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Post by bassicmleodies on May 13, 2010 11:19:56 GMT -5
So both of them will eat chicken by itself no problem. The male won't eat beef by itself, so I'm sneaking it in with the chicken every third day. Same deal with the rabbit meat.
Day one - Chicken
Day two - Chicken/beef
Day Three - Chicken/rabbit
The beef is ground at this point, although I'm thinking I'm going to be buying "stew chunks" of beef next time around.
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Post by cristina on May 14, 2010 7:03:55 GMT -5
thats good, I actually buy the stew beef chunks myself and cut them up a bit more when my guys have beef day....I find this works well at least for my guys You can also try coating the beef chunks with their favorite oil as well to entice them a bit more if you have any issues getting them to eat it, sometimes this works too so far your doing great! Just keep up the hard work, adding in a variety of meats and keep patient, they should catch on sooner than later (it takes a bit more effort and patience with these richer meats, so dont get disappointed if it takes longer to adapt to than the chicken) and keep me updated as they progress
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Post by bassicmleodies on May 23, 2010 15:33:36 GMT -5
Alright, so both are eating individual meats on each day. Still beef, chicken, rabbit, and turkey. The rabbit and turkey are ground. That's the only way I can find them. Beef and chicken are chunks. What's next? The local ferret shelter owner recommended mice. What do you think about that?
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Post by cristina on May 24, 2010 18:57:32 GMT -5
I do mice sometimes but my guys only eat the heads (kinda gross for me haha) but if your up to it then yes mice are a great source of meat although they are very rich so start off with pinkies so your little ones can get use to them, then gradually go up from there, so you can supplement in mice one of the days I would only do it once a week at the start
Try to keep an eye out for cornish game hens (Tyson brand has them, they are usually at krogers and walmart and sometimes costco, although Im not sure what stores you have around you) You can feed pork too.....chicken wings to get them eating bone Also you can feed veal, venison and really any other meats you find, I dont know how excentric the stores by you are....mine arent lol
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Post by bassicmleodies on May 27, 2010 10:37:28 GMT -5
I'm concerned about the pork. I've been told that there are lots of parasites in raw pork that need to be cooked out. That's why people don't eat raw pork.
I just thought it was questionable, because we could eat raw chicken or beef, but we shouldn't eat raw pork. Is that the case with ferrets?
What about eggs?
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Post by cristina on May 27, 2010 21:28:32 GMT -5
You know there are mixed feelings about feeding pork....many say their digestive system is so short it wont do any harm but to tell you the truth, I dont feed my little ones pork...but its up to you totally
eggs are very good for them! feed them raw, I usually crack the yolk and mix it with the white then let them go at it.....although I warn you it may take a little time for your guys to get use to it, hopefully not though, my guys wouldnt go near eggs for months but now they love them! .....oh and only feed one a week, they are very rich, and too much egg white can actually be a problem
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Post by bassicmleodies on May 31, 2010 1:08:20 GMT -5
We switched back to ground beef, their poop turned rather dark, getting towards that tar appearance soon after we switched them to the stew beef. We're taking them to the vet on wednesday. It was just so much rougher than anything else they were eating. It affected both of them. We've got them on pepto for the next couple of days.
As for mice, pinkies. Is online the way to go for ordering that kind of stuff? Do normal pet stores carry those types of things? I would imagine shipping would be a pain for frozen mice. Any advice for whole prey providers?
Thanks!
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Post by cristina on May 31, 2010 12:28:42 GMT -5
I hope the dark poop isnt anything to worry about, its good your going to the vet to have it looked at though. It is pretty expensive to buy online since the shipments need to be refrigerated, though that is why people buy in bulk and freeze everything....but in your case I would try to get some around town before ordering online to see if they like them first. Usually pet stores dont carry mice that are the best for carnivorous animals, they are usually just for snakes and reptiles, although they will do for now...this is how I started I got some from a local reptile store and once my guys began to like mice, I now order large packages of frozen stuff from www.hare-today.com, and I order enough to last me about 6 months and I just freeze it, so I usually only order twice a year so it works out well....another is rodentpro.com which has great selections although it can be pricey its still the "cheapest" shipping of any online places Ive seen, they have alot of things on this site that are good, (it all depends on what your comfortable feeding) but they have ginuea pigs (sp?), all sizes of mice, chicks, birds, etc... Also there are many threads about frozen and raw whole prey in the whole prey section if you want to ckeck it out too
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Post by bassicmleodies on Jun 11, 2010 17:07:56 GMT -5
Hello Cristina,
Sorry it has been so long since we've talked last. Basic update. The ferrets are doing well. I've been giving them an augmented diet recently. Still the same meats, but we've switched to ground beef, I think the stew beef was giving them a hard time. So rabbit, turkey, chicken and beef. Every other day I've been giving the a tsp of pumpkin puree, tsp of ground egg shells and tsp of olive oil. Then on sundays I coat their meat in a single raw egg. I think I am going to switch the supplement diet to every three days instead of two. At this point we don't have a lot of freezer space, so I think I'll stick to raw meat instead of whole prey. What are the next goals, or have we arrived?
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Post by cristina on Jun 11, 2010 18:01:58 GMT -5
Great! your pretty much there, almost ready to graduate! One thing is that before you can graduate, they need to be eating bone....because they will need to eat some kind of bone-in meat everyother day when you make your feeding schedule. So let me know where you are with bone right now
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Post by bassicmleodies on Jun 12, 2010 4:19:23 GMT -5
The turkey and the rabbit meat around ground whole, so there is ground bone in those meats, but not the chicken or the beef. Drum sticks next?
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Post by cristina on Jun 12, 2010 11:22:39 GMT -5
whole drum stick bones may be too big, but I usually find mini ones (at kroger, not sure if you have this)....Also start on chicken wings...wings are a great bone source
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Post by bassicmleodies on Jun 18, 2010 2:00:47 GMT -5
Alright I tried the wing today, they were a bit confused. Do you leave the skin on? Do you break the joints? I guess I'm just curious as to how you prepare it for them.
Thanks!
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Post by cristina on Jun 18, 2010 23:48:08 GMT -5
Well what I usually do is take most of the skin off the large part (not the tips), then yes I do cut them at the joints....they may only take to the tips in the beginning and this is ok.....also I usually cut off some of the meat on the larger part of the bone as well
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Post by bassicmleodies on Jun 19, 2010 15:29:10 GMT -5
Well as of today the male is way into it. I've cut them into thirds leaving the skin on and he is having at it. The female, not so much, so I'll start stripping some of the skin and meat off so that she can tag along (kinda funny cause it was total opposite for a while). Skin, is that alright for them to eat? He seems to enjoy it.
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