trippyferret
Gnawing on bones
The Weasels of Warcraft be goin' natural!
Posts: 78
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Post by trippyferret on Oct 5, 2008 12:35:05 GMT -5
Now, as some of you may already know, I just started breeding my own mice for my ferrets. Last night at about 3am I woke up to hear my female mice fighting. One was pretty injured, and I wasn't quite sure what to do about her at first. I didn't want to leave her in that cage, where she'd probably get beat up all night long until she died. My spare cage wasn't set up yet either, as I have been needing to make a trip to Walmart for another cage top(I can't find mine!!!). So I thought, well, my ferrets haven't experienced a full grown mouse yet, so maybe it'd be better to leave the dirty work to my cats. So I placed the female in the bathtub, and let the cats in with her. The cats sniffed her, pawed her a wee bit, then walked off like they were bored. My cats are such pansies! I guess it's because they've been indoor cats their whole lives. So I thought some more... and I decided to try it with Evelyn. She is my youngest ferret, so I thought she'd be best for the job. She proved me right. It was quite amazing and disturbing all at the same time to witness. Eve killed that mouse in a matter of a few seconds. Then she proceeded to walk around with it in her mouth, as if showing off her prize. I brought in the other ferrets. They didn't seem to really want to eat it; just play with it. I put some chicken baby food over the mouse and put it in the cage. Later that night, I found the mouse in the kibble bowl. My guess was that Eve had done it, because she loves putting her favorite toys in the kibble bowl. I left the mouse in overnight, and when I woke up at 8, the mouse was in the bottom of the cage and the face, tail, and back feet had been eaten. Talk about progress! I was so proud of Evie.  |
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Post by suds on Oct 5, 2008 13:28:51 GMT -5
congrats on your first try  . you can try and cut the belly of the mouse and put a little of there favorate treat ,soupy, tone,lax, to entice the others in trying to eat it  |
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trippyferret
Gnawing on bones
The Weasels of Warcraft be goin' natural!
Posts: 78
|
Post by trippyferret on Oct 5, 2008 13:36:15 GMT -5
Ooh, I dunno about doing that with a fresh killed mouse. That would make me a bit squeamish. Maybe if it was frozen!
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Post by suds on Oct 5, 2008 15:45:21 GMT -5
lol well we all have our limitations I never thought I would even try a livemouse a few months ago. Its amaizing what we will do and how far out of our comfart zones we go for our little guys! |
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Post by spiritualtramp on Oct 5, 2008 17:38:52 GMT -5
Morgan I am so excited!!!!!!!
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trippyferret
Gnawing on bones
The Weasels of Warcraft be goin' natural!
Posts: 78
|
Post by trippyferret on Oct 5, 2008 21:41:53 GMT -5
Erinn:  Me too! Suds: I didn't think I'd do it either. You're right, it is amazing what we will do. |
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Post by Heather on Oct 5, 2008 22:08:50 GMT -5
Congratulations to your little one You both did very well. If you have a problem dealing with the "live" corpse throw it in the freezer for a turn or two...then it's a frozen mouse....cut it up or throw it in the grinder. I know where you're coming from...frozen ones just don't seem to be the living and breathing thing. Your little one did very well for her first turn. She also ate all the key components as far as my guys are concerned too. The head is always the first to go, more neutrients in the brain than in all the body....for some reason the tail is the next favourite...dental floss If left long enough there would be nothing left (at least with mice, rats the entrails are always tossed out). Good stuff, I am sorry that you had a setback in your breeding mice though  ciao |
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Post by pear2apple on Oct 6, 2008 8:16:53 GMT -5
Congrats! Its so exciting to watch them kill the mouse, and then when they figure out to eat it its even better! Instead of cutting it open (because I would never do that), just stick the Ferretone or whatever right on top. Eventually mine just kept licking until some of the mouse ended up in their mouth and they bit down. Usually works well that way.
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trippyferret
Gnawing on bones
The Weasels of Warcraft be goin' natural!
Posts: 78
|
Post by trippyferret on Oct 6, 2008 13:10:34 GMT -5
Lol I had put some of their hairball remedy on top of the mouse at first. They licked it off, but wouldn't eat the mouse. I've never actually used Ferretone in the nearly five years I've had ferrets.
Anywho, I'm going to pick up another female once the one I've got right now has birthed her pups. I'm going to alternate them between the male.
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