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Zeke
Aug 1, 2009 16:58:59 GMT -5
Post by doodlelover on Aug 1, 2009 16:58:59 GMT -5
Ah! Sorry I hadn't replied. Real life caught up again. :\
Psh, I wouldn't call it snobbery. Just an insane need with correcting people when they use text talk out of IM. If they're on a PM-ing system or forum there shouldn't be a reason for them to use shortcuts or not use a spell checker. It's just laziness then. D8
Yes, I removed the rat, but what had me confused is that it was actually smaller than an adult gerbil--what he had been eating before.
I froze and offered the gerbil he had killed before to him, since I didn't want to waste any, and he ate most of it, and even the innards!... the only problem now; I'm afraid I'm out of resources until my gerbils start mating again. And my parent (ie, source of money) refuse to buy me any more rodents. They say to use the gerbils I already have or stop feeding him prey at all. But after that I have nothing. And I really do love the gerbils I have left, the ones that I had fed him didn't have names and I hadn't bonded with them. I don't want him to get used to kibble again, but he also won't eat raw food or 'soup'. He just didn't want to eat it, not even when I let him lick my finger.
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Zeke
Aug 1, 2009 17:37:52 GMT -5
Post by spiritualtramp on Aug 1, 2009 17:37:52 GMT -5
Do you want him to be eating raw foods too? I can help you get him acquainted and accepting them, then we can remove kibble from his diet altogether.
It takes most ferrets a few tastes of soup to get them liking it. What recipe are you using? Try smearing some on his lips, he'll lick it off. Do this a few times a day, eventually he'll start to eat it willingly.
Some people find success adding softened kibble to a soup recipe, to make it smell more familiar. You can try that, too.
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Zeke
Aug 3, 2009 23:29:08 GMT -5
Post by spiritualtramp on Aug 3, 2009 23:29:08 GMT -5
It's been a couple days and I haven't heard from you. How is Zeke doing?
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Zeke
Aug 8, 2009 18:00:00 GMT -5
Post by doodlelover on Aug 8, 2009 18:00:00 GMT -5
Oh, I'm so sorry! I had been severely busy for the last week or so. Hopefully that's all out of the way now.
Well, he's doing very well I'd say. Killed and eaten two whole gerbils and working on his third right now. Though, I think it'll be a couple weeks before I can get him another one. I'm working on a colony right now. Would it do any harm to wait until then to give him more?
A raw diet for when I can't feed him whole prey sounds perfect! My family's a little low on money now though, so I won't be able to buy him anything specifically made for ferrets unfortunately...
I'm still not sure about soup. Would you mind if I asked you a recommendation for a soup recipe you like to use and how to prepare it?
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Zeke
Aug 8, 2009 18:26:40 GMT -5
Post by spiritualtramp on Aug 8, 2009 18:26:40 GMT -5
I'm glad he's still doing prey well! That's great news. It won't do much harm to wait if you have to, but he may 'forget' that prey is yummy if it's too long. Can you get some frozen mice or something for some treats until your colony is up and running? For soups, I use Pingford's Porridge as a base, and add different ingredients as I see fit. Sometimes I blend commercial ground raw meats (NV, Bravo! and Primal brands) in with the PP, other times I add eggs with eggshells, Beech Nut brand baby foods (they make all-meat varieties) and sometimes I blend in a liver, heart, kidney, etc. I change my recipe every time I make a batch but the basis is always Pingford's Porridge, either variety. Check out the website. www.pingfordsporridge.comHere is a link to Kim's soup recipe: holisticferret.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=raw&action=display&thread=3270And another well-tolerated recipe can be found here: www.ferretharmony.com/viewtopic.php?t=26To start Zeke on soups, use a few basic ingredients and you can even add some crushed up, mushed up kibble to get him used to the flavor. Even some meat baby food thinned out with water will get him used to the idea. To get him started, you might have to force-feed the soups. Try rubbing some on his lips and gums, to get him to taste it. Usually after a few tries, they'll realize how delicious soups are and eat on their own, but it does take a few tries so don't give up if at first he doesn't like it, and fights you. Let me know what recipe you decide on using, and how he likes it. A raw diet based on the prey model is not remarkably expensive - in fact I spend less money feeding my kids now that they're on raw then I did when they were kibble-fed. So when done right, it's definitely financially possible. Grocery stores always have deals, and cheaper cuts of meat, and 'manager's specials' and the like. Being frugal is easy but it does take some thought. Keep me posted on what you think, I'll be waiting to hear from you.
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Zeke
Aug 11, 2009 1:07:02 GMT -5
Post by doodlelover on Aug 11, 2009 1:07:02 GMT -5
I'll keep all that in mind, thank you! I showed this to my mother and she says next time we go shopping she'll look into getting, um, cow tongue and other generally unusable things? Those websites were also a very good help. He seems to like the egg yolk I give him every once in a while, so maybe getting him to try these suggested soups won't be as hard as I thought. I think it just had to do with my faulty recipe. .___. Aha.
He still seems interested in my gerbils though. XD I don't think he'll ever get tired of them. He eats the gerbils I do give him all the way now, and he's definitely getting better at making a clean kill, though I cringe when he prologues the chase... and now I have a blockage on the bottom of my door so he can't escape, so it's easy for me to keep him out of his cage 24/7 now! I do have a cage of gerbils in here though, but they're on a medium rise table that he can't reach or see them on, so he's not interested in them or even realizes they're there.
