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Post by shirleyverde on Jan 24, 2010 20:04:57 GMT -5
ok just a quick update (from a very happy momma!) they ate all the cubed pork i gave them last night and all the cubed beef from this morning (i made the cubes pretty big about an inch and a half thick so they actually have to chew pieces off) and they ate it just fine! so i think maybe we are at the home strech here?? is there anywhere to go after i get them eating a balanced diet? like do they need to eat whole rats or mice? what else should i look for to feed them?
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Post by luci on Jan 24, 2010 21:18:52 GMT -5
Very, very excellent!
As for offering whole prey, yes that is a great thing to add to their diet (or have their diet completely comprised of), but if you can't for whatever reason that's totally fine. You are perfectly able to make a balanced diet for them using the prey model formula.
The best thing to do is to offer as much variety as possible. Offer different ages of animals (veal - beef, lamb - mutton, cornish hens - stewing hens, etc.). Offer different meats as you find them. Experiment with a variety of organs (spleen, thymus gland, brain, etc.), cuts, variety meats (like tongue, lips, cheek, etc.). It's kind of fun to find weird meats and often they're much cheaper than the regular stuff.
Buy organic, free range, grass fed as often as possible and add a bit of fish whole body oil to their diet when organic is scarce or cost prohibitive.
You are very close to graduating. What I need from you is a week's list of what they have eaten and a week's list of what you propose to feed them as their usual diet.
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Post by shirleyverde on Jan 26, 2010 21:05:55 GMT -5
ok i just sent the weeks food do you need a new one? i stopped writting it down? also i have a friend that has seen my ferrets eating the raw food and wants to switch them but only wants to feed raw at night and kibble during the day... would that be bad for her ferret? since its a mix?
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Post by luci on Jan 27, 2010 20:38:45 GMT -5
I want to make sure that you have a balanced meal plan, so I would like to see two weeks worth written out so I can review it with the other mentors.
As for feeding kibble and raw together... I guess that would be okay as long as the kibble is picked up 4-6 hours before feeding raw. Dehydrated would be a better option than kibble of course, but if that's not an option some raw is better than none.
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Post by shirleyverde on Jan 28, 2010 22:08:43 GMT -5
ok i will start writting down what they eat again to get a weeks worth and then make a second list with what i plan on feeding the next week does that sound good? they finally ate a chicken wing (almost all of it) during the whole day they kinda munched on it every few hours... about how many chicken wings should each one be eating?
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Post by luci on Jan 28, 2010 22:37:50 GMT -5
The whole wing? All three sections?
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Post by shirleyverde on Jan 29, 2010 14:53:19 GMT -5
yeap they left the middle part maybe an inch long of the drum but the other parts were all eaten.
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Post by luci on Jan 29, 2010 17:08:38 GMT -5
Impressive! I would say let them work on one a couple of times a week. So two each total. We're talking about regular chicken wings, right? Not Cornish hens? Watch the poops and feed lots of boneless. I like to feed organs on bone days since liver and other organs make the poop kinda splarty.
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Post by shirleyverde on Jan 30, 2010 22:39:50 GMT -5
yes the chicken wings the cornish hen they ate 1/4 of it just for breakfast one day this week i don't remember which day... now with the beef some times they will eat it and other days they won't should i just stop feeding it or keep on with it?
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Post by luci on Jan 30, 2010 22:56:29 GMT -5
You know I've found that beef needs to be fed sparingly to my critters. I don't know if it's that it's too rich or what, but if I try to feed it more than once a week they'll turn their noses up at it or eat it only grudgingly. This is only true of the muscle meat though. They would all eat beef heart every day if I offered it. Go figure. I've also found this to be true with lamb.
So don't give up on beef completely. Just offer it less often and see how that goes.
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Post by shirleyverde on Jan 31, 2010 21:00:20 GMT -5
ok and i tried it again today thinking maybe the more i offer it the better? lol i will switch it out for chicken now so they don't get to mad at me!
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Post by shirleyverde on Feb 2, 2010 21:05:10 GMT -5
ok turkey heart and turkey gizzard is officially their favorite! lol am i missing anything or is this the whole thing? liver once a week bone in two to three times a week and lots of different muscle meats?
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Post by luci on Feb 3, 2010 3:14:00 GMT -5
You should try to find at least one other secreting organ to feed. Kidney, spleen, brain, etc. Then you've got all your bases covered.
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Post by shirleyverde on Feb 3, 2010 8:18:10 GMT -5
oh ok i didn't know that part i'll check at the grocery store today to see what they have i think i saw kidney last time thanks!
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Post by shirleyverde on Feb 8, 2010 17:25:21 GMT -5
ok it's time to try the freeze dried and get them on it for a regular diet for 6 weeks... i will start the police academy on feb 22 and will be gone from my house from 6am to 8pm so i plan on feeding them and changing cage and water at night but i really don't feel comforatble leaving the raw in there for the whole 24 hours. now i know you weren't to sure about the freeze dried so i'm going to post on the site to see what i should buy i have no idea what to get since the last stuff i bought was bad for them i want to make sure to get the right stuff. i need your help in the switch how should i go about it? also i could still feed raw on the weekends when i'm home will this be ok? it's only for 6 weeks would the freeze dried be enough for them or do i need to feed something else? thanks shirley
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