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Post by Deleted on Nov 15, 2012 18:15:44 GMT -5
I think I'm planning to finally get my furbaby next week, Hooray! My work will be having a black friday sale and our ferrets will be $75, cages discounted too, along with all accessories. On top of that, I get a 20% discount. Now, should they not be able to hold the ferret I currently have my eye on (Sniffle ) I will STILL purchase all of the starting out equipment, and I'll just wait a few more weeks until another ferret picks me out. Okay long story short, I'm going to be a new owner soon, and have a lot of questions that I want answered! I'd say I'll eventually run out of questions, but I probably never will ;D SO! First: Because of my work schedule being flipfloppy, there will probably have to be gaps in the times I can be home to feed my ferret. I will always be available about 7am and then 10pm, but that leaves a long gap in the middle that I don't feel comfortable leaving my ferret without food inside. Now, I never work longer than 8 hours at a time, so there'd be plenty of time to feed my ferret somewhere in between there whenever I'm not working, but I was just wondering how much is it okay to be flexible with a feeding schedule? I am planning on feeding raw, but because of the gap there is in "structured" feeding times, is it okay if I have it set up to where I'm feeding raw in the morning and late night, and I leave a little bit of kibble mix during the day? Not enough to count as a meal, but enough for him to snack and not go too hungry while waiting? (I'd probably be using Wysong Epigen 90 mixed with whatever food I can find at work that's still in the green on the moredooks chart) I would really like to avoid feeding kibble long-term, but like I said, I don't want him going hungry. Second: It's not going to be immediately possible for me to start feeding raw, I'm just not 100% comfortable with doing it yet, especially with a new ferret. (That, and I have to take a GOOD look around town at all the butchers we have and what their prices are lol) I know that whatever ferret I purchase from work is going to be pretty young, about 2-4 months, definitely under 6 months, but I did hear that ferrets become harder to switch after 6 months? I AM planning on starting to switch within the first 1-2 months of owning mine, but I wanted to know about how soon I should be looking to do so. Another thought I had was, to make it easier when I eventually switch, should I immediately start using beef or chicken bits as a snack for him? I can easily give muscle meats right away, it's just the organs that i'll have trouble finding which is a bigger part of why i'm not starting off with raw. ...I think that's it!
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Post by bitbyter on Nov 15, 2012 18:21:55 GMT -5
My girls are on raw now and I only feed them twice a day. I feed them about 4 to 5 ounces in the morning and then again at night depending on how much is left from the morning feeding. The following morning if there is anything left from the previous morning I remove it. So far they are doing fine being fed this way. Ferrets tend to be grazers. They hardly ever eat everything I put down and will come back to continue eating it later.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 15, 2012 18:36:15 GMT -5
I leave kibble out for when I'm away for quite a few hours. In fact he always has it available, though he definitely prefers the meat. I just put a large amount of meat out in the morning, and he eats until he's full, and then will have at least another serve of meat during the day from that. And if he's still hungry, the kibble. I make sure I put out lots of water if I'm going to be away for a long stretch. (my work hours are awesome usually!)
How exciting that you're getting your first! Can I ask what qualities you like in the one that has picked you out? I'm always curious about how people find 'their' ferret.
Re: organs. Have you looked in just the supermarket? around here, Australia, we have things like chicken necks, kidneys, livers, brains, beef tails, etc, on the shelves in the meat section.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 15, 2012 18:57:43 GMT -5
Would it be safe to have their food out for a while then? o: I wasn't sure how long it's okay to leave raw meat out... but I assume that they would eat it all up before it has time to go bad, if they were hungry. I might look into making freeze-dried or jerky things to leave around for snacking, instead of kibble, but my main problem was not knowing if it were safe to leave out too long.
I have looked in the supermarket and can easily find kidneys and livers, and necks and tails, but nothing important like hearts just laying around. I'll probably have to go to an ethnic market to find some, honestly.
oooo, the ferret that picked me out is a sweetheart in the biggest sense of the word. He's super snuggly and floppy and gives kisses and he hasn't even nipped at me in the slightest when I stick my hand in to wrestle with him and the others. ;D He's chocolate colored and so amazingly cute. He's such a sweetheart, in fact, that I don't have high hopes I'll be quick enough to get him before someone else buys him. (Which, honestly, that's also okay with me. I have no doubts that he'll find a great home and keep it since he's so nice)
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Post by Deleted on Nov 15, 2012 19:39:04 GMT -5
You can leave meat out for a few days. Ferrets won't eat it if it's turned too much for them to handle ,but they can handle meat that we couldn't (or wouldn't touch.) Mine like to leave meat out for 2 or 3 days turning into jerky before they'll eat it sometimes.
Soup tends to spoil faster, after 24 hours it starts smelling pretty rank and I'll dump it.
