Night before last I went out and bought a few new cage accessories for
Rocky.  One of which was a J feeder from SuperPet.  I love the concept
of this, keeping a full supply of food available at all times, so that
if we have to leave him home alone for a day or so we don't have to worry
that he won't have enough to eat.  (and just nice in general to have to
fill it less often.)
 
However, tonight when I was getting the cage ready for Rocky and our new
arrival 'Chewie', I found the feeder to be empty.  Looking around, there
is food laying all over among the loose bedding on the floor of the cage.
A little bit of spilling I can see, but it seems like perhaps he had
emptied the feeder onto the floor of the cage.  One possibility, I also
had some new food put in the feeder, mixed with his old.  I believe it
was 'shepard & greene' brand, IIRC.  (Opinions on that welcome as well,
aside from the main topic.)  This food is a much smaller kibble than the
marshall food, and the j feeder I bought has holes in the bottom to let
dust fall through to the bottom of the cage.  It's possible that this
kibble is falling through, but it doesn't seem to be just the new food
on the floor, it's both.
 
As best as I can figure, he must be just emptying the feeder onto the
floor intentionally.  I can't see how he'd be that sloppy an eater!
 
Also, we went out to petco tonight and bought a new ferret.  His name is
Chewie, based on the fact that he started off as Rocky's Chew toy. :-)
 
Now they seem to be getting along great.  They're in the same cage, and
playing together in tubes without attacking each other.  Fortunately,
Rocky's only been around for 3-4 weeks, so he's perhaps not as
territorial as an older, more established ferret would be.
 
One more thing.  Chewie seems to be just a bit younger than rocky, though
no more than a 2-3 weeks.  I'm not sure he's taking to the dry food.
I've just gotten rocky onto dry food completely, so I'd hate to put
moistened food into the cage again, in fear that rocky might still prefer
that and go back to eating it with chewie, rather than sticking with the
dry food.  Any suggestions on how to handle that, short of only feeding
chewie when rocky's not in the cage?
 
Thanks!
Steve
[log in to unmask]
 
P.S.
Pictures of the new family member(s) are up http://www.whitcher.org/
for anyone who'd like to see 'em.
 
Steve
[Posted in FML issue 4520]