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Post by tss on Mar 18, 2009 9:17:55 GMT -5
Ok, what all have you tried with the bone? What about crushing it? Have you tried that?
The food being taken into the litter box is normal, I've seen just about every single one of the ferrets I've mentored do that. As well as my own, they really do eventually stop doing it.
If you are ablr to try lamb I KNOW your ferrets will love it!!
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Post by whimsy on Mar 25, 2009 11:30:50 GMT -5
I figured out a way to make them stop stashing outside of the cage!! I just put the food dish all the way at the tip top platform. XD They're both too lazy to take the food alllll the way down and out of the cage (they have a FN 142). Well, not yet at least, but it gives me a bit of breathing room. They had some duck last Friday; neck and gizzards and organs. They ate it right up. We even gave them some raw steak cuttings when we were making philly steak sandwiches last tuesday. . .at first neither was too impressed so I put a little olive oil on it and suddenly it was quite alright. When I was getting them breakfast this morning I heard RJ cracking some bone from dinner last night, so that was a good moment. The best part is that most of the bone parts wind up in the litter box. Think they're trying to tell me something? I haven't tried crushing the bones. I've got a heavy metal meat tenderizer, I'll try pounding the bone with that.
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Post by tss on Mar 25, 2009 22:22:35 GMT -5
Putting the food all the way up top sounds like a plan. I just just their first FN (a 142) on Friday, they were put in it on Saturday.. They are really odded out by all of the levels and room, the most they've ever had was 2.5 levels, I've only got 3 fuzzies but I'm already thinking of making it a 143..
Try cruching the bone and let me know how it goes :-)
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Post by whimsy on Apr 6, 2009 11:58:34 GMT -5
Woot, they took the bone! Been doing it all last week, and it's no fluke. . .they've been eating it. Last night we tried just cutting it into small chunks, and they ate all but the thickest pieces so I think we're onto something here! Hehe, and I know what you mean about them trying out the 142. . .these two were in a teeny tiny little one floor cage when I first got them, and when we upgraded they at first didn't know what to do with the levels. It was cute watching them explore though. Now on to the second part of news . . . we're going to be moving here in the upcoming week, we're taking the fuzzies to meet the landlord today and to let them romp a bit in the new place. Will moving have any affect on their appetite/what they're willing to eat?
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Post by tss on Apr 6, 2009 12:18:50 GMT -5
Yay!!! That is wonderful! I'm sure they'll keep it up.
If the landlord will be watching them romp around be carefull, it would be horrible if they decided to poop or pee on the floor in front of the landlord. Due to the stress of the move they may be a bit hesitant to eat much but other then eating less for a few days it shouldn't effect them much.
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Post by whimsy on Apr 6, 2009 16:44:36 GMT -5
Yeah, he told us to bring the litter boxes. I told him that what happens is that they choose the corners they want to poo in and I put the litter boxes there, so I'm going to bring lots of newspaper and shove it into all of the corners in the living room/hallway and be watching.
K, as far as food goes. . .I'd been holding back on giving them bigger mice until they started eating more of the bones. Should I wait until they're settled before going for bigger mice? I have pinkies and hoppers in the freezer right now. I'm hoping since they took to the fuzzies so well that it won't take as much prodding to get them to eat the bigger guys, but who knows.
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Post by tss on Apr 6, 2009 17:04:33 GMT -5
You can go ahead and try it before you move.. Tonight would be good since they'll be tuckered out and hungry after all of the exploring.
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Post by tss on Apr 13, 2009 23:04:19 GMT -5
How'd the intro to the into to the landlord go?? Did the babies behave?