The colony is rising, actually. I have three pregnant females already. I'm glad I was experienced in mating gerbils before I started this. Say, how many do you think I'll have to feed him a day? And if you can answer, how big do people usually keep colonies?
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Zeke
Aug 11, 2009 16:50:42 GMT -5
Post by spiritualtramp on Aug 11, 2009 16:50:42 GMT -5
Yep those cheaper cuts of meat are good, full of important fat and vitamins. Tongue would count as a boneless muscle meat. Liver and kidneys are organ meats, and can only be fed once a week (they are very high in vitamin A, and it's possible to overdose on Vit A.) Heart is also considered muscle meat.
I would say about three to five adult gerbils a day for a full grown ferret, depending on his appetite. Younger gerbils naturally would require more to fill him up. It's important to remember to feed varying ages of gerbils throughout the week, as every age group has different nutrients. Babies are higher in fat, adolescents higher in muscle, etc. I don't know how big people usually keep their colonies but I will ask those that I know have full functioning colonies, and return back with the info.
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Zeke
Aug 18, 2009 21:08:24 GMT -5
Post by doodlelover on Aug 18, 2009 21:08:24 GMT -5
...I'm really bad at this. D: I wish it were easier to find spare time. ANYWAY. Zeke is doing moderately good. My mother let him out of the room the other day, not knowing that he could get into my gerbil cages in the other room. He ended up killing five of them... though none of my favorites. I haven't let them go to waste though. But I'm worries--he's not eating as much as he should based on what you say. At most he'll eat only one gerbil a day, so at the end of letting him run around all day I have to give him kibble, even though he's more than enthusiastic about eating gerbils, and even then he doesn't eat much. Is he more preoccupied with playing than eating? I'm getting worried... Did you find anything out about the colony business?
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Zeke
Aug 19, 2009 11:31:06 GMT -5
Post by spiritualtramp on Aug 19, 2009 11:31:06 GMT -5
It might be that he just isn't registering that gerbils are food and thinks of them more as a treat, still. Would he eat more if you left the gerbil with him instead of giving him kibble as an option? Sometimes the only way to get their mindsets changed is to offer no alternatives. I wouldn't be too worried just yet - he's still learning. It's all very exciting to him I'm sure but he'll get more down to business, so to speak, as he learns that the gerbils are to be his main source of nutrition, not just of excitement and fun. I haven't found any definitive answer yet about the colony size but I will keep hunting for you. My assumption would be that to keep him fed at two or three a day (ideally) you'd have to have a rather large colony. I'll post in the breeder prey section to see what sort of answers we can get. Hope all is going well for you, and stop disappearing on me!
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Zeke
Aug 20, 2009 15:55:52 GMT -5
Post by doodlelover on Aug 20, 2009 15:55:52 GMT -5
I've tried that. D: But then he only eats it when he absolutely HAS to. But then he only ends up eating one a day, and I don't think that's healthy... um, right?
I've also been searching into soups, but I'm not sure where I'd get the materials... there aren't many small stores or grocers around here that would sell most of the ingredients. And with money issues... UGH. Well, I'll keep trying, and thank you for looking into it! I'll try my best to search too.
Aha, I'll try to keep posted every day. So sorry!
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Zeke
Aug 27, 2009 18:52:39 GMT -5
Post by spiritualtramp on Aug 27, 2009 18:52:39 GMT -5
Any news?
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Zeke
Aug 28, 2009 2:53:00 GMT -5
Post by doodlelover on Aug 28, 2009 2:53:00 GMT -5
::bashes head on desk repeatedly:: Why can I not keep consistent with this? My extreme apologies once again. DX
Nothing concerning live prey, but I've been trying to ("try" being the key word) to get a gerbil colony going... so far it's not working. And it's been real tough to keep him satisfied entertainment-wise. I do let him chase around one of my gerbils while it's in a running ball (I keep it taped up, with holes in it, of course), but I'm not sure I should do that, since maybe it would be considered teasing...? But he chases the ball and the gerbil just pretty much ignores him. Also, I've switched on new kibble. This one has slightly more protein in it, but it's still not what I'd want for him. I've tried giving him more soup with the recipes you've given, but he just doesn't seem interested and it's the same with raw meat. He likes eggs just fine though, but I don't give him those a lot (I'm paranoid).
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Zeke
Aug 28, 2009 19:33:34 GMT -5
Post by spiritualtramp on Aug 28, 2009 19:33:34 GMT -5
Getting him to accept soups will take determination. Sometimes it takes all-out forcing. But I do strongly recommend it. Keep offering it, daily if possible, and always start out by rubbing some on his lips and gums, and spoon feeding. Eventually he will accept it and you can start to add in bits of raw meat. It takes a lot of patience to do but I promise, no ferret is unswitchable!
Honestly, I wouldn't let him chase anything just for play - but that's me. I think it's a bit cruel on both animals, teasing Zeke without the reward of the kill (which may confuse him even more since he hasn't connected kill with food completely), and torturing the gerbil (even the smell of a predator stresses prey animals out more than we can understand.) Of course this is your home and your animals, and this is just my opinion of the matter.
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Zeke
Sept 5, 2009 9:12:18 GMT -5
Post by spiritualtramp on Sept 5, 2009 9:12:18 GMT -5
Any news?
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Zeke
Sept 15, 2009 10:59:58 GMT -5
Post by spiritualtramp on Sept 15, 2009 10:59:58 GMT -5
Popping in again to see if there's any news. I would like to hear from you about Zeke!
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