Squirrels

[bluecoyote]

ok dont flame me.... i'm just curious...

is this an ok item to feed?
should i leave off the fur? organs?
just feed as i would whole prey?
is this any better or worse or the same as feeding something like a rat?

granted, squirrels are about as big as a ferret.... i dont know if you'd call them dark meat or white meat or red meat. dont think there is a lot of fat content either.
just curious if anyone has fed this to their ferrets.
i live in a rural area and know a lot of hunters which means i have access to this when ever its in season(soon actually) it would also be fresh or possibly frozen(dressed out however)

[Heather]

There is no flaming done here Squirrels are a protein source. What I can't answer you is in regards to parasites and such that might be indigeneous to your area. Perhaps freezing them for 2 weeks before feeding might be in order. Why should squirrels be treated any different than rats??, they are after all just rats with tails
ciao

[bluecoyote]

i just worry lol
I've noticed in different places on the WWW that not a lot of people support hunting wild animals for any purpose, even if they are rodents chewing the wiring out of your car.... you just never know who might jump you lol

I would use all safety precautions though.
freezing would be no trouble, even if it was whole(though visiting family might give me funny looks if they found bags of whole frozen squirrels in the freezer lol
but i do i have a big chest freezer and room to store them.

i'm looking at the upside of not having to wait for mice to have babies, or driving an hour to pick up mice from a pet store..
but it is probably a much leaner meat.. i dont know for sure. never looked at the health studies on wildgame.. but... maybe winter fat will count for something?
i do know those bones are strong and SHARP!!
i cant help but point out that difference with small scale farm animals vs large scale farmed animals. you can snap a store bought chicken leg with your bare hands.... but you wont be doing that with a yard bird even if he's six months old. you stand a better chance of cutting yourself and getting stitches....
and its the same with the bones of a wild animal. so i'm a little concerned about her ability to even break them while eating.
will she just chew around them if she cant?


i'm not 100% of what parasites a squirrel might have either but that wont be difficult to find out. the general rule around here, well in spite of the law, people wait until its good and frosty out before they start hunting them and i've been told that has something to do with the parasites.
but i'm no expert on parasites.... not sure how a cold snap would affect worms living inside a toasty warm squirrel, you know? might keep them from getting new ones maybe?

thanks! ;D

[sherrylynne]

Even if they do have worms, tossing them in the deep freeze for a minimum of two weeks should take care of that!

[Heather]

If they're waiting until after a couple of cold snaps is to probably help get rid of the ticks and flea problem at least that would be my thought on it.
What's a couple bags of rodents in the freezer....I have rats all wrapped up in individual baggies. If you don't want a shock don't open the freezer in this house
Ferrets are a lazy eater, if the bones are too hard they won't eat them. You would be surprised as to what they can eat and what their systems will handle.
ciao

[1]

Once on tv I saw a man ear squirrel bones, I don't know about them being a problem. Then again, I wouldn't know about eating squirrels if I tried to try to try to try to try!!!!! Literally! My advice, why not debone them, powder the bones, and put it back. By the way, I wonder if you know what goes on in my head when I see the mice above my name, not every one in the u.s. is dietaraly clueless .

[bluecoyote]

deboning might be an option, easy enough to achieve at least for legs and forearms, which are the tough bits, but no idea about powdering them. the ribs however arent so bad.. just not much meat on them.
i'm pretty certain ferrets ... er.. polecats... eat squirrels in the wild whenever they can catch them.. i know ermine do! so i might be worried over nothing lol

[sherrylynne]

Most likely. I wouldn't bother with any deboning. If they can't eat the bone, they won't. And it still does them a world of good chewing the meat off the bone.

[1]

Oct 4, 2010 22:37:10 GMT -5 @bluecoyote said:

deboning might be an option, easy enough to achieve at least for legs and forearms, which are the tough bits, but no idea about powdering them. the ribs however arent so bad.. just not much meat on them.
i'm pretty certain ferrets ... er.. polecats... eat squirrels in the wild whenever they can catch them.. i know ermine do! so i might be worried over nothing lol

As a mater of fact, it was the rib bones he ate.

[josiesmom]

My kids got treated to squirrel several times. Shot in our yard. Then I cleaned them. I didn't want to let them eat the fur (worry about fleas, etc). Squirrel is a red meat (as opposed to chicken and pork being a "white" meat. The kids prefer white meat (or mice) but did grungingly eat squirrel when I didn't give in. Squirrel bones are not ad dense as rabbit, nor light as rat and most got eaten.

my guys have also been served raccoon

[fertsru]

I'd imagine if you take the fur off and gut it out, your ferrets would eat it.

However, mine decided to adopt a guinea pig which was supposed to be their dinner. I did not cut it up or skin it. It was just frozen. They dragged it all over the cage, put it in their hammocks and blankets (which they don't do with other pray) and licked it all over. It was too much for me to watch after one day and I ended up tossing it away. Weirdos
Just sharing a story in case yours decide to adopt a squirrel too.

[rarnold18]

aside from the normal fleas, ticks and intestinal worms another concern might be the cuterebra or bot fly... I know I've read about them in one of the posts here's the link holisticferret.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=enrich&action=display&thread=3141
would freezing a squirrl that had these kill the larva and make it safe to eat?

[mustelidmusk]

The very best thing to do is contact the Division of wildlife for your area. They probably have some information online. 2 weeks may not be enough time to kill all parasites, viruses and bacteria. However, local wildlife experts/hunting license divisions, etc. will have all the info available to make sure you're taking the necessary precautions required for safe consumption of game.

And yes, my brat was the one who got that GROSS cuterebra fly . Squirrels in our area can have mange. They can carry plague, presumably lyme disease(and all the other tick-borne illnesses - there are a LOT of them), and a viralpox that results in fibromas. They can also carry rabies, although this is not common.
And there are more things I can't even think of off the top of my head.

For these reasons, you should "do your homework" by checking with local authorities to keep you and your ferret safe

-jennifer

[Heather]

My understanding is that freezing it for a minimum of 2 weeks kills most parasites. Those bot flies aren't nice This year is the first time I've ever had to deal with them. Ladies "B" and Natasha both had to be treated and have one removed. Fun-Go's immune system was able to battle off the invasion. I'm going to say that freezing would also deal with them too, as the vet told me that I wouldn't have to worry about them after a killing frost. I've not seen anything of them since September....we had our first frost last night....so, I would think freezing them would definately deal with them. If you happened to find a larvae I would cut it out, once everything is frozen and dispose of it.
ciao

[katt]

Oct 4, 2010 11:29:04 GMT -5 Heather said:

If you don't want a shock don't open the freezer in this house

ciao

Same at my house!