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Post by whimsy on Apr 16, 2009 20:59:23 GMT -5
woo, okay, been a long week. So we brought them to the landlord, and we had three litter boxes and newspaper. I put two of the litter boxes in what I thought were probably going to be the most likely corners they went in, and then we released the ferrets. RJ went a few minutes into one of the litter boxes, and after we talked wi th the landlord for a bit Stitch went into the other one without prompting. I was so proud!! The landlord's granddaughter came and played with them a little bit and I was pretty much bursting by that point. He said, "Well, looks like you guys know what you're doing." and that was that. So that weekend my boyfriend borrowed a box van from work and we moved the big stuff in one day (no way in heck was I going to do the move any other way -- our sleeping stuff and their sleeping stuff had to be in the same place by night). The fridge has enough space that a ferret could crawl around to the back so we've had fun securing both sides of it so there's no room for mr. RJ to get back there (Stitch really doesn't care). The dishwasher was missing the little baseboard at the bottom (sears really is an awful company) so I stuffed a blanket into the opening and that was that. Otherwise it's ferretproof so far. RJ and Stitch love moving as far as I can tell. So many boxes and bags and neat things to hide around, they've gotten very good at climbing things. RJ has a way now to look out the a window because one of the couches is up against it. He runs along the sill and will look outside like a cat (not for too long though XD). The window has a screen so I'm not worried about him getting out through it, but of course we keep an eye out to make sure he's not going where he's not supposed to. As for their cage, that's an ongoing fight. They've been getting lazy (well, it was just stitch at first, but now it's RJ too) about going potty. So they started pooping in their sleeping area. For awhile we fixed it with another litter box, but I guess Stitch doesn't like that one (it *is* pretty small for two ferrets) so he started pooping in the other corner. At first I tried to just empty it as much as I could, but that wasn't working. I guess they either were protesting something or I don't know what, because then they started missing the litter box downstairs too! I got fed up with the poop, so I took away the upper level. Now, I get home and I find that their food was dragged into the litter box and the day's worth of poo and pee was pretty much on the entire left side of the cage, and other than the chicken the litter box is immaculate. Ahhh, well, maybe it's just the move. I dunno. I'll have to start looking at the behavior threads again. Anywho, last night I set out some thawed mice (hoppers, and another kind, but they had hair and were a good size) and poked holes in them with a knife and put some olive oil over the top. After it became clear neither wanted to do more than lick while the mice were on the plate I held one up for RJ until he took it, then did the same for stitch. RJ ate his head down but got full after half the body (it was the bigger one). Stitch ate a smaller one and finished off RJ's. Man, what a great feeling that was to watch them eat, even if I didn't really want to see the details of what/how they were eating. XD I'm going to get some full size frozen mice. With the new place we're at, we're saving quite a bit of money so it might be viable to put them on a heavy whole prey diet with a bit of raw on the side. I've seen mealy worms at the pet store, so I might try those after the mice. Hares are on the upswing here, so once we get settled in I'm going to pressure my boyfriend to go hunting for them, and we'll see if the boys like hare meat. Haven't gotten around to buying lamb (but they did get to enjoy duck innards and wings so I don't feel *too * guilty), but eventually it'll be on their dinner plates. Today they are so energetic and playful. I don't know if it's the whole prey or maybe just that we're much more relaxed in the new place. Maybe a bit of both, but man is it great to come home and watch, listen and interact with the ferrets while they play.
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Post by whimsy on Apr 27, 2009 12:30:58 GMT -5
Nothing much new to report, I added the mid level back to their cage and have been feeding them there. I switched up their diet so that they get big beef chunks of muscle meat rather than just beef heart muscle, and then they get chicken hearts with pork on the side along with the remaining fuzzy mice I found in my freezer. They have no problems eating the mice, and even stitch seems to be having a sudden energy boost. Maybe it's the new place? Could be the foodstuffs.
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Post by tss on Apr 27, 2009 13:12:23 GMT -5
Sounds good so far :-) Have they eaten any bone aside from the mice?? It doesn't sound like they aren't far from graduation.
Another person that I am mentoring meantioned the energy boost. It is probably because it is warming up outside.. This would be when most ferrets would be hunting a LOT more, and they would be breeding and birthing.. They've gotta have lots of energy for that!
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Post by tss on May 18, 2009 13:25:08 GMT -5
How are they doing?? Do you have a weekly feeding menu that I can review??
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