Eschimpf's Switching Thread/Luci

[eschimpf]

I'll have to go check that out.

My hubby, bless his wanting to be helpful, put kibble in tonight because I was busy cleaning down stairs... Lets just say even if I didn't want to do raw I have no choice, he tossed the kibble all over the cage.

He is doing one weird thing the last 24 hours though. He scratches at his water bowl, getting water all over his paws and then licks it off. I haven't seen him drink drink any, just licking the water off his paws. Should I be worried? Any Idea why he is doing this?

[luci]

My guess is that he's found a fun new game. My Fierra likes to lay on her side and kick at the water bowl until it sloshes on the floor. Then she licks it up. I guess it tastes better that way.

[eschimpf]

So far that's what everyone has said too. Silly Mr. Bean!

Today everything is the same. I'm going to be making another batch of Soup. I have some beef steak that has a little freezer burn, is that ok to add to it? I was thinking it would add a new taste in there for him to try out.

[luci]

Beef can be a tough sell. Definitely don't throw it out, but cut it into some smaller chunks and refreeze it. Mr. Bean won't mind. Try adding a couple of small slivers to his regular soup and see what he thinks. All of my critters get very picky about beef. If I try to serve it more than once a week it's pretty much a guarantee that I'll be throwing it out. You never know though. He may love it.

[eschimpf]

I'll try him today on it and see what he thinks and let you know. I'll try hand feeding it to him and also try it in the soup. I'll let you know what he thinks of it, as I didn't have time to check this last night and already gave him his morning and mid day feed.

[eschimpf]

So... There is a big kinda problem. Seems someone spilled my last batch of soup in the fridge, no biggie I pulled out tons to make a big batch... here comes the problem. My blender from like the 1970's stopped working. So I had to chop all the food. So I guess we are going to be going from soup to chunks faster then planned as I can't afford to go out and buy a new one until March (Hubby goes to school Jan and Feb so we go on EI during this time). So far he is enjoying this new form of food. He's stashing it on the side of his cage right now but he did eat some. I'll just give smaller amounts more often until he figures it out.

Maybe I'll get lucky and someone will give me anew blender for christmas but I wont hold my breath.

Oh and he a one piece of the beef so maybe he likes it, only time will tell.

[luci]

Well, we'll do what we have to do. I think he'll take to it fine. Do you have a good kitchen shears? You can cut things up pretty small with a nice pair of scissors.

[eschimpf]

No, unfortunatly I don't, but ask my left index finger, my knifes are SHARP I was able to cut everything (including my finger ) into 1 cm chunks, some are a little smaller. Thankfully no stiches needed for my poor finger

[eschimpf]

He hasn't eaten much today maybe 3 oz all day. But he's starting to accept that he has no choice but to eat the chunks. He is also taking the chunks from my hands and eating them right away. But I don't want him to start thinking he only has to eat like that, so I give him a few and let him eat the rest from his bowl.

[eschimpf]

Today has been a little bit better... about 3.5 oz eaten. He mostly stashes his food and will eat a little of it later but not all of it.

[luci]

3.5 oz is good. My girls only eat about 2 oz each per day. The fatty is 2 lbs 6 oz and the old girl just hit 2 lbs for the first time this winter. Mr. Bean hasn't made it over 3 lbs, has he?

[eschimpf]

Not that I know of. Ive only had him a few weeks.

[eschimpf]

Today Mr. Bean ate a little more. I spent most of today cleaning and he now has a run of 750+ square feet of my home for 2 to 4 hours every night. My room, the upstairs hall, stairs, living room, dinning room, kitchen and main hall. Yup he had lots of fun bugging the fish and the lower cage of guinea pigs (no worries it has a covered cage). He also found one of my kids small soccer balls, seems I have a soccer fan of a ferret.

I'm hoping with the extra room to run at night he'll be more hungry and willing to try new things.

[luci]

A bit off topic, but I would be concerned that the sight and smell of a predator so close to their home would be upsetting to the G pigs. I think I'd keep an eye on that.

Eating 3.5-4 ounces per day of raw is actually quite a bit. Their bodies are so better able to use all that good food that they can eat significantly less (weight wise) than kibble. Kibble has so many ingredients that are just pure waste that they have to eat a lot more to get the nutrition their bodies need. In other words, I doubt Mr. Bean is starving

[eschimpf]

Its ok, I've had the concerns pointed out by other people. I'm sorry if I sounds umm cranky its not meant to be. I simply point out that its no different from a cat or dog being around the cage, which a lot of people have. He mostly checked them out, climbed on top of the cage to see if there was a way in that way and toddled off to get into something else (which was a french fry I missed but I got it away before he could eat it ).

Oh good I always worry that he is not getting enough, as it seems like so little, remember I'm used to guinea pigs who eat ALL THE TIME. Hay, pellets and veggies, I swear their weight or more daily in these foods.

Is it normal for ferrets to stash it for most of the day and than eat it just before supper?