Raw/Whole Prey Diet Appreciation Thread! *graphic warning*

[Mike41793]

Shakira woulda been better... I'm sure the rat had an Objection!

[Jay_Bunny]

Great video! I think the music choice was appropriate.

I have to go to the reptile shop today to pick up live feeders for the snakes. I think I'll get Twitch a treat and surprise her with a mouse. I'll try to get video. For anyone feeding raw/whole prey to ferrets, do you follow a specific menu? I found when I was feeding mine I'd stick to a set schedule that way I never forgot to give them the right ratio of raw meaty bones, meat, and organs. If any of you follow a menu, could you post it here or PM it to me. I'm sure I have my old menu somewhere out there but my old one did not incorporate whole prey, which is something I'd like to do.

[Jay_Bunny]

Any ideas on how to get Kale (ferret) to eat whole prey? He'll sniff it but other than that he's absolutely uninterested.

[bubblz]

It's a process, just start with small pieces mixed in with their regular food, cut up or blended depending on your animal. After a while as their system get use to it and develops the necessary bacteria to help break it down and digest it, up the amount just like switching dog foods. After time they learn to recognize the taste and smell as prey / food then you can start to offer whole items. What to eat isn't all instinct they also have to learn what's good to eat, it usually comes from their parents (depending on the animal) so that's where we come in.

This was Dino with his first rabbit.







My dogs ate raw as well. The last one I got Cocoa, she pretty much took to whole prey by watching me feed my reptiles. She had stolen rat feeders before but this was the day I actually gave her one to make sure, since I had never actually seen her eat one.

[satomi325]

Ferrets are a little harder to switch than a dog. They imprint of certain foods they've been introduced to in the first 6 months of their life, which is their critical period. Some ferrets will never switch to certain foods. They would rather starve than try something new. So I can't guarantee than the ferret in question will ever eat whole prey. However, I'll give you advise to try.


It's not that hard to teach a ferret. It just takes time and patients.
Since they're predators, you have to teach them what is prey and that it is food. Usually in the wild, their wild ancestors and modern polecat cousins are taught by mom. No mama weasel here, so we have to teach them ourselves.
Usually mothers bring back a small (or injured) prey so the babies can play with them and practice their skills. It's basically the same thing when teaching domestic ferrets.
You introduce prey to them. They won't understand right away, but they'll start picking up on it eventually. (Between 3-10 introductions in my experience)
They have a natural prey/chase drive, so anything that moves, they will chase. If your ferret likes teaser toys, it will be a good hunter.
Ferrets older than 6 months can only taste protein, so when they taste the meat, something internally triggers in them to know it is food.
Ferrets imprint in the first 6 months of their lives like I mentioned, so it's best to introduce everything within this critical time period. It becomes more difficult as they are older, but it is do-able. Just a little longer process. Some ferrets are just hooked onto kibble from imprinting on it and will never eat anything else. But I haven't had that issue yet.

When I first started feeding whole prey, I had 2 adults and 1 baby. The adults were taught first and they took about 3 sessions each to understand what a mouse was and that it was food. I let the baby in with them later on when they were experienced hunters and they taught the baby by visual observation. The baby got it on his first try and is the most obsessed with prey.

I've taught a few older foster ferrets the same way. They've picked up much quicker because they were able to observe from the others.
My boyfriend taught his ferrets who to eat whole prey the same way I taught my original 2. (Just consecutive introduction)
His new baby got it right away after watching the rest of the group eat too.

The babies are the most aggressive when it comes to feeding time now. I think it's because they were young when they were introduced.

And type of prey matters in some individuals. They have preferences. My boyfriend's baby ferret goes nuts for chicks. It's the only type of prey where he actually eats the whole thing right away and won't share. My baby prefers rodents and will stash kills and guard them from the other ferrets.

Starting off with live hopper/adult mice is best. They're a good safe size to teach your ferret. Once they're experienced, you can try other types of prey(live,f/t,p/k) or just raw in general. I suggest trying live first to get them interested. They're more interested in fast moving things. So the live mice are perfect. Once they understand that prey is food, you can switch over to whatever if you're not comfortable with live. They take the frozen or prekilled much more readily once they understand that it is food, which is why I always start them off on live.

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[satomi325]

Also, if he won't even chase mice, I suggest trying a rabbit pink. Something about them drives the ferrets crazy. Even the ferrets who are stuck on kibble and never react to prey have shown some sort of predatory reaction to the rabbits.

Edit: I also realized after the last post that your female already ate live mice. Sorry if I repeated anything you already knew.

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[Jay_Bunny]

I will definitely give that a try. Mixing it in with other food might help. I just asked hubby if we could try putting them on raw again and he said okay. Its much more expensive than feeding them kibble but its better for them and if we can afford it I think we should switch. We never really had much of an issue switching Twitch over to raw or whole prey. She just took to it like she'd been eating it all her life. We started her young (she was less than 3 months old I'd say) and started with mouse pinks. She thought they were treats . And it just kind of took off from there. When we got Damien he took to raw pretty well and has recently (in the past year) started playing tug of war with Twitch over mice and eating part of it.



Do you have a menu you tend to follow? I find following a menu helps me stay organized.

[GoingPostal]

I feed partial frankenprey, part whole prey but my two are currently eating this menu plus they eat 1 patty stella & chewys or another freeze dried raw, split into two meals for soup, my female has to eat before her meds. Proteins are turkey, duck, lamb, rabbit and beef rotated daily. As far as getting them to eat whole prey, I had started feeding my ferrets mice long before I switched to raw, one loved them from the start so if my snake didn't eat it she would and I started buying them for her, she taught most of the others. Never could get two of that crew to eat them but once those passed I switched the remaining four to raw and from eating mice they had no hesitation for quail, rabbit and guinea pigs.

Ferret menu
1-half an adult quail
2-other half quail
3-rabbit ribs
4-adult mice, one per ferret, two if they are just weaned smaller ones
5-turkey meat, livers, kidneys, heart
6-bone in duck piece
7-varies, sometimes chicken, game hen, goat, grouse, more rabbit or mice again

[Jay_Bunny]

Thanks. I'll be doing some research and putting together a menu this week. Then I'll go out on Friday and price stuff out.

[satomi325]

My menu is on my first original post.

I like feeding whole prey so I don't have to supplement so many things into their diet. I feed mice, rats, rabbit, chicks, turkey, duck, quail, freeze dried livers, chicken jerky, etc.

I really want to try guinea pig. I've been trying to find some feeders for a decent price for a while.

Between 3 ferrets. Birds last a meal or two per ferret. Adult rats and 1-3 lb rabbits can last 2 days before fully consumed by the group. Adult mice and equivalent size rats are just single snacks and just last a few minutes.

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