Once or Twice?

[B3@N!]

Just curious on whether you feed the ferret once or twice a day. What time of day is most appropriate?

I wanna try the raw/whole prey eventually getting to whole prey only.

I will be getting a kit that started on the Marshall food. Would a feeder mouse be enough to last all day or would I have to give it twice a day?

I'm not saying I'm ONLY going to feed a feeder mouse but just curious in terms of amounts if that would be enough for a kit for an all day meal or the like.

Thanks!

[jacksmomma]

Mine (a have a four month old male and a ~3 year old male) eat twice a day. about 6-8 ounces of meat at each serving. for a kit, one feeder mouse is definitely not enough. Kits are super piggies and even an adult would need 2 (i think).

[mustelidmusk]

Kibble should be available at all times. Many ferrets tend to "pick" at kibble all day /night long rather than eat "meals".

Most raw-fed ferrets eat two meals per day - morning and evening.
A single large meal per day is NOT well-suited to ferrets for the following reasons:
1. ferrets tend to stash food so they eat some now/eat some later
2. Overfeeding at a single meal can cause digestive upset/vomiting/diarrhea - basically loss of nutrition.
3. Pancreatic disease in older ferrets is not impossible (but MUCH LESS LIKELY) on a raw diet. These ferrets REQUIRE frequent feeding and are best maintained with access to freeze-dried raw 24 hours per day to prevent low blood sugar episodes/possible seizures, coma, death.

Another think to note is that a kit that has had food available 24 hours per day (from mom and kibble) do well when fed 3 raw meals per day. Many peopel will start out feeding puppies 3 meals per day) The same id true for oldsters. This is not necessary, but ferret kits are like any other baby - eat small, eat often. These little guys need lots of fuel to grow strong and healthy.

-jennifer

[B3@N!]

I've heard about this freeze dried raw. Is that stuff available or able to be done at home? I guess I felt that kibble would be eliminated entirely, is this not the case?

[jacksmomma]

I think Jennifer is referring to how kibble is available all day, so raw should be treated similarly. if you're going raw, yes kibble should be eliminated entirely.

[sunnyberra]

I feed twice a day. Generally, morning is a ground food (whether boneless or bone-in depends on the day) or heart and evening is usually an RMB (neck, CGH pieces, whole quail, etc). I'll also give quail/chicken feet in the afternoon as a little snack, too, and my guys love it

My schedule is a little off with the new guy (I'm still trying to get him situated with RMBs [he'll eat small bone chunks, just not anything substantial] and my established guys are mimicking him, so they'll only eat what he does, right now. It's irritating!)

[sherrylynne]

I also feed twice a day, but generally leave enough in there to last them until the next mealtime. As for freeze dried, Wysong's Archetypal 1 is a really good one, as is Stella and Chewy's. Both are raw freeze dried, which is difficult to do at home.

[katt]

I free range feed. I give 2 meals a day, but I leave them in the cage so that they have access to food at all times.

[AnimalFarm2006]

I've found with my dog and ferrets to feed the morning meal larger than the afternoon meal. My guys are more active in the day and require more food to burn.

But I always leave them with some kind of bone meat to nibble on through out the day untill they get a meat or soup meal.

[shilohismygirl]

Mine have access to food at all times, but it really usually amounts to me putting two meals in their cage a day-big meals. Say, for breakfast, they had chopped pork, a bit of chopped steak, and some leftover raw chicken I had, about an ounce and a half of that, so altogether about 6 ounces of meat. Then, when they finished it (I leave food in for 24 hours if left uneaten, and take it away promptly after that, or if it'll be nighttime before it's been that long, I err on the side of caution and take it away earlier), I gave them about a fourth or maybe a little more of a Cornish hen. If they run out before I pop off to bed, I give them more. I don't think I've had a problem with overeating. Though Oz and Hiro are bigger than the other guys, they're still in a healthy weight range and don't tend to overeat. Fiddler and Shiloh are older, and don't really overeat much (unless rabbit is involved. I limit that), so they do have access to food at all times