Why DO some ferrets prefer "pelleted food"?

[Guest ARTEMIS]

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Edited August 18, 2007 by ARTEMIS

[gibby 0]

My ferret kits were eating meat straight from the carcass before there eyes even opened. Its natures way.

 

And meat straight from the fridge should be fine. Meat straight from the fridge, meat that has just defrosted, meat still warm from being shot just 10 minutes before, it all goes down the same way with my pack

 

But in the case of a ferret that prefers pellets over meat, it obviously just depends on what the kits were weaned onto. One of my ferrets when I picked him up had never eaten rabbit before. Went out and shot one for him and gave him a hind leg and he was looking at it like "wtf" but after a few mins ate it and from then on hes went loopy for it. Never gave him dry food since in all the time Ive owned him he'd probably give me another one of those "wtf" looks if I tried to now!

 

Another one of my ferrets had been weaned onto dry food before I got her and the first meal I gave her was some roadkill pheasant and she went mental for it and knew what to do straight away. They are all different

 

Best of luck with him Im sure (positive in fact) he'll see the light if all you offer him is the real thing.

 

Cheers

[Kay 3,709]

Well i have just sat & watched this 3 week old kit crawl from the nest to a dish of raw mince & climb in it, it obviously could smell the meat , infact last weekend i took pics of her & at 2 weeks old she had 2 visable bottom canines , i also took a bite from the kit yesterday indicating to me its ready to be introduced to meat , which it now has

[Hob&Jill 258]

Of course they are not going to 'curl up and die'

 

I go to Macdonalds, KFC, Burger King, its not good for me but it tastes gooooooooooood (ish :sick:) Someone puts a Apple and a Chocolate bar in front of me, Chocolate bar everytime :D.......

[Guest ARTEMIS]

d

Edited August 18, 2007 by ARTEMIS

[jultaylor1972 2]

My kitt is 9 weeks old and she eats fresh meat with no problems apart from I have to feed them all seperately or they have mass battles in the hutch. Yesterday when I was putting a day old chick in she nearly took the end of my finger off because she was so excited at the prospect of eating it!! Im going to give them a rabbit later today and I hope they dont fight over it. I always feed them as late as possible with meat as there arent so many flies about then. I must confess though I do give them a VERY small amount of James Wellbeloved Ferret food in the morning, but thats more about keeping their teeth in good condition, I see that more of a snack though rather than a meal

[gnipper 6,546]

My kitt is 9 weeks old and she eats fresh meat with no problems apart from I have to feed them all seperately or they have mass battles in the hutch. Yesterday when I was putting a day old chick in she nearly took the end of my finger off because she was so excited at the prospect of eating it!! Im going to give them a rabbit later today and I hope they dont fight over it. I always feed them as late as possible with meat as there arent so many flies about then. I must confess though I do give them a VERY small amount of James Wellbeloved Ferret food in the morning, but thats more about keeping their teeth in good condition, I see that more of a snack though rather than a meal

Chewing on a carcase is better for their teeth than biscuits, also I think day olds are crap as its only a fluffy egg. Mine get whole carcase and very rarely get biscuit when i've not got anything dead knocking around which isn't very often

[Terrier Stuff 0]

My ferret kitts I got were brougt up on pellets,the first time I feed them some rabbit they wolfed it and now wont go back..

[gibby 0]

Chewing on a carcase is better for their teeth than biscuits, also I think day olds are crap as its only a fluffy egg.

 

Nothing wrong with the odd day old chick. Fair enough I dont think they would be nutritious enough to sustain your ferrets permanently, but that doesnt mean there crap. After all even though they are just a fluffy egg, egg protein is the best source of protein known to man and egg protein is the standard by which all other proteins are measured. So a fluffy egg may not be such a bad thing... (In human nutrition terms but Im sure a complete protein is a complete protein regardless of the species ingesting it)

[jultaylor1972 2]

My kitt is 9 weeks old and she eats fresh meat with no problems apart from I have to feed them all seperately or they have mass battles in the hutch. Yesterday when I was putting a day old chick in she nearly took the end of my finger off because she was so excited at the prospect of eating it!! Im going to give them a rabbit later today and I hope they dont fight over it. I always feed them as late as possible with meat as there arent so many flies about then. I must confess though I do give them a VERY small amount of James Wellbeloved Ferret food in the morning, but thats more about keeping their teeth in good condition, I see that more of a snack though rather than a meal

Chewing on a carcase is better for their teeth than biscuits, also I think day olds are crap as its only a fluffy egg. Mine get whole carcase and very rarely get biscuit when i've not got anything dead knocking around which isn't very often

Here's their tea tonight. Apart from the huge fight that followed They are tucking in right now.

[Guest ARTEMIS]

d

Edited August 18, 2007 by ARTEMIS

[Hob&Jill 258]

Are you sure you shot that, its head looks rather flat

 

Artemis, he will cotton on when hes hungry enough and has NO choice. Just cut out the dry and feed meat, that way it has no choice, its going to eat when its hungry enough I have been having similar problems with my pup, she just wasnt keen on meat. I have now found something she likes and have cut down the ammount of feed, as it seem they need FAR less food when on fresh meat.

 

Good luck with them, My lot of Kits had there first 'solid' feed yesterday, I gave them abit of minced chicken

[jultaylor1972 2]

Are you sure you shot that, its head looks rather flat

Im sure it will, it was in the freezer for 24 hours as it was covered in fleas . :ok:

[Greenrodders 0]

I give mine a mix of pelleted food (Chudley's), rabbit and squirrel as well as any fresh road kill (watch out pigeons). I also give them the occasional egg and SMA baby milk when my daughter leaves some in the bottle. :blush:

 

Wild polecats eat a big variety of differnt foods as well as small mammals, aggs and wild birds. They also eat slugs and snails (yuck) but I don't let my ferrets eat them because I read somewhere that they carry heart worms.

 

A mate who only feeds dried food borrowed my hob to mate with his jills. He made sure the hob got some fresh rabbit, but the jills wouldn't touch the stuff ...don't know what they're missing.

 

I am skinning everything I give them at the moment because there're a lot of fleas on anything I'm shooting at this time of year. I think that's a bit of a shame because apparently fur is good for the gut.

[Lea 3]

I've got a litter of 9 kits at 6 wks old. They started themselves on the rabbit (whole carcass) 2 weeks ago ish! Put 1 in for the jills and looked in a few minutes later and the kits were stuck in about it. Put 1 in now and its nearly all gone in an hour.