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Couple of Qs


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Hello when feeding diced raw meat how long do you leave it in their hutch for and also a whole rabbit? I have a horse feed suppliers near me and they do them massive bags of shavings that will work out cheaper in the long run is this type of product ok to use in my ferret hutch? Thank you

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Bales of minimal dust shavings are fine for ferrets. As for food just watch it isn't getting stashed and going off in the warmer weather, only feed enough for the day and perhaps chuck it in at night. A lot of owners (myself included) feed mainly dry this time of year.

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31 minutes ago, gnipper said:

Bales of minimal dust shavings are fine for ferrets. As for food just watch it isn't getting stashed and going off in the warmer weather, only feed enough for the day and perhaps chuck it in at night. A lot of owners (myself included) feed mainly dry this time of year.

good advice ?. only thing I have found with mine is they aren't fond of the dry stuff. 

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If I'm feeding whole rabbits etc ,then I tie them up so they can't be dragged off and stashed,in the warmer months I feed them from 9 o'clock onwards of an evening..remove any uneaten food in the morning before work.. stops the flies...never had a ferret that would eat dryfood..mine get fresh roadkill , anything I knock over with a catty and what ever we get in the season ?20151001_204512.jpg.614a95da1b3da9de45fc94375bf12925.jpg

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Hi there, I use shavings in large trays to make mucking out easier, a bale is much much cheaper and worth hassle of storage. I have once bought a more expensive dust extracted bale and it was a real pain. This version had smaller chips that stuck to meat which the bigger shavings dont seem to. In summer I feed some meat but rabbits jointed or whole for small ones, so there's enough bone to spot the stash and pull it out. Mostly though in summer it's dried food for me. They don't love it but do well on it and it's for a few months only. Just need to have a lot of water available. I use large poultry drinkers. 

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Thanks everyone for your help, il start feeding at night to save on the flys! I have dry food but I thought raw would be a more natural food for em. I recently acquired a couple of youngish Jill's and they are soo messy compared to my hob I cleaned there hutches yesterday and already all the shavings I've put out have ended up outside the hutch ? and their food bowl ended up in their Sleeping quarters ha

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My ferrets get fed a different meal each night mince , cut up chicken frames as I find they eat them quicker then if they are whole , venison coped up as I am lucky enough to now a few dear shooters , kangaroo mince yes you can by our national animal on the shelf in Australia , one whole rabbit at least once a weak. On the days we go hunting they get at the end of the day the livers, kidneys , lungs and hearts from the rabbits. The one thing I am unsure about is should I leave the skins on the rabbits when I feed them to the ferret or not. Some people say yes as it’s good for them others say it’s bad as it will encourage them more to kill under ground , I leave the skins on and not really noticed any different. The other one is from time to time I give them egg in their mince for protein , a boiled egg has a lot more protein then a raw egg and a boiled egg is to much for them , that one I am unsure about. The other one they also get from time to time is a good quality kitten food that has good protein but read what is in it as some of the brands have a lot of vegetables that make up the protein which is not good for the ferrets. Yep people think my ferrets are spoiled , but I wouldn’t want to eat the same food everyday. 

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Feed depending on what your ferrets will eat. Don’t throw a while rabbit in for just two ferrets ... mine go through at least a rabbit a day ... I put a whole frozen rabbit in with them in the morning which stays fresh until the evening due to slowly defrosting then when the evening and night comes it’s cold enough to not go off ... I take out the old carcass in the morning and put a new frozen rabbit in. 

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2 minutes ago, Guss33 said:

I put one rabbit in for 5 ferrets. And also meat.  I hope I am not under feeding them. By the next morning the rabbit is well gone. But should I leave the skin on or off. 

Nobody would skin it for them in the wild .......

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What a pain in the aris this is turning into, phoned all my local butchers to see if they have any cheap off cuts etc for my ferrets and all of them told me they don't sell cheap off cuts and that they pretty much just buy it in pre prepped.... Which i thought is abit huh so really no different from the butchers in tesco's just with a premium price! What ratios do you give I'm gunna get some chicken wings, liver, heart and high fat minced beef 

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To much offal is bad for them chicken wings go off very quickly in the heat and ferrets don’t need a lot of fat in their diet so mean mince is better. 

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6 hours ago, Guss33 said:

I put one rabbit in for 5 ferrets. And also meat.  I hope I am not under feeding them. By the next morning the rabbit is well gone. But should I leave the skin on or off. 

Skin on is no problem at all. In thirty years I’ve always fed skin. I do skin the ones I freeze though purely as they take up less space in the freezer and in the summer the hobs are separated etc and being skinned makes it easier to cut the whole rabbit up and divide amongst the cages. 

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By a bag of pre packed pet food from the butchers and look on the bag on where it comes from. Sometimes where the pre packed stuff comes from has where it was packed or a name on it. Never know that name may have a discount store. I found that on where I get my chicken frames from. On other one I found was the local markets that sell meat.  The market I go to they try to sell of all their meat very cheap on a Saturday afternoon as they get a new delivery every Monday morning. I also find paying cash you will get it cheaper. 

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