Online Whole Prey Providers

[Zoshi]

So, I am going to attempt to get my guys used to eating whole prey. Yay!

I've read plenty of topics over, but I do have some questions. I'm planning on making the order through RodentPro, since they seem to have the best pricing. I think I'm going to try to find someone to split the order with, but if I don't I should be okay. I'd just feel bad about not filling the whole box. D:

Now, I'm planning on starting with pinkies and moving my way up. I wouldn't be feeding whole prey nightly, but I was thinking making it two days a week.

Here's some questions -
Is there any big difference between the small pinkies and large pinkies, for getting the ferrets switched? Are some ferrets intimidated by the larger ones?

Should pinkies be followed by the peach fuzzies, or can they be followed by Fuzzies or Hoppers when trying to switch them?

And the same for following hoppers with weanlings vs. adults?

I'm guessing if I eventually wanted to give them a full meal of meeces, they'd have to be adults to be sure they got everything they needed, right?


My original plan was to get:
1 100-bag of pinkies (large, probably)
1 100-bag of peach fuzzies or Fuzzies
1 100-bag of hoppers to start.

I should probably get the weanlings/adults at the same time, since it would drop the per-mouse price.

If you have any info or suggestions, I'd be happy to hear them. :3 Thanks!


EDIT: Also, I just found this site: www.americanrodent.com/welcome.html
It's American Rodent Supply, I found it through a herp forum. They take $100 minimum order, but that gets me free shipping here to Chicago. Has anyone ever heard of them? Looks like they've got a good review from reptile people.

I keep editing, I'm sorry! But I could get the following from American Rodent Supply for $113 - $130:

100 Pinkies
200 Fuzzy (around the size of rodentpro's peach fuzz-fuzzies)
200 Small mice
50 Medium Mice

The pinkies, fuzzies and small mice are all on sale right now. xD Should I go for it? It seems like a good deal.

[sherrylynne]

The one from ARS does sound like the better deal. From what I understand, the killer with Rodent Pro is the cost of shipping. And 100 each of pinkies and fuzzies is more than enough to get them eating mice. It took mine about 10 pinkies each to convince them this was good stuff They still love them for snacks, though.

[Zoshi]

Yeah, the shipping was really killing Rodentpro for me. They have such great reviews, but I would end up paying more for shipping then for my order, and if I ordered as much as I have planned from ARS, then it would really kill me. D:

ARS does have good things being said about them around the herp forums, so I'm thinking I'll go with them.
I think I"m going to go with:
(I had a different order up, but I realized they have large hairless mice on sale too. Does it sound like I'm being a bit too crazy about this? o__o)
50 Large Pinkies
50 Fuzzies
50 Large Fuzzies/Hoppers
200 Small mice (on sale)
50 Medium
100 Large hairless

I think that should give me enough leeway to get them transitioned from one stage to the next. How does that sound? Should I switch out the Large Fuzzy/Hoppers for Small mice?

That would be a jump from slightly furry to very furry, and I'm not sure how well the ferts would take that. Hmm..

And I really hope they take to it as fast as yours did, Sherrylynne. xD

[sherrylynne]

That doesn't sound too bad, actually. Although I've never even seen a "hairless mouse"!
And once they realize there are yummies in those wrappings, you'll not have any problem
I should add to get them to realize the furry things had food in there, I had to cut them open and squirt some oil in there for the first few!

[katt]

Has anyone heard of these guys?
www.coreywoods.com/rodents.shtml

Not sure on shipping but the pricing seems ok.

As for moving up in sized what I did was chop up pinkies (easiest if done when frozen, or slightly frozen) into the meat. Then I added whole pinkies. Then I added a few fuzzies and he gobbled them right up. Fuzzies to small adults, and then to any size adults. But Koda was still a baby (ie stomach on feet) so he was easy. Not sure about older ferrets, you might need to try a more gradual increase if they don't take to it as well.

[katt]

Also found them...
micedirect.com/

[Zoshi]

Thanks for the links!
I actually saw micedirect before, but they're out of stock on pretty much everything until the 20th of this month, I believe. Their shipping charges are a bit expensive again.

Coreywoods seems okay, but it looks like you'd probably have to contact someone about the shipping charges.
I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with ARS, especially since they have a sale going on. I just need to clear the freezer a bit and convince my dad that three ferrets CAN eat most of that order in 6 months. xD Shouldn't be too hard convincing, the freezer space is going to be tougher. Need to work on that today and put the order in.

My oldest ferret, Tikki, is nearing five, but the other two are just around a year old. Tikki, however, also seems the most adventurous now when it comes to trying and eating new things, so maybe she won't be that bad. xD I'll let you all know how it goes.



Also, I wanted to ask for when they're fully okay with eating meeces:
I feed a schedule like this:
Sun - Bone-in Rabbit (when available)
Mon- Meat Chunks (pork or beef)
Tuesday - Bone in Chicken
Wednesday - Organ day
Thursday - Bone In Chicken
Friday - Meat Chunks
Saturday - Freeze-Dried Raw

What would you guys suggest as days for switching in mouse meals? I want to give them one or two days where they get mice for food. Could it work on bone days? (if they're eating the small to large mice) And then have the smaller mice for snacks until I run out? Not sure how whole prey counts with this. xD

[Zoshi]

Just ordered. xD Convincing my parents was easier than I thought. I'll take pics of how the hairless mice look like so you can all see, haha. xD The order should ship out on Monday of next week, so I should have it Tuesday.

Total for my last order posted up there came out to 112.50. Not bad. :3

I'm all excited now! xD

[Heather]

I would be tempted to feed the mice on the whole meat days. Chances are that they will be younger, not prime mice so their calcium won't be quite up there. On top of that you don't want them to stop eating bone. I've known a number of people who have started feeding whole prey and found that because ferrets are lazy eaters they suddenly decide that bone is optional. Ferrets have very high calcium needs, higher than cats so don't take out your bone days. If you ferrets stools get really dry then add more meat but that would be my suggestion
ciao

[Zoshi]

Thanks very much for the info, Heather. :3 I do have two lazy ferrets - Coco and Mis won't always take their food out of the bowl even, they'll just wait for Tikki to take it out for them. xD

Should I leave in the organ day? I'm not sure how much organs they'd be getting once they're on adult mice.

[sherrylynne]

If they are only going to be getting mice for a couple meals a week, I'd leave it in. You can always feed bone in for the other meal that day, since they'll only get organ for the one meal.

[Zoshi]

Thanks Sherrylynne!

I know it'll be a little while before we get settled into including mice in the schedule, but would something like this be all right, once I get to that point?

Sun - Bone-in rabbit or turkey necks
Mon - Mice
Tuesday - Bone-in chicken
Wednesday - Organs + chicken wings/necks
Thursday - Mice
Friday - Bone-in Chicken
Sat - Freeze Dried Raw (either lamb, beef, or duck/goose) and/or meat chunks (pork/beef)

Would that be enough protein sources? It's a bit chicken heavy, but that's the only bone I can get if I can't get rabbit.

[sherrylynne]

Looks good to me.

[Zoshi]

Awesome, thanks much! Now I just need to wait for the meeces and get to work getting the fuzzbutts used to them. x3

[sherrylynne]

Good luck, and let us know how it goes!