Ferrets: Whole prey diet

[satomi325]

HAHA! YOU GUYS!!! <3


Yes. I feed whole prey to my ferrets. I have 3 ferrets and 1 foster. When on kibble, they ate a mix of Zupreem Premium, 8-1 Ultimate, and Drs. Foster and Smith Ferret diet.
I started off teaching my ferrets how to eat whole prey with live adult/hopper mice. Once they got the hang of everything, I started feeding them other types of prey. Now they eat mice, rats, chicks, ducklings, turkey, and baby rabbits.
I do feed live prey for the most part. But they do take pre-killed and frozen as well. They didn't like p/k and f/t at first, but they're prey fiends now and will take it in any form. You just have to get them to become established feeders first.
I pre-kill medium rats and larger just because they are dangerous as a live prey item. A large rat is as big as my small female ferret and will fight back.

1) How long do I leave the food out for them? I dont want them to run around and hide dead rats everywhere so Im makung them a playpen to eat and sleep in. I dont want the food to rot, but I dont want them stuck in a pen all day waiting for them to eat it either yaknow?

I leave prey(dead) out for 2 days. 3 would be the max on larger prey, but most are usually gone by 2. A whole carcass doesn't rot as fast as chopped up meat. Plus when little mice are left out, they dry out so fast it turns into a jerky. lol
The ferrets eat what they want and come back for more later. They usually clean up a carcass in a day or so depending on the prey size. Mice/weaned rats they'll finish off right away in one sitting. Small-Med rats may take a day. Rabbits/Turkey/Chicks/Ducklings may take 2 days or more. But like I said, I dump the carcass by day 3.

Some ferrets take whole prey better than others. I've taught about a dozen ferrets how to switch to prey. Two particular ones refuse to take any form of prey and will only eat kibble.
I would start teaching your ferrets how to take prey first in a small enclosed space such as a large plastic container (40 gallon size roughly) or a bathtub.
A play pen works, but the prey can get pretty messy sometimes and washing a tub/container down is just easier. Having an enclosed space won't allow the ferrets to hide and stash prey. Once they're done killing/eating, put the left overs into their food bowl. They'll finish the rest on their own time. Once they are solid prey eaters, you can probably just stick prey directly in their cage. For mice, I just hold down their tails while the ferret kills them. It's a one bite kill so the mouse isn't suffering. Mine are experienced, so they can kill quickly. Newbie ferrets may take a little while to kill their own prey. But like most things, it takes practice. They will get it eventually.

2) How should I present the rat? Do I just kill it, and give it to them? Am I supposed to drain it of blood and chop it into bits and present it like wet food? etc.

I would start with live hopper/adult mice to introduce them to whole prey. The quick movements of the mice keep the ferrets interested and motivated. Once they're established feeders or at least eating actual body parts, you can transition to p/k, f/t, and other prey if you want.
How many ferrets do you have? Do any of them show a strong prey drive?

Don't drain the blood. After they kill their food the first few times, I can almost guarantee that they will just leave it alone and walk away. That's because they don't know the prey is food.
You can just chop up the carcass and put the pieces into their food dish. Or you can just slice the abdomen open and put the entire body into the food dish. They probably still won't eat it, but it's worth a shot anyway.

The ferrets will not know a p/k prey is food. They actually won't know live prey is food either. But after a few tries, they'll start to get it.
Scientifically, ferrets after 6 months of age can only taste protein.
So they'll start enjoying meat more as they become more exposed.
Think of it like a child who has never tried new foods. They're going to be hesitant and refuse new stuff. They're more comfortable with familiar foods. Same thing with ferrets, the more exposed they are to new food, the more willing they'll start taking it each time. That's why it's important to introduce a verity of foods to baby ferrets to socialize them to not be picky eaters.

It took my 3 personals and 2 fosters around 3 or 4 times each to understand that prey was food. It took one of my friend's ferrets about 2 months. My other friend's ferrets took about a month or less. And it took my boyfriend's 5 ferrets less than 5 mice each to start eating them. We all did one mouse per ferret sessions at a time. And I just mentored a member in my ferret club in the 'art' of switching to whole prey. Her ferrets took about a week.
Once they became more consistent prey eaters, you can start feeding what ever you want. But like I mentioned before, live motivates the ferrets the first couple of times.

3) How long will it take for the raw diet to start benefiting them? Ive got one ferret whose fat like you wouldnt beleive, and wont stop eating, another another ferret(a rescue who was SEVERELY underweight when I got him 2 months ago) who eats, but he just seems to be getting a potbelly instead of actually gaining weight.

Honestly, right away. They will have significantly less poop. Kibble is full of sugars, carbohydrates, and plant fiber. As a obligate carnivore, it's everything a ferret cannot digest. Kibble is the number one contribution to Insulinoma due to the sugar.
Bad brands of kibble will give you massive amounts of poop because it's full of stuff the ferrets cannot absorb. High quality kibble will reduce some poop, but not as much as whole prey. When on whole prey, the ferret will have almost non-existant poop. It's literally just fur that comes out. That's because the ferret absorbs everything.

And it will be about a month or more before you see an increase in activity level and fur condition. Whole prey will make a ferret's coat sleek, shiny, and soft. They will be more active, thus have a better overall body condition.
Males in general are pretty fat, but the higher activity does make them more lean and gain some muscle mass.

For your rescue, how old is he? Potbellies sometimes indicate Adrenal disease or an enlarged pancreas. The enlarged pancreas is harmless.
I would also try to make your ferrets climb things to gain some chest muscles. I used to have pet stairs to lead up to the ferret cage. I recently removed it to force the ferrets to climb back in. My old Adrenal male with a pot belly used to have really bony ribs. Now he has muscle and you can't even tell he was that skinny before.


I recommend taking a look at the Holistic Ferret forum. There are a lot of tips on feeding prey; raw and cooked.

Props for wanting to feed prey!
It will benefit your ferrets a lot.