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Post by meli on Aug 5, 2008 1:19:20 GMT -5
Okay my guys are eating everything. I also included rats in their diet. Now..I'd like to give them live mice once a week with my observation of course. Any thoughts on what to do exactly?
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Post by josiesmom on Aug 5, 2008 4:34:23 GMT -5
Start with very young baby mice (pinkies) about 3 to four per ferret per meal. When they are killing and eating these well, progress to fuzzies, again about 3 to 4 per ferret per meal. After fuzzies offer them hoppers, two to three per ferret per meal. Its best to put the hoppers and ferret in an enclosed space like a large rubber maid bin or a bathtub. After they are adept at killing the hoppers and eating them move to juvenile mice. Usually two per ferret per meal. Also offer the juvenile mice in an enclosed area. Once they are dispatching and devouring the juveniles well, now you can offer adult mice. Usually one per ferret per meal, unless you have a large ferret and then they might be able to devour two adult mice per meal.
The idea is to let the ferret learn how to dispatch the mice in progressive increments. If you start them with adult mice and they are NOT experienced hunters it is quite possible that the mouse, fighting for its life, WILL discourage the ferret from being aggressive enough to quickly dispatch the mouse. Depending on your ferret it is conceivable that your beginner predator can move from pinkies to adult mice within the span of a month, sometimes less!
Once the Ferret is dispatching adult mice, you can, if you want progress the same way through rats, hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs even rabbits and chicks. Rats are much more tenacious than mice so before offering live rats, be absolutely certain your predator is quick and decisive in their method! Guine pigs scream a LOT- as do chicks, so if you can't handle animal distress calls- don't offer these. I haven't offered live rabbits to mine (yet) because I can't find a source. But Rabbits are vocal too at the time of death, I'd have to be sure my upstairs neighbors weren't home if I offered noisy prey.
The idea is to never out match your predator. They need to learn their skills and because they don't have a "mom" ferret to watch or teach them, it all is trial and error. Thankfully they learn rather quickly and the prey is usually dispatched extremely swiftly and without much , if any, mess! Never forget to say a prayer of thanks to the powers that be for the nourishment your ferrets will get from the live prey.
Cheers, Kim
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Post by meli on Aug 5, 2008 12:11:00 GMT -5
very informative..thanks. Can pinkies to hoppers be bought in petstores is my next question?
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Post by josiesmom on Aug 5, 2008 12:53:41 GMT -5
Not the pet store chains like PEtsmart or Petco , unless you know the manager or the "back room person". But reptile supply houses DO offer pinkies and hoppers for sale. The smaller, independent pet shops usually offer pinkies and hoppers.
Cheers, Kim
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Post by pear2apple on Aug 7, 2008 14:22:03 GMT -5
Once the Ferret is dispatching adult mice, you can, if you want progress the same way through rats, hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs even rabbits and chicks. Rats are much more tenacious than mice so before offering live rats, be absolutely certain your predator is quick and decisive in their method! I can offer live gerbils and hamsters?? Really? Isn't there a higher chance of a rat biting back? Isn't that why they aren't preferred as live prey? And rabbits? They don't bite back?? That all sounds like fun. For the first time Meli, I suggest you take away your fuzzies food a few hours before you present the mice so they are hungry. This really helps! Be sure to have a liquid treat on hand incase they kill the mice and aren't sure what to do next. Rubbing a little oil on the mice usually gets the biting and chewing started! Oh and use a room or area easy to clean up. I do it in the bathtub, mouse and ferret cannot get out!
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Post by josiesmom on Aug 7, 2008 14:41:44 GMT -5
ANy rodent is fair game for a ferret! Gerbils & Hamsters are easily obtainable, if not expensive, but can be easily bred at home. ANy rodent will bite back at the attacker, which is why if you offer juvenile prey the bite won't be so severe but they will help teach the ferret to go for the proper kill bite, which is to the back of the neck. They need to learn to gauge their capture and bite this location, and then they need to crunch through, shake to break the neck or backbone and hold on until the prey expires.
If you over match them before they have learned these techniques you often end up with a prolonged hunt, a frustrated ferret or even a ferret that refuses to hunt.
It's been my experience that usually by the 5th or 6th juvenile the ferret knows what to do and can move on to an adult mouse, then it takes another half dozen mice to move on to different but similar sized prey.
Rats and mice are much less expensive to acquire than other "pet class" rodents and most people don't have a stigma against feeding a mouse or a rat, whereas they may have had a pet hamster or gerbil or guinea pig and now don't see them as food sources. But variety being the spice of life.... your ferret will do just fine eating these other rodents.
Never forget that our fuzzy friend's cousins ( the BFF) routinely take down prairie dogs which are as rodents go- HUGE- weighing from one to three pounds! Much larger than any gerbil or rat! Granted they get better training as kits, but with the proper coaching from us and successful hunts your ferret too can be an excellent predator!
Cheers, Kim
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Post by whipple on Aug 7, 2008 20:31:42 GMT -5
I did not know chicks screamed. I think I might have to rethink offering chicks. Although I figured GPs and rabbits were screamers. I can not wait until Rascal starts eating live. I'm so excited!
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Post by josiesmom on Aug 9, 2008 18:11:56 GMT -5
Well the chick isn't so much a scream as a prolonged sqwak, but it can be ear piercing and in the bathroom it tends to ehco a bit. As morbid to some as it may be, I DO enjoy watching my ferrets hunt. Not for the gore, but because I enjoy seeing them develop their skill and see them proud of themselves- they really do ENJOY hunting when they have figured it out! They literally grow before your very eyes into a new improved and better ferret when they become hunters!
I can see why ferrets were the ultimate rodent control in bygone days because they thrill at the hunt, they are fearless, tireless, tenacious and they neatly stack their kills!
If you leave them with their kills often they devour several heads before they retire, I guess this is their way of obtaining ideal nutrients- or else its their way of ensuring the prey is indeed dead and they don't have to worry about it ""leaving"!
Mostly I allow one kill pre meal, but sometimes I allow killing sprees. Crystal had her own killing spree last week and again set my breeding colony back at least another two months! the little sneaky twerp! But there was no getting mad at her- she was SO very proud of herself at being able to scale the dresser, squeeze into the mouse bins and dispatch them all so quickly. She had them all piled very neatly in the corner of each bin and looked at me from inside the mouse bin to say,"Hi MOM! Look what I did- ALL BY MYSELF!"
yep- a priceless mastercard moment!
Cheers, Kim
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Post by torrent85 on Sept 9, 2008 14:02:10 GMT -5
Pet Palace on the bypass near the Sango Walmart has live pinkies. They also have everything up to adult rats. I have used them in the past and I like them alot. They also have a freezer full of goodies too.
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