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Post by luxuriousferret on Nov 3, 2008 10:29:48 GMT -5
I would like to see which ones are most common and nutriotunin valuse, but rats are out-or-qustion for me... I have 13 pet rats.
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Post by fuzzymom on Nov 3, 2008 13:12:02 GMT -5
I would use all of those as feeder animals. Using all would provide the ferret with a wide variety of nutritional values. Just like we would not like eating only apples, ferrets probably don't want to eat just mice. I am personally working on breeding my own rats, mice, gerbils, and eventually hamsters and rabbits as feeders for my kids.
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Post by luxuriousferret on Nov 3, 2008 16:10:11 GMT -5
ok, but which should I breed, I wouldnt be able to breed them all at first, so which ones at a staple of the diet?
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Post by bigsis7 on Nov 3, 2008 16:13:06 GMT -5
You should feed at least 3 different kinds of whole prey, but if you fed like mice (really easy to breed and are easy to care for) and then had 2 other kinds of raw meat in the diet that should be fine.
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Post by luxuriousferret on Nov 3, 2008 16:13:47 GMT -5
Ok, so if i breed mice, then buy hamsters or gerbils weekly, then thats good?
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Post by bigsis7 on Nov 3, 2008 16:48:11 GMT -5
Yep that should work! You might want to get a second opinion though just in case.
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Post by Forum Administrator on Nov 3, 2008 21:12:22 GMT -5
Buying hamsters and gerbils will get expensive, around me they are like $5 each! I would stick with breeding mice and using the mice to supplement kibble until you can add more variety to the diet in the form of other prey types or raw food.
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Post by fuzzymom on Nov 4, 2008 1:25:35 GMT -5
Mice are incredibly easy to breed as long as they don't kill each other and rats are even easier. Rats simply require a bit more room. In the corner of a room you could easily breed mice and rats in small amounts, and depending on how many feeders you require, this could supply you with how many you need. I have 13 breeding rats.
Hamsters and gerbils are very expensive to purchase. I would recommend breeding them if you plan on using them. I hear hamsters make bad mothers though so breeding them may prove difficult. I'm breeding gerbils for the first time so I have no experience with them.
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Post by charmantpapillon on Nov 4, 2008 15:16:55 GMT -5
If you want hamsters go with dwarf hamsters. They Make better mothers than full size hamsters and they can live in colonies where as with full size hamsters if you introduce the male at the wrong timm the female will kill it and you cant keep females together . Dwarfs are colony animals much like mice. I dont know much about gerbils. or mice. but i know about hamsters. =) hope this helped
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Post by Heather on Nov 4, 2008 15:35:08 GMT -5
I was actually thinking of dwarf hamsters myself, but I could find no information on rearing them for dinner. I would like to get another prey animal but I want it to be simple like mice (you know let them do their own thing), I have too soft a heart to have to do a lot of work with them and then feed them to my furbabies. I was thinking of hamsters but I had read a lot of negative information about them as far as feeders. If I started rearing hamsters then my guys would have 3 types of prey animals to dine on. ciao
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Post by luxuriousferret on Nov 4, 2008 16:23:35 GMT -5
dwarfs can breed like mice, but they will eat their babies if messed with.
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Post by luxuriousferret on Nov 4, 2008 16:24:59 GMT -5
they are exetremely cheap where i live..
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