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Post by Deleted on Mar 20, 2011 14:54:47 GMT -5
Great article with the nutritional composition of different whole prey, including mice, rats, rabbits, lizards, chicken, and lots more  Attachments:
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Post by Sherry on Mar 20, 2011 15:32:00 GMT -5
Thank you for finding this, Jackie |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 20, 2011 18:17:48 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Mar 20, 2011 18:28:25 GMT -5
The link I posted is the same thing, except it has 3 additional tables with Dry matter conversions of the first 3 tables. But essentially, they are the same. The program to view the link is adobe acrobat reader. It is free to download and install  |
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Post by fuzzywozzie on Apr 9, 2011 8:20:16 GMT -5
Calcium, Sodium, Iron, Phosphorus, Potassium, Zinc, Magnesium, Copper and Manganese, Vitamin A and E.
Does anyone know how much per body weight a ferret need to be healthy? or where i might find this infomation.
I want the diet to be as balanced as possible but a little wary of giving too much as well as too little of fat soluble vitamins and minerals as too much or too little can both cause problems.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 9, 2011 10:50:28 GMT -5
Hmm, I'm not sure on that. Honestly, there isn't that much knowledge about ferret nutrition, so I'd be surprised if that information is even known.
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Post by katt on Apr 9, 2011 11:23:30 GMT -5
I find it interesting that pg 16 Table 6, neonatal mice have a significantly higher calcium content than the adults, and then juvenile mice have higher calcium content (by just a little) than the adults. That tells me that young mice may indeed be a full meal. Thoughts on this?  Yes, their bones might not be fully developed, but if they have a high calcium content it doesn't make a huge difference. It is like adding crushed eggshell. It will still be absorbed. The way I see it total calcium content is what matters... |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 9, 2011 11:46:00 GMT -5
That is very weird. Table 3 shows the expected trend, adult mice have significantly higher amounts of Ca. But Table 6 seems to contradict that. I attached a comparison picture. Attachments:
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Post by Deleted on Apr 9, 2011 11:48:04 GMT -5
The data doesn't seem balanced, either. Table 3 has minimal data on neonatal and juvenile mice, and a ton on the adults (shown by the n number). Table 6 has lots of data on young mice, but little on adults. This also doesn't take into account differences in genetics, diet, etc. The mice all seem to come from different sources.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 9, 2011 11:58:41 GMT -5
Here's another article that contains some of the original data used in the first article. There is definitely a different between Ca levels in pinkies vs. adults. Attachments:
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Post by Deleted on Apr 9, 2011 12:02:16 GMT -5
Data from the second article Attachments:
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Post by katt on Apr 9, 2011 12:19:44 GMT -5
What I am more interested in though is not pinkies, but young mice. Like weanling to small adult size... |
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Post by fuzzywozzie on Apr 9, 2011 16:48:18 GMT -5
After looking at the chart put up by Jackie it shows that different age groups have some very different amounts of different minerals.
For example a small / medium (aged between 3 - 6 weeks) mouse has more calcium (Ca) than pinkies and fuzzys and large mice (aged anywhere between 2 - 10 months) The chart states mice lose calcium after 8 weeks
This appears to be the same with magnesium (Mg)
Iron (Fe) in the other hand is higher in pinkies, drops after this stage and proceeds to climb back up with age but not to the same level.
Zinc (Zn) is highest in pinkies too but after the pinkie stage is at the best levels at the small to medium stage
Manganese (Mn) is shown to have its highest level in the 21 - 23 day old small mouse. Copper (Cu) again is highest in pinkies and steadly drops as it ages.
Although this information differs with rats the medium to large (5 - 8 weeks) rats having the highest Calcium, Magnesium, Iron, Manganese levels. But is the same with the copper and zinc being highest in pinkies dropping alot and slowly building back up with age.
So i would have thought the feeding 3 -6 week old mice would give the highest concentration of certain minerals with some pinkies thrown in as copper and zinc boosters.
With rats the age would idealy be 5 - 8 weeks to get the most from them.
I suppose it comes back to making sure ferrets get a variety of different ages but according to this chart mainly the ages listed above.
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Post by Sherry on Apr 9, 2011 20:55:30 GMT -5
Have fun all- it's beyond me  I still stick with the rule to feed a variety of ages and proteins ;D |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 9, 2011 21:00:52 GMT -5
I think small adults would be fine, based on this data.
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