Peeyeww- stinky meats?

[zoologist]

loving the raw diet and the destinkifiedness (technical word) of the ferrets but I am having a MAJOR problem with leaving meat in their cage.... I've got flies! why!?

I will feed the ferts ground raw in the afternoon and leave it in their cage until the morning when I get up. they usually eat most of it but leave droppings around.

whenever I come home my house reeks of rotting meat despite the fact the meat hasn't been left out for all too long.

help?

It smells the most with rabbit and pork.

[Heather]

I've found rabbit to be a bit stinky too. I wonder if the brats have stashed something somewhere, that you haven't found. I feed ground mixes too, and I don't have the problem with the smell or the flies but if the brats have stashed some....Attila used to be the worlds worst and if it was ground he never went back to eat it. They wont touch bad meat. He would find some of the most obscure places to hide it and inevitably I would find it with my nose . I presently have a pork chop that sitting in the tube of the ferret run (courtesy of Thor) and I can't get at it ...it's really ripe I found a stash the other day under one of the cages....I will be so glad when I finally get my cages built. I also found that the cages with the plastic tray on the bottom...marshals I think are the worlds worst for getting smelly. You shouldn't smell your meat as strong as you do....perhaps someone else might have an idea. How long are you actually leaving the ground out? I feed ground during the day (more for the cats benefits than ferrets but they eat it too). At night they eat whole meats and prey (because it's a longer period of time and they're confined to quarters). They also have prey when they're in the ferret room during the day.
ciao

[sherrylynne]

How warm is your place? That could make the difference. I leave my ground in the cage during the full day, til evening meal, and no problems like that.

[zoologist]

I try to keep it at about 75-78, but i don't have central air, so the AC is set to 75 but it is warmer near the kitchen/ferret cage.

[rarnold18]

I have the same problem, after a bit of time if the ferrets don't eat their food and it sits...we get these little blackish brown flies, almost the same size as a fruit fly. I haven't been able to get rid of this issue with out limiting the amount of food I give the ferrets, making sure that I give them just enough so there is none left over which is hard because some of my business still haven't acheived a normal weight, and with the fall comming I don't want to do that because I have some fuzz that weren't with me last winter and unfortunatly probably have never gained winter weight as last January Gabby only weighted 7 oz I keep the AC about 78.... I have found some really gross stashes though...while cleaning one of the cages, someone took off with a chicken back and stashed it actually in the couch...the monsters had torn a hole in the black fabric on the underside of the couch and were stashing stuff there... the smell was HORRIBLE and when I finally discovered where it was comming from and tore the fabric from the underside there was more than one peice of "jerky" and the stinky chicken back had icky's squirming on it, needless to say I emptied my stomach contents, cleaned the mess, bleached the underside of the couch, frameing and floor and when I clean the cages, their food is now put up and out of their reach!!! xP I was totally grossed out, still am, I'm considering a feeding den but havent quite figured out how I'm going to work it..... I think keeping the food contained (rubbermaid bin with cover) might help combat the flies and smell, as it will be sealed and easy to wipe out/sanitize/clean