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Post by weeksl08 on Jul 23, 2008 13:04:47 GMT -5
I was just wondering about the wipes because of their skunk smell while we are in the process of switching. I only use the wipes to clean up poop in the corner of my living room. We are still litter training May.
I'm not too worried about them getting me sick or anything like that but I don't want someone trying to get one pt down because of a silly play wound. Everyone that comes over is aware of them before they come over and warned before they are let out, if they are let out they they do love to play and this could include a nip or scratch. The receipt says the rabies shot is good for a year. I know by law we have to get Chance his rabies yearly so I assume its probably the same for them. As long as we are having a huge volume of guest I would like to keep them u to date. I'm very protective of them when they are criticized and if something were to happen I'd want them to be protected as much as possible. WV is not known for open minded people or animal lovers. We're in kinda a backwoods area and people are set in their own way of thinking.
They are still sleeping and I leave for night managing from 4-8 tonight. I will have Rob watch them closely when he gets in. Constantine sleeps a lot anyways. I think part of it is his deafness, little things don't wake him up like the girls. I could be paranoid and this could be me taking his normal behavior out of context, but I just want to be safe. He's my 8 month old baby! lol
Speak of the devil. The kids just started moving around. I added some ferretone to the food closest to Constantine to make him want to eat more. It's workin:) He's being his big fatty self, laying down with his head in the food bowl as usual:) Libby and May woke up to and are fighting for attention.
Question! When Constantine was a kit he had some food aggression. If he found a candy wrapper or something and we tried to take it from him, he'd flip out and make a horrible screaming noise. Should I separate them during feeding time once the switch is made?
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Post by weeksl08 on Jul 23, 2008 20:54:03 GMT -5
All three of the kids are fine:) When I got in from work, they all work up and played with mt for a little over an hour. They all ate moist kibble, lots of it too. Tomorrow I'm going to try to mush the kibble and see if they will eat it. If they will, we are one step closer to eating meat! Picture time! Mayhem when I got her:  Mayhem now:  Mayhem and Constantine(Puff Fatty)  Weasel War Liberty Vs.Mayhem:  Pretty Libby:  Constantine and the fish:  |
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Post by Heather on Jul 23, 2008 22:08:33 GMT -5
Your furbabies are such sweeties. Mayhem has come a long way. You've done wonderful things with her  I wouldn't separate the babies when you're feeding them. Ferrets aren't like cats and dogs in what we can expect from them as far as giving up their treasures (food in particular). My guys, particularly when in possession of a favourite treat will scream and defend their food, they also steal each others food. It's all right. It's all part of the game  Nobody gets hurt. You will always provide enough food so the concern that one is getting less than another is not really important. Screaming is all part of communication. I check on it but rarely break anything up. My deafies scream the loudest. Lady B and Attila are the worst, they are my alpha pair and they're both deaf. The screaming that goes on between these two is absolutely hilarious. It's even more fun when you find Lady B, who has Attila by the ear (like a naughty little boy) she's trying to stuff him up a tube and she's making him scream like a little girl. I guess the reason it's so funny is that Attila weighs 5 lbs and Lady B weighs a little under 3 lbs. The common line is if you're concerned; no poop, no blood, ok. There are some noises that you will probably learn about that you may not have heard from your furbabies, especially when you start offering things like giblet treats or other delicacies  Sounds like a good go on the kibble mush. We'll be adding some ground meat very soon from the looks of things. Good luck and I will talk at you tomorrow |
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Post by weeksl08 on Jul 24, 2008 16:33:45 GMT -5
Today I mushed the food up slightly. About half of it is mushed and half not. They've eaten some of it but not a whole lot. It's only 5:30 though and I put it in there about 10am so we will see how much more they eat tonight. I think I need to mush it more tomorrow before I start adding meat. Libby was the only one awake when I came in and she kept trying to scruff my wrist, so I rubbed a little ground beef on my wrist to try to trick her into tasting it. She's too smart for that. She sniffed it, licked the air around it and ran away. I washed my wrist shortly after. All of them have their energy level back. My mom came to visit today and they went nuts trying to show off for her, it was cute. She could not believe how big Constantine has gotten since he was 9 weeks! lol, it was funny!
