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Post by josiesmom on Aug 11, 2008 20:14:43 GMT -5
I like to offer them mouse sized meals. The smaller jills get one mouse sized portion, the larger boys get two mouse sized portions.
How big of a mouse you ask? An adult sized mouse is around 25 to 40 grams or slightly less than an ounce to an ounce and a half. There are some really big mice that will get to be 3 1/2 ounces- but the average is 1 - 1 1/2 ounces.
Keep in mind there is more meat on a ounce and half mouse than there will be on an ounce and half of chicken leg. Because there is more bone in the chicken leg, or wing.
So with the mouse sized morsel in mind what does that mean in chicken parts? One whole chicken drumstick will feed a female for one day. A drum and a half will feed a male ferret.
If you hack up a cornish game hen you can feed each wing as a meal, each drumstick as a meal - so that makes four meals for a female or two meals for a male ferret. You can easily get ten to twelve meals from a cornish game hen. ANd the ferrets can easily eat these bones.
A turkey wing would yield one meal for the male from the very last part or wing tip, two meals for a female. The center section would yield a day's feeding for each; and the last part the meatiest part would offer them both two meals apiece. Keep in mind they will not make very good use of the turkey bone unless you smash it for them. I feed more ground turkey than I do turkey wings, but I do feed turkey necks every time I can find them.
One whole chicken neck will offer a male one meal a female sometimes one, sometimes two.
When I feed my freeze dried meat mix it has been made in an ice cube tray- so they are as big as an ice cube. this equals one meal for the girls and the boys will usually eat one and a half to two cubes.
Can you see the pattern?
Also don't get upset if some days they don't seem hungry. That's normal, but if 24 hours or its getting close to thrity some hours and they haven't shown interest in food- something is wrong.
My kids will sometimes eat like they've been starved, other times they seem to eat just because I want them to. Even on days when they get mice, sometimes they'll devour the mouse instantly, other times they tuck it in a corner of the dining den and leave it until later.
As long as they eat a healthy portion in a 24 hour period, I don't worry- their systems are naturally telling them what to do!
Cheers,
Kim
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Post by whipple on Aug 13, 2008 22:25:34 GMT -5
Guess What Guess What Guess What?!?! Dax killed a mouse! Then teddy did! I only had two mice though, so I couldn't give Rascal a second shot at it, nor Lars. But now I definately have incentive to breed mice! They seemed way happier to be eating them after they had killed them. dax looked so proud, I couldn't stop jabbering about it! I made a post, and videos. Of course! Now my b/f loves the ferrets   Before he just put up with them, but now they're like snakes, cute furry snakes. Gah! I'm so happy!  These are the videos. In the first you can see that Teddy is so uninterested, but after stealing the mouse back in the cage, he caught on he'd be better off killing his own I will post the Teddy one once it loads  |
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Post by whipple on Aug 13, 2008 22:40:06 GMT -5
Teddy video as promised!
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Post by Forum Administrator on Aug 13, 2008 22:59:10 GMT -5
That's awesome! Was that your baby in the background saying "mommy he dead?" Call me sick/crazy but that was too cute! I know some people might think its "too violent" to let a child watch an animal kill another but IMO its actually very healthy to introduce children to the "circle of life" at any early age. I feel it makes it easier for them to understand as they get older. It also give them a respect for life (depending on the age of your baby you might want to let him/her know that Dax killed the mouse because that is what he needs to eat. But its not nice for people to kill mice just because etc etc) In the future I actually plan to have a section on the HF site that discusses with your child what the ferrets eat. I think it is VERY important to get young children to understand WHY the ferret eat what it eats. Its a good "door opener" to discussing how/why your child should eat healthy: "Bandit eats mice so he can be big and strong and healthy. You need to eat these veggies so YOU will be big and strong and healthy, just like Bandit!" Get the idea |
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Post by Forum Administrator on Aug 13, 2008 23:04:03 GMT -5
Ah! Meant to ask, did they eat them as well, or just kill them? (even if they just killed them, its still a big step!)
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Post by whipple on Aug 13, 2008 23:56:48 GMT -5
Dax ate his mouse, then they ate most of the second one PLUS a chicken leg! That's between the three of them. Lars is all alone and so he did not get to fight over the mouse. Next time I'm gonna grab about 5 little hoppers and put them in the front hall with all the ferts. If there's enough room they won't fight(Lars and Rascal that is).
I am just so proud of my Dax! And Teddy too, up until now he was having issues with raw, but now he has dove right in.
