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Post by monicaexplosion on Feb 14, 2009 4:07:58 GMT -5
So the new babies are home. It is something like 4am and I'm exhausted. 10 hours of work today then getting the fuzzies, setting up the cage, bathing them, and playing with them. I posted pictures on the ferret.com forum if any of you double post. I will add some here tomorrow.
Anyways.
I only bought a small bag of kibble, I can buy more if needed but I'd like to get them on a raw diet.
Heather already mentioned using chicken wings and thighs along with a few other varied pieces of meat. I also bought some chicken liver because the were on sale and I can freeze them.
My house eats a ton of boneless, skinless chicken breast and I've read a few peoples threads where they start out using chicken breast.
Zombina is around 3 months and Vorhees is between 4 and 6 months. The store wasnt sure at all how old he is. I dont have a means to weigh them right now but zombina is pretty skinny and vorhees is big but soft. If I had to guess I would say zombie is a little over 1 pound and vorhees is proably 2-2.5.
Ok I think I covered all the bases.
=)
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Post by Heather on Feb 14, 2009 11:51:46 GMT -5
Skinless, is a good starting point but be aware that the ferrets actually need the skin and the fat underneath. They require lots of fat. I made the mistake when I was first feeding them (I started them on ground chicken), feeding them ground chicken and turkey designed for humans. My guys got really skinny very fast. It didn't take me long to figure out there wasn't near enough fat in the breast meats to feed these guys. Like I said, great starter to get them to taste the meat but not something that should be fed on a regular basis without other very fatty meats to back up the lack of fat of the breast meats ciao
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Post by monicaexplosion on Feb 14, 2009 16:40:50 GMT -5
Oh ok, I will just buy them seperate meat for a little later
I think the boneless skinless will help them start eating meat, that was my thought dusted with some ground kibble.
I'm hoping they will take to it so they might eat chicken on the bone that hasnt had the fat trimmed off.
Let me know if I'm wrong, I want healthy babies!! Plus I'm no expert. I feel like I might struggle on the percentages =/
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Post by Heather on Feb 14, 2009 16:51:36 GMT -5
Hey, to get them started anything is worth a try. We all use various tricks and tips. What sometimes will work for one won't work from another, it was watching this quandry that started Giuli thinking about providing this site just to offer this service. It allows us to help out, and keeps us in touch with all the different ideas that might be out there. You can never become a "know-it-all" with ferrets. Ferrets keep us humble ciao
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Post by monicaexplosion on Feb 15, 2009 2:43:29 GMT -5
ok so I went out and bought chicken legs, chicken thighs(all with skin and bone =]) and a pack of hearts and gizzards.
My question is, do I need to freeze and then thaw my meat first? I read that on everythingferret.com saying I needed to freeze it first.
if so then I need to stick it all in the freezer first.
bah!
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Post by monicaexplosion on Feb 15, 2009 2:44:53 GMT -5
oh they were sold out of wings, apparently it all went on sale today, haha boooo
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Post by Heather on Feb 15, 2009 9:01:49 GMT -5
No. The only time you have to worry about it is if you think there might be parasites involved. Some people make sure their pork is frozen but it's unecessary these days unless you're eating free range pork. Everyone freezes their fish, venison is another one, but I don't think it's necessary for farmed venison. Some of the meats I use are frozen only because that's the only way I can get them but you don't need to freeze the meat. If I get a fresh batch of chicken legs, that's how I feed them. I also feed my pork riblets that way too. Certain meats you freeze. The standard appears to be farmed meats are usually fine, free range or wild should probably be frozen. ciao
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Post by monicaexplosion on Feb 15, 2009 14:20:12 GMT -5
okay =)
I'm going to go feed tham here in a few minutes and see what happens =)
I'll let you know
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Post by monicaexplosion on Feb 15, 2009 14:53:28 GMT -5
ok so I cut the meat and skin off of a thigh and left some meat on it for later or course
dusted it with ground kibble
and vorhees is sleeping haha
but zombina takes a piece and runs away
shes got to stashed underneath the supercage. So I made her a feeding box and she grabbed another piece and gobbled it down
woo!
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Post by monicaexplosion on Feb 15, 2009 16:06:36 GMT -5
so zombina ate 2 more chunks but vorhees still wont touch it. I cut up some gizzard and put it with the chicken meat. and I'm not putting any more kibble in the cage, but I will leave the meat in there for a bit see what happens
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Post by monicaexplosion on Feb 15, 2009 17:46:17 GMT -5
ok so I left them alone for a little bit so I could eat and they could play in their ferret safe room and when i went back in vorhees was scarfing it down like there was no tomorrow. All thats left are a few gizzards. So I took what I had left of the thigh and put it in their dish and zombina grabbed it and took off, too cute. Since they are sleeping now, I'm going to take the dish out and refridgerate it. When I go to feed them again I will cut the thigh up so they can each have some. I will also thaw out a chicken breast. its going pretty well so far =)
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Post by Heather on Feb 15, 2009 20:30:24 GMT -5
Congratulations!!! It appears you have raw fed ferrets . If you take that thigh and score it to the bone, leaving jagged pieces of meat on it, they may just be enticed to eat some bone too. You did well, looks like your guys are well on their way. ciao
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Post by monicaexplosion on Feb 15, 2009 21:39:48 GMT -5
ok so I just fed them dinner and I gut up some thigh, gizzards, and a heart. I stuck the bowl in their feeding box and stuck them both in there(because vorhees wouldnt eat with it out in the open. they both gobbled a bunch down. At one point zombina came out and threw up a little bit. I cut the pieces really small and she only does it after she eats real fast. My vet said that it isnt cause for concern because its only when shes eating and shes no acting funny afterwards. She runs around and play and frolicks like normal. I still watch her closely though.
oh and how long can I leave the bone in there with a bit of meat on it? I dont have any freeze dried food and I dont want to leave kibble in their cage overnight.
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Post by sherrylynne on Feb 16, 2009 0:04:22 GMT -5
For intact pieces of meat, I'll leave it in for up to 12 hours. I feed twice a day, and when I give some new food, I take the old stuff out, if there's any left, that is
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Post by monicaexplosion on Feb 16, 2009 8:10:03 GMT -5
I fed them before I went to bed because they were poking around looking for their food. Istuck some cut up meat and a thigh with the remaining meat sliced up a bit. They ate the cut up meat and I woke up to vorhees gnawing on the bone. =)
I put some fresh meat in the dish and another thigh bone with some meat on it.
I have a boneless skinless breast thawing out right now.
I work 10 hour shifts so it should be thawed by the time I get home. I'm also thinking I may give them a leg for overnight
I'm also using a little less kibble dust every day.
Should I be giving them anything else?
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