kit, so she didn't mind the switch in October.

Meeko was supposed to eat that AD canned stuff after her surgery, but she'd hear NOTHING of it... so after 2 days, I offered raw, and she willingly took that over the AD stuff. I never gave her kibble again.

And Baloo was a kit... he ate the raw willingly more than the kibble, so it was hard to actually switch him slowly ;D

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My first pair, Pixie and Yew, I switched right after they turned 2. Yew started eating raw slush right away, Pixie was a bit harder. Since she was a healthy girl, I did the fast method for the first day, then introduced the raw, and supplement fed her with baby food as she got adjusted. Overall, it took her about a week before she was eating meat chunks all by her lonesome.

Yogi and Sian were switched the night I got them, as kits. I just put down some chicken chunks with crushed kibble dusted on top. Yogi, when he first was exposed, knocked the kibble off the chunks before eating, so the next meal was just plain meat. Sian was weaned off the kibble dust over the course of 3 days.

Hiko I got as a rescue, and was probably around 3-4 when I got him. When I got him home, he immediately went after a duck heart, so I figured his switch would be easy. And it was - kind of. I gave him the kibble dusted chunks and ground food, and weaned him off so by the end of a week he was eating chunks and ground. Bone took a bit longer, but I worked up from fine ground food (with bone in) to coarse ground (with bone in) to actual rmbs.

My two newest babies were more stubborn, even though they were kits. Rula hopped onto the chunks bandwagon, but lingered there for a long time When it was all said and done, I think her switch took about 3 weeks or so to be complete. Neera was reticent to get above slush, she wouldn't try paste or chunks. On a whim, a just plopped down an rmb, and she went to town. Apparently, THAT'S what she was waiting for!

Overall, I've been lucky in that mine were relatively quick switchers

[goingpostal]

About a month for all of them I think, half were willing right off the bat, it was the other two that were the problem. Once I got them all eating chunks we were on a roll and ate anything.

[Deleted]

All mine were kits and they switched to full raw the day I brought them home. Everyone one of them took to it right away.

[rebel135]

Pepper took two weeks easy Shark thought I was trying to posion him would not touch soup then one day he was sniffing peppers goat meat and that was it never looked back. Salt still will only eat chunky soup so we blend what ever is on the menu that day she's 8 I just don't fight with her as long as shes eating.

[orv420]

I started switching mine the beginning of January, pretty much as soon as I acquired Jack, Peanut, and Sprite. All five of them took to raw soup quickly - Zaxx had to be spoon-fed (jump started) All five were crunching bones within two weeks, but I wasn't able to catch them eating. The proof was in the pudding, err, poop. Jack is over two years, Sprite and Peanut are 18 months, and Zaxx and Tink are closing in on one year old.

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Josie, my first intro to ferretnhood, moved to raw after her first offering! She was less than two months old. I'd had her for a couple days.

Since then many more ferrets have come my way and all but one switched. Some within hours of arriving ( poor starved beasts) and others after a couple days or weeks. Age ranges have been from under two months to over 5 years old.

My two newest have been here a week and already are eating raw minced Cornish GAme Hen mixed into their kibble and were also introduced to heavy cream today.

Some make a complete switch to full predator and go to eating live whole prey. Others will eat dead whole prey. Some are content to stop at raw meaty bones. But if I had to average it out over the various ferrets, I'd say within a month they are eating full raw meaty bones and whole prey, regardless of age.

30 days to a complete switch ( sometimes much sooner) isn't all that bad - especially when trying to overcome years of entrenched feeding habits.
I consider myself fairly lucky with the 17:1 ratio - but I have to credit natural competitive tactics for most of the switches. When the newbie smells, hears and sees the other ferrets eating and enjoying the raw - this piques their interest. IF it seems like another ferret is going to steal their offering - well protectiveness kicks in and they'll sometimes pick up the foreign food just to keep it away from the other ferret!

Cheers!
Kim