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Post by josiesmom on Aug 16, 2008 22:05:58 GMT -5
Its like flipping a switch isn't it? You try to offer them new fuel and they choke and sputter and cough and twitch and stall. Then you keep offering, maybe try a different grade of fuel and then ZOOM! They are off! And its like they suddenly are high performance machines! There is no turning back now!
Congratulations! Take a look at your time line from intro to predator June 20th to August 16 just a mere 8 weeks! Not bad! Not bad at all
Cool beans!
Cheers,
Kim
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Post by Forum Administrator on Aug 16, 2008 22:39:36 GMT -5
Im really thrilled with the progress! Keep up the great work and of course keep us posted!  |
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Post by whipple on Aug 17, 2008 17:02:40 GMT -5
I will for sure! I gave them chicken as usual last night. Normally I find the bones in the morning and they chew on those until dinner. This morning there was nothing. I almost wondered if maybe I had forgot to feed them dinner, but nope, my mind is still pretty sound.
There is hardly any poop. I see little reason to clean the litter besides getting the pee soaked litter out. And when I hold them right to my face, besides after they eat a fish, they smell like fur. No "ferret" smell, just fur.
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Post by Forum Administrator on Aug 18, 2008 1:44:59 GMT -5
Hooray! Isn't it great to not have mountains of poop or stinky ferret fur? Oh I'm so happy for you! |
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Post by whipple on Aug 28, 2008 13:44:27 GMT -5
So, I figured I should give a bit of an update since it's been awhile. All the ferts have been on a high in fish diet lately due to the lost cost of fish, high cost of anything besides fish and chicken. But they love it, and they still get chicken and whatever else I can scrap together. They are all tearing apart the meat, they go right for it! Such little animals. Its like watching National Geographic everyday They eat the bones no issue now. They have issue with eggs shells but will eat them if they want a snack in between meals. Unfortunately I have not been able to get more mice for them, but I will be soon! I want to start breeding mice, but right now is probably not the best time. Although I probably could handle a trio. Anyhow, they are all doing great. They fight like crazy when I give them their food, I have to grab one (usually Teddy cuz he'll snap up the next piece of meat no issue, the others will still try for the last piece) and put him in front of a different piece. |
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Post by Forum Administrator on Aug 28, 2008 15:27:47 GMT -5
Everything sounds great. Are you feeding on the model of raw meaty bones (atleast) 4 days a week, boneless meats 2 days a week, and organ meat 1 day per week? You want to try and get them on that regimine as soon as possible to prevent any deficiencies. I do have some concearn about a high fish diet for ferrets, not because "it can make their poop smell" (which IMO REAL fish doesnt do that) but because its pretty low in fat for a ferret. In the wild fish make up a VERY small percentage of the polecats diet. Your best bet would be to work them onto other meats sooner rather then later. Here are some good meats that you can find for relatively cheap: Pork Cornish game hen (look at walmart in the frozen section) Turkey necks Even beef can be kind of cheap. Just buy a big hunk of beef (like a rump roast) instead of buying ground or cut up chunks. Cut off palm sized pieces and wrap bag them in baggies (or wrap them in plastic wrap) and put the, in your freezer. I can buy a rump roast for $9 regular price or for $7 on sale and it last a long time, since they should only be eating boneless meat 2x per week at most (yes a ferret wouldnt normally eat a cow, BUT its higher in fat then fish and rich in iron as well). As for the mice if you arent ready to breed yet, there is always Rodentpro. Shipping CAN be a pain, but it still comes out to cheaper then buying mice (frozen or live) from a petshop. Let see, what else? Do you think you could write up a "sample feeding schedule" for me to look at? Like Monday: chicken wings, Tuesday: fish chunks , etc. That way I can pick out any issues with it and make sure your kiddos are getting the best nutrition possible Im so proud of how far you've come! |
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Post by whipple on Aug 28, 2008 22:55:00 GMT -5
I find a different, almost sweet smeel to their poop right now since they've been eating more fish. Like I said it is not gonna be all the time. I just bought their food for the month. I'm menu planning for me so I am menu planning for them. I'll start with tomorrow: Friday - Chicken hearts/gizzards/livers Saturday - Half a stewing chicken (i bought two whole chickens and cut them in half) between all four Sunday- Porkchop and fish (They are whole fish, so they are getting bones one this day too) Monday-Chicken Half Tuesday- Beef (still have to buy, so will buy a roast) and hopefully a mouse each Wednesday- Chicken Half Thursday- Chicken Half That's this week, but their main meals will be the chickens until I start breeding. And unfortunately rodentpro does not ship to canada  so I am having to use a petstore near me and pay a ton. But thats fine. |
