Prey
The Pro’s and Con’s between Frozen Thawed Prey and Live Whole Prey
Frozen Thawed Whole Prey:
Mice and rats (as well as rabbits, quail, etc) can be purchased pre-frozen, online from various providers. Buying frozen feeders online is very convenient. They ship directly to your door, prepackaged with dry ice to keep them frozen from distributor, to delivery, to doorstep.
Feeder animals are raised on a diet to help them be of good quality and nutritional viability for your pet. The animals are usually dispatched using a CO2 chamber. Most commercial online frozen feeder companies will only dispatch your prey animals AFTER you order, which is good for those who worry about the freshness of the prey.
Pros:
-Less costly than feeding live whole prey
-More convenient than feeding live whole prey
-Less chance of parasites being transmitted to your ferret via food
-Ferret will not be bitten by whole prey animals when eating
-Less emotionally disturbing to ferret owners than feeding live prey
Cons:
-While prey is usually frozen the day of your order, there is no denying that a live mouse killed 5 seconds ago is going to be fresher than a mouse that’s been frozen for a few days/weeks (if you’ve been keeping the mice in your freezer for a while).
-Less mentally stimulating to a ferret than live prey
-You have no control over what the feeder mice are eating
Live Whole Prey:
As a whole prey feeder you have the option of feeding live whole prey foods. When feeding live whole prey you have three options:
1. You can purchase your ferret’s food from a local pet shop that sells live feeders and bring home one meal at a time.
2. You can buy a week’s worth of feeders and keep them in your home in a special cage.
3. You can breed your own feeders.
**Please note that many articles on the internet are against the feeding of live whole prey. As a ferret owner it is up to you to review the pros and cons and decide if you’d like to feed live or frozen-thawed prey.
Pros:
-More mentally stimulating to the ferret than feeding pre-killed
-If you raise your own mice, you can feed them whatever you want to ensure they are as nutritious as possible
-Feeding live may be more appealing to ferrets because of the temperature of the food
Cons:
-More likely to transmit parasites to the ferret
-Prey can bite/possibly injure the ferret
-Ferrets may not know how to kill the live prey animal
-Feeding live is (obviously) very stressful to the prey animal
-Feeding live prey can be emotionally upsetting to some people
-When feeding live prey, unless you breed your own mice, you don’t have the option of buying in bulk which is more convenient/time saving/cost effective
What size of prey should I get?
All sizes. The bulk of the diet should consist of adult mice (small-x-large). Weaned/hopper mice, as well as pinky and fuzzy mice all are important as well. But generally, they shouldn’t constitute the bulk of the diet.
How many do you think one fuzzy will eat?
Males will eat 3-4 hoppers each, or 1 x-large mouse each, 2 small mice each, and sometimes two large mice each. If they seem to still be hungry after eating their prey, I offer a thumb sized piece of raw meat later in the day.
I hope this helps because your ferret’s nutrition is vital to having a healthy happy long lived ferret. In Secret # 5 I will be sharing “Ferret Nutrition Questions and Answers” If you would like more info on Ferrets please visit: www.Ferrerts-as-Pets.com
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