Oh, I have too many thoughts running around in my head on this one.
 
Reet, please don't feel discouraged by others' comments regarding your
ferrets' diet, unless it is nutritionally wasteful or poses a danger to
their health.
 
First, let me say that I am indeed an animal lover.  If I had a house
and/or land big enough, I would rescue every single creature that I hear
about.  I've supported Greenpeace.  I would sit in a blowup boat on the
open seas to protect a humpback whale and her calf from whalers.  I would
willingly fly to Canada to spraypaint baby seals to protect them from fur
hunters.  I only eat dolphin-safe tuna.
 
But I am not a vegetarian.  In fact chicken (uh-oh :-P) is my favorite food
(next to chocolate ice cream).  I love hamburgers.  I own a leather jacket
and leather sandals.
 
And I love my ferrets.  If they wanted to eat mice, I would feed them mice.
But they don't eat them.  When our neighbors had an infestation of mice, I
sent Slinky over for the weekend to visit.  Bingo, no more mice.  But he
didn't eat them.  Just killed them after playing with them for a while.
 
There is nothing wrong with feeding mice to other animals.  I gave my
lizard pinkies (baby hairless mice, not fingers) every 3 days or so.  My
fiance cringed every time and thought it was disgusting.  In fact, I had a
really hard time feeding mice the first few times.  But the lizard loved
them and he was in much better condition health- and weight-wise than he
had been with just earthworms and crickets.
 
Supplementing a diet with mice can be good for the ferrets.  Maybe they can
get nutrients and vitamins or something from it that can't be gotten from
dry crunchy food.  Or maybe they just like the different texture.  No harm
done. :-)
 
===
Aileen & the herd
Slinky, Gizmo, Kyle, Noel, & Sandy
 
"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines."
 
"We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence, then, is not an act but a
habit."
[Posted in FML issue 2754]