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Post by Heather on Nov 15, 2012 21:46:58 GMT -5
Ahhh, so much fun. My guys only get fed twice a day. I never feed kibble unless there is a health reason....so far, I haven't found one. Ground soupies should only be left out for a few hours, whole meats not longer than 12 hrs, whole prey can be left for 24 hrs. Ferrets do like to stash food and create jerky, there appears to be a time between disgusting and jerky a ferret seems to know, and won't eat it....I usually pick it up before then, I had an adversion to maggots ;D ferrets do not . A young ferret will be an easy switch and I would be tempted to never allow him the idea that kibble was good food. Kibbles with their carbs are very tempting and it's difficult to convince them that it's not one of the food groups (same as we have a hard time dealing with cookies). Read through the dietary section, decide what type of raw feeding would suit you and your new little one. ciao
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Post by Deleted on Nov 16, 2012 9:05:14 GMT -5
Ah, great! I'm really glad to know that meat can stay out so long, that makes it a ton easier to feed raw no matter what. I'd probably never be away for 12 hours, so it'd be removed before then (and if I couldn't, someone else would ;D ) I really do want to get him switched as soon as possible, but it still will take about 1 1/2 months to get to where I can do a full switch. But there's NO way I'm going to continue to feed him that marshals crap. h*ll, id probably let myself go hungry first. A girl at work was like "well its great because they're guaranteed for a year!" And I'm just thinking, I'd be too busy crying my eyes out if my ferret died in a year, why would I ever want a return! I cringe when I have to give them it at work, although they go nuts because they love it Anyway, thanks so much for the input! I'm going to definitely introduce meat from day one, and hopefully I'll be able to do a full switch before too long
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Post by Heather on Nov 16, 2012 10:47:53 GMT -5
The babies have no problem with the meat...it's something they're born to. Sometimes their people have a bigger issue though ;D Baby Minion Baby Napoleon ciao
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Post by Deleted on Nov 16, 2012 14:59:41 GMT -5
Oh my gosh!!! They're so cute ;D that slab of meat is like 3 times the size of little minion! I can't even tell what Napoleon is eating but he's sure going to town on it. I'm not going to have any trouble with giving raw, it's so much cuter to watch them try to eat and chew through some chicken wings than eat kibble.
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Post by Sherry on Nov 16, 2012 19:32:16 GMT -5
And they have so much more fun, too ;D
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Post by Deleted on Nov 16, 2012 20:24:15 GMT -5
And the OM NOM sounds are ADORABLE!!! ....or maybe it's just me.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 16, 2012 20:32:01 GMT -5
I like watching them squabble over a choice piece of meat. You can put enough meat in for everyone to have their own piece, but three of them will sit there fighting over the same one for whatever reason. Mind you, they ignored that piece and had no interest in it until another ferret picked it up. I will say, raw chunks of meat do seem to engage them a lot mentally and stimulate a lot more than soup or kibble. They enjoy stashing the kibble and playing with it, but they really seem to get excited when chewing and tearing at a half of a chicken or a thigh. It's hard to pin down, but there's this sparkle in their eye as they eat they never had before.
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Post by Heather on Nov 16, 2012 21:48:41 GMT -5
There is ownership of the piece of meat....anyone can own a piece of kibbles but that piece of meat has it's own texture and taste and if you drag it around a bit it even has its very own funky flavours....and it can't taste as good as....well maybe your neighbours ;D ciao
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Post by Deleted on Nov 17, 2012 8:14:33 GMT -5
Oh GOD I can't wait until i can get him a piece of chicken or something *0* So.... the boy I wanted originally got sold while I wasn't at work! that made me decide that I couldn't wait until a bigger sale, and I should just try to get one right away. ...and that's when little Raiju stole my heart He was soooo cute playing with the other ferrets and rolling on top of them when they were sleeping, and when I was holding him the first time, he cuddled in my hair and just laid on my shoulder for a good while.(later he even fell asleep in my arms) So cute!!!! ....so I took him home It took me 2 frustrating hours to set up his superpets my first home (not to mention it's ugly. I can't wait to upgrade to a fn in a few months ) and he's spilled his lock on crock twice (plus me spilling it ) but despite the work, money, and lack of sleeping well, it was SO worth it. I need to get a few pictures of him up. He's really adorable, and although he's bigger than all the other ferrets were he's STILL so tiny! I should really get a ton of pictures now while he's a cute little baby, before he grows into a potentially huge grown up baby. but even though I'm still dead tired, it's SO worth it.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 17, 2012 8:19:16 GMT -5
Oh jeez my phone is messing up and keeps putting my sentences all over. (And isn't even having the decency to let me fix it! ;D ) my bad for any repeats up there
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