S.Hewett wrote:
>A big G'day to Fox Lee,
>
>Ferrets aren't all that rare here in Australia, it's just that they
>aren't very visible unless you have contact with a ferret club. :-)
I don't know, I've been trying to find one for the last year or so with
no luck. Pet stores just don't carry them anymore, and finding breeders
seems nigh-on impossible (I did try through a couple of clubs, actually,
but they refused to recommend breeders on principle, even when they had
no ferrets for adoption. Zuh? ;). I only found Ruben's previous
owner after extensive trolling of internet classifieds, which was a
worrying way to find a pet.
>I don't know which state you are in, but a good place to look for ferret
>contacts is at www.waffs.org.au which is the web site of the Western
>Australian Ferret & Ferreting Society. It has contact details of ferret
>clubs in other states and you will get advice which is more specific to
>our Australian ferrets. Even if you are not in WA, WAFFS can still be
>contacted for any health or advice about ferrets that you may need.
*nods* Thanks for the reference. I'm in NSW myself, and I have been in
contact with our state ferret club, but they're a little disorganised
(or, at least, their website is rather out-of-date - I'm not sure).
>Yes, kibble is another word for pet biscuits. If you must feed them to
>your ferret, the best ones are not from the supermarkets but from vets,
>pet shops and produce stores. Kitten varieties of Whiskers Advance,
>Science Diet, Iams & Living World Premium for Ferrets are just some of
>the types that are suitable. They have meat as their main ingredient
>instead of grain. Biscuits should only be fed as a supplement, never as
>a complete diet because of their high carbohydrate content. You would
>be better supplementing Ruben's diet with whole chicks & mice and
>chicken wings & necks.
Yep, this is something I researched before getting Ru. Don't worry, I
was never planning to give him biscuits as a primary diet (although his
previous owner was just feeding him cat biscuits, my mum was always an
advocate of natural/raw pet foods, and since none of our dogs or cats
ever had a single diet-related problem, it seemed wise to me).
Unfortunately whole prey isn't really an option... we are in a slightly
precarious situation with our boss, who owns our house, and (despite
having told us multiple times that getting a ferret was okay) apparently
changes his mind every day on what his pet policy is. Ruben's currently
having a mixture of equal parts chicken necks, chicken livers and
miscellaneous chicken giblets, though, which is probably the next closest
thing to a whole chick. The main problem is with him "stashing" his food
instead of eating it, but it seems to work well enough if lock him in
while he eats and take away the food once he starts carrying it off
instead of eating. It's not exactly practical, but it's the only way we
can currently avoid finding rotting chicken bits under our bed ^_^;
>Also, ferrets thrive on lactose-free milk with whole raw egg beaten in
>it. Nutrigel or Nutripet are vitamin supplements that most ferrets
>adore and can be given sparingly as a treat or reward.
Ah, now that sounds like fun (and at least he couldn't carry it away ;p).
I do have some Nutripet already, which he loves, and I'm glad to hear
it's appropriate ^^
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Fox Lee: The Girl Your Mother Warned You About
http://hypercrescendo.net/foxlee/fls/
http://www.furbiddenrealms.com
http://blurty.com/users/leechimera/
"Being open-source also helps;
With Windows, you have one programmer versus millions of hackers.
With Open-Source, you have millions of hackers versus millions of hackers.
The odds are clear."
- Axle Gear, on Operating Systems
[Posted in FML issue 4739]
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