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Post by Heather on Jul 24, 2008 20:52:00 GMT -5
Good, I'm glad to hear that everyone appears back to normal. They can be so much fun when they're showing off to visitors Take your time. If you think they need a little more mush, then play another day and see. When you go to add meat add just a little, not even enough to colour it. You want them to get used to the smell, and flavour of the moist with just a hint of the smell of the raw meat. Good luck. I will stop in tomorrow and see how you and the babies are doing. ciao |
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Post by weeksl08 on Jul 25, 2008 8:42:56 GMT -5
They did not eat very much at all yesterday (except for Mayhem.) Maybe they will be hungry enough to eat more today. First thing this morning I mast their kibble mushy and added a little more water then yesterday. As expected, Mayhem cowed down immediately. She ate a little under a tablespoon worth.
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Post by Heather on Jul 25, 2008 11:14:32 GMT -5
Are they eating it though? Mayhem knows what it's like to be hungry. She has no intention of allowing it to happen again . You might try a small bowl just for her with a tiny, tiny bit of meat in it. I don't think the others are ready yet, unless they eat more today. Let me know, I will check in with you a little later this evening. ciao |
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Post by weeksl08 on Jul 25, 2008 11:50:30 GMT -5
They slept the whole time I was gone so they haven't eaten much today. I tried giving May a tiny peace of ground chuck, and she ate it! She didn't want anymore (it was also play time,) but I will try again later! {Edit} When I looked in the food dish in the top of the cage, some of the food had been eaten. There is just no way to tell which ferret it was  |
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Post by weeksl08 on Jul 25, 2008 12:02:47 GMT -5
Haha! I've tricked them! Since May like the tiny piece of beef, i went ahead and mixed some in a small crock with kibble. The other two sniffed it and walked away so I put a sprinkle of kibble dust and both of them took 1 piece and ran. They each have only eaten 1 piece so far, but thats a step closer! May chowed down! {edit}Since there was some food missing from the top bowl, someone is eating. Will Libby and Constantine eventually eat the mushed food if they get hungry enough (if they aren't already?) I don't know who is eating what while I'm gone. They all have the same energy they always have so I assume they are all eating some? [Edit x2] I added a slight bit of hamburger fat and just a pinch of hamburger meat to some kibble and added some warm water. Libby is eating it. It hasn't has time to get soggy yet so I don't know if she will eat it or not later, but at least she's eating now and eating a sliiighhht bit of beef. |
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Post by Heather on Jul 25, 2008 22:54:55 GMT -5
Fantastic!!! Mayhem won't be letting you down. I've rescued ferrets that have felt the edge of starvation, they will eat and love it. Now you may have found the answer for Libby and maybe even Constantine without really trying. Maybe they don't like wet kibble, but would be willing to try meat with some ground kibble powdered on it. Watch and see if this is indeed the case. It might indeed be worth trying it. So is Constantine eating that you've seen? Ferrets are naturally drawn to fats. Do you feed ferretone? I don't like it myself, but I know that ferrets love it. You might try and dip a piece of meat in it and then bread it with some kibble. See if they will try it that way. With Mayhem, I might be tempted to first offer her a piece of meat to see if she would take it without the breading, but it's up to you. You may find that they don't like the texture of the mushy kibble. They're used to things that crunch. Do you have access to wing tips? I've had ferrets who wouldn't eat meat but will chew on wing tips. Just a thought. I have a double show tomorrow so I will try and check in on you in the morning but if not I will definitely be checking with you later in the evening. Good luck, you're doing good. Give your furbabies a hug from me. ciao |
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Post by weeksl08 on Jul 26, 2008 19:51:31 GMT -5
Today I worked from 9-8:15 so I was not able to monitor the kids. It did not look as if they had eaten much since yesterday evening. It was wayyyy past food changing time (i feel so horrible, but no one was home) so I decided to try a different approach today. Today they were given 3 choices. Kibble with beef grease (located in the inset food bowl on the 1s floor level of the cage near a water bottle), choice 2- kibble with beef grease and beef mixed in located in the playpen area, and choice 3- beef rolled in kibble crumble located 5 inches away from kibble with beef grease and beef.
