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Post by mleigh86 on Dec 7, 2008 1:10:49 GMT -5
If i try to feed my 8 week old a live adult mouse wont it bite and hurt him? if i wanted to feed him guinea pig do i kill and chop up the pig myself? i cant imagine a young ferret killing it itself
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Post by suds on Dec 7, 2008 8:03:46 GMT -5
I am not experinced with young kits but I would think he is way to young to be fed live adult prey maybe they could handle a pinkie but nnot realy sure. Be best to start off with pre killed prey untill he gets a little bigger, then start him out on pinkie.s then juvy's and work up the adult mice slowly He has to learn how to catch and kill them if you start out with to big of of a prey he could loose confidence and will not want hunt .
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Post by sherrylynne on Dec 7, 2008 10:32:31 GMT -5
I agree with Suds. A live adult mouse would be too much for him to handle. He has no idea as yet how he should make a kill, and it could put him off hunting entirely, as well as getting him hurt. He probably could handle a pinky, but someone more experienced in this will have to chime in.
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Post by whipple on Dec 7, 2008 18:29:55 GMT -5
About the guinea pig, they squeal, loudly! So make sure your ferret is good about killing big adult mice, then maybe even small rats. Start with smaller guinea pigs, cuz guinea pigs are born big.
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Post by Heather on Dec 8, 2008 0:10:04 GMT -5
I personally wouldn't feed a live adult mouse to a kit and I certainly wouldn't feed a live guinea pig to a kit, maybe even an adult, unless they were very experienced. These may be prey animals but the kit is a new baby and would still be being brought killed prey by his momma if he wasn't a farm ferret. Prey can be very aggressive when cornered and could do some serious damage to your furbaby . When Napoleon learned about prey, he was almost 4 or 5 months, almost full grown and he was with Mayhem, Porthos and Mad Max when he had the opportunity to participate in a kill. Those 3 boys were aggressive hunters and made the kill first and then let Napoleon tug and scream at them when he tried to steal it from Mayhem. I've seen the aggressive attacks by a med sized rat when the guys weren't big enough to handle it you could seriously undermine your furbaby's hunting experience by feeding him live prey that's bigger than what he could handle. You could even turn your furbaby off hunting if his experience is bad enough. Just my opinion of course, I'm sure there are others who would have some input. ciao
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