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Post by Forum Administrator on Aug 29, 2008 2:50:39 GMT -5
Ah that's right, you are in canada. d**n it. Oh! What about that Canadian Mouse Man that you posted? Had a chance to check them out yet? Looks like a good plan I like that the fish is only 1x a week and I LOVE that they are whole. What type of fish are they? As for the frying chickens, good idea. I went that route when I had 6 ferrets. I would use game hen though because they really didnt eat too much. Its a good way to feed a big group, using a whole chicken/hen lol I REALLY like that you will be breeding the mice and adding them in. Sounds like you've got the basis for a great diet. The only other thing I can think of is be sure to vary the cuts of beef and pork you feed, as well as the type of fish you feed. Also, be sure to throw in some veal instead of beef or some lamb instead of pork, or some game hen instead of chicken. Adding in a variety of cuts of meat and a variety of ages of meat will help to add nutrient diversity to their diet. The whole prey will take that diversity even further. Very very good! In fact SO good that I think its time for you to gradute! Now there is one last thing I want you to do (and then I am moving this thread to the "newbie switch archive": If you havent already, it might be a good idea to start popping in toNaturalFerrets. I know forum is small right now, but that is because they are switching to the new forum from a yahoo! group. There are many many senior raw feeders on there and it would be wise to make use of their knowledge. I try and advise all my "completed switchers" to get on there and post a bit. I still want you to say on HF, but I want you to "broaden your horizons" by getting a bit of NaturalFerret's info as well. Sound good? www.NaturalFerrets.comYou'll probably run in to the Holistic Ferret Mentors on there. This is where THEY go to ask THEIR questions on natural diet (I do too). Let me know if you get any good info out of here. and....... Now that you've completed the switch, have had your feeding schedule reviewd, and been advised to check out NaturalFerrets, its time to retire this thread to the "newbie switch archive"!  No one (yourself included) will be able to post in this thread anymore once its been moved to the archive. Please begin posting your diet-related questions in the "whole prey" "raw" or "general feeding questions and discussion" area. We encourage EVERYONE that is archived to continue posting. Feeding a natural diet is a learning PROCESS, there is much to learn after making the switch. We (your mentor and I) will run a detailed "check up" with you (via PM or email) at the 3 month, 6 month, and 1 year anniversary since "going natural" just to make sure all is going well and that you arent having any issues. Feel free to jump in and help to answer newbie questions. One of the ways you can learn is through teaching. We hope you stick around so that we can celebrate the 1 year anniversary of starting your kids on raw with you! |
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Post by whipple on Jan 6, 2009 11:44:47 GMT -5
6 Months Since the Switch: 1. Since switching to a natural diet, what are the most noticable changes you have noticed in your ferret(s). Please be specific. Less poop! I can actually miss a day without cleaning litter and I wont die from the smell. Oh and less stink. And smoother coats. So much has improved, but the less pooing is definately most noticable.2. Have you filled out the "Natural Diet Survey"? (If not, please do by going to the following link: holisticferret.proboards80.com/in....play&thread=241)I can't get the link3. Please post a "sample weekly feeding schedule". Basically, give us an idea of what you feed your ferret(s) each week. This way we can review it (again) and let you know if you need to make any changes to ensure proper nutrition. Post your schedule in the following format: MONDAY:Beef liver TUESDAY:Lamb Heart WEDNESDAY:Chicken (half a fryer between the four of them) THURSDAY:Mackeral FRIDAY:Chicken SATURDAY:Mice SUNDAY:Pork Kidneys 4. Do you have any questions or concearns regarding your ferret(s) diet? They seem to be doing great, so no concerns.5. Do you have any new "diet goals" for your ferrets that you would like us to help you with, such as: adding whole prey to the diet, diversifying the types of meat fed, or incorporating freeze-dried or commercial raw foods? If so, please specify. Actually the only issue I'm having is finding either cheaper feeders, or healthy breeding mice. But no worries, I will survive LOL6. How was your experience with the Holistic Ferret Mentor Program? It was an awesome experience. So helpful and I doubt that I would've been able to do it completely on my own. At the least it would've taken much longer.What did you like about the program? My favorite thing was the mentors themselves. They really want to help. I think the world in general needs more of that.What didn't you like? I don't think there was much I didn't like. But I could think really hard and maybe come up with something LOLWhat can we do to make our program better? Again I will have to think really hard about that one. |
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