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Post by banzai on Feb 9, 2009 19:01:13 GMT -5
I just adopted a ferret from rescue and the second time I offered him a mouse he completely devoured it! Imagine my excitement Anyway, what I had fed him was a frozen pinky mouse I had defrosted and then ran warm water over to get to room temperature (I keep these on hand for my bearded dragon). I'm not feeding entirely raw, would love to but don't have the means to, I just want to supplement, but I was wondering if I should be buying the larger full grown mice or stick with the pinky mice? And how many? I would love to feed live ones but I can't get them around here, I can only get frozen For those of you with experience feeding ferrets mice, small pinkies or adult mice? Thanks in advance!
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Post by Heather on Feb 10, 2009 0:35:31 GMT -5
That's great that your little one took to the mice right away . I would try another feed of pinkies and then move on and try the next size up and so on. If you were considering feeding mice then you would have to consider feeding various ages and finding another couple of prey types, but you're not. So you may feed anything your little fuzzbutt desires as you can consider it treats . So experiment, and feed various ages and sizes. I'm not sure how many pinkies it would take to make a meal....I feed whole mice and my guys will eat 1,2 or 3 depending on size of the rodent and which one of my furbabies who's doing the eating . So I would think that you might have to feed several pinkies for a meal. Don't feel bad about feeding frozen, I do as do many of us. Some of us keep our own colonies (mine's just getting large enough now to feed on a regular basis) but use frozen as well. I feed frozen rats on a regular basis. I hope that helps a little. ciao
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Post by fuzzymom on Feb 11, 2009 13:50:52 GMT -5
Pinkies and fuzzies make good treats, hoppers and weans make good snacks. Mice that are 25g and up make good meals, although depending on the size of the ferret, you may require 2-3 full grown mice to make a meal.
Frozen is not a problem for ferrets. If using frozen rodents, I simply lay mine out and wait for them to get to room temperature. I don't really use water to warm them. You can order frozen in bulk online if you want to use mice as a large part of your fuzzy's diet. Mine currently eat a raw diet, with whole prey 2-3 times per week, depending on when I can get feeders. (my colony is almost non-existant right now)
Full grown mice will have more calcium (nutrients in general). Feeding different ages and sizes is best though (as Heather already stated). Good luck!
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Post by sassygirl on Feb 14, 2009 22:11:22 GMT -5
I have a question: Mice that are 25g and up make good meals======= how old the mice is?1 month old or...?
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Post by nwheather on Mar 3, 2009 15:22:01 GMT -5
That's great! My rescue ferrets won't touch a mouse. All of my private bred ferrets do though. I offer a variety of ages, like they recommend. I supplement with whole prey & some raw, but mostly whole prey. I have a kibble mix that is available to them at all times.
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Post by fuzzymom on Mar 3, 2009 15:30:19 GMT -5
I tend to weigh my mice on a regular basis, so sorry if that was confusing. A mouse that is 25 grams in weight I consider to be a full grown mouse. They are sexually mature at this time and ready for breeding. They are normally around 12 weeks of age.
I'm going to be posting a mouse developement guide as soon as one of my mice has a litter. I will post pictures and weights.
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