Liberty shocked me. She was not aware of choice 1, just choices 2 and 3. She grabbed a piece of beef rolled in kibble, gobbled it down, and came back for seconds, thirds, and fourths. Each piece is slightly smaller tan a dime, so that was the equivalent of probably 10 pieces of kibble which is what she would normally eat in a sitting.
We know May seems to eat anything I put in her face so I'm not worried about her. Boyfriend says Constantine ate some last night while I was sleeping, so I know he is at least eating a little bit. I will be watching him very closely tonight and tomorrow to see what choices he makes.
***THANK YOU VERY MUCH for the suggestion of the beef rolled in kibble!! with out it, I don't know that I could have gotten Liberty to progress much further. Since she ate so much, I am assuming hunger is no longer her motivation. With the choice of the 2 she had to like it!***
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Post by Heather on Jul 26, 2008 22:19:52 GMT -5
Whoo HOO We're getting somewhere!!! Congratulations!!
Now did Constantine eat some of the kibbled meat or was it some of the moistened kibble? I would try and go with the breaded meats and see how it goes. You can gradually put less and less breading on the meat. Have you tried chicken with Constantine? Chicken, pork and rabbit are milder flavoured and sometimes more readily eaten then beef, elk or venison.
Again, great work...you and your little furbabies are doing great. Keep me informed how things go tomorrow.
Good luck
ciao
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Post by weeksl08 on Jul 27, 2008 12:05:50 GMT -5
Last night they didnt wake up from the time they went up (about 15 minutes after I got home from work) until sometime this morning. When I got up, they had eaten all fo the kibble with grease, and all of the kibble with grease and a pinch of beef but they hadnt touched the beef rolled in kibble anymore. I tried coating the beef with ferotone and Constantine licked it all off and went about his business playing. Today since we don't currently have any ground chicken, I made my own, only I dont have a grinder. I just cut thin slivers of frozen chicken breast and chopped it very finely until it was almost a paste. I mixed that in with both small dished of kibble and I am going to switch out the beef rolled in kibble for the chicken rolled in kibble as soon as I get a chance to make some more up.
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Post by Heather on Jul 27, 2008 14:56:51 GMT -5
Sounds good. Sounds to me like they're not hungry anymore. They've eaten all the kibbles, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It just means that we're probably going to be using a couple of different methods to convince your little fellows that you're not trying to poison them with this new food stuff. I'm guessing you have no idea which of your little souls ate all the food? Do they feel like they're sharing? Nice full tummies? If you want them to eat the breaded meat....you may have to offer it with no other incentives, your little girl was hungry and she ate it. So they now look at this stuff as food, that is definitely a step in the right direction. Now, you mentioned that they ate all the kibble with grease and the raw meat. Let's go with that as the only prerogative along with the breaded meat. We want to give them choices but we want to turn them in the direction that you want to move in. Sometimes with ferrets, we have to be as devious as they are Keep up the good work, we are going forward. Small steps but that's how it works ciao |
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Post by weeksl08 on Jul 27, 2008 16:20:07 GMT -5
UPDATE Constantine ate 3 pieces of breaded chicken meat:) Liberty finished up the kibble with a little meat in it after play time today. All of the kibble has small amounts of chicken in it for now and as they eat more I will add more! I think they all ate some last night. They all had their normal energy levels and they all played a lot when they were let out. I added a slight bit more chicken meat to the dish in the play area sine that is where Liberty was eating it earlier today.
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