Ferret Food?

[JJC]

Okay so I know you are not supposed to feed crickets cat or dog food, but what about ferret food?

I just started successfully breeding crickets. Problem is...at 3 weeks old, the crickets are about the size of 1 week old crickets sold at the pet store. They are growing...just really slowly. I read that the key to making crickets grow is heat and protein. SO I placed a under tank heating pad under the cricket tank...and now I am considering ferret food since it is VERY high in protein. Has anyone tried this, or have recommendations on how to make them grow?

Here is the info on the food:

Guaranteed Analysis
Crude Protein 45.0% min
Crude Fat 16.0% min
Crude Fiber 3.0% max
Moisture 10.0% max

Ingredients: Chicken, Chicken Meal, Ground Rice, Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols, Ascorbic Acid, Vitamin E, Beta Carotene and Rosemary), Chicken Digest, Raisin Juice, Banana Puree, Fish Oil, Garlic Oil, Taurine, Dried Whole Egg, Dicalcium Phosphate, DL-Methionine, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Oxide, Vitamin A Acetate, Dehydrated Lactobacillus acidophilus Fermentation Product, Cranberry Powder, Dehydrated Casei Fermentation Product, Copper Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Zinc Proteinate, Manganese Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Iron Proteinate, Calcium Pantothenate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Niacin, Riboflavin Supplement, Inositol, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Potassium Iodide, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid, Sodium Selenite, and Cobalt Carbonate.

 

[robmd1]

id say ferret food would be the same as cat an dog food... its not that you cant feed them that, you can to get them to grow BUT you dont want to feed them to your cham with all that in them so grow them up on that an before you feed them out gutload with the good stuff for awhile before feeding them off...

 

[JJC]

Thanks Rob. The crickets are fed oatmeal, and high calcium cricket diet. They also get kale, apple, strawberries, sweet peppers, cricket gel, etc... daily. If I add Ferret food in addition to "the good stuff" should I still take the crickets off the ferret kibble for a few days before feeding it to my cham and other reptiles?

 

[ladysilkworm]

Hi.

Aside from silkworms, I raised ferrets and bred sugar gliders. Both are high protein consumers.

I wouldnt advice because for 1, ferrets foods are very expensive. The best kind of Marshalls and one small bag would cost you $17.99. If it get wet, it is no good. Then the cheaper ones have fillers that I dont believe are appropriate for crix.

I never fed ferret food to sugar gliders though.. but I think that could've been done.

Suggies ate only fresh food and mealies. I didnt even give them monkey biscuit. I raised mealies on old cereals. They bred but were small.. I guess I was not patient enough to let them get bigger before feeding off.

I never bred crix, but can you give them oatmeal flakes?? those are like $2 for a big bag. I fed occasional crix and grubs from my yard. I know, not adviced. but heheh.. they loved it though. I also raised ducklings to eat off the slugs.

 

[JJC]

Hi Ladysilk, thanks for your reply. Ferret food is expensive...I was very unhappy with the ingredients for the Marshals brand and actually feed my boys Ultimate 8 in 1 (30dollars a bag) because of the ingredients. (Chicken instead of Chicken byproducts.) Yesterday I went ahead and gave the baby crickets some ferret food mush (added water until soft) and the crickets went crazy. I could not see the small dab of food I put in there because it was completely covered by crickets. It was gone within an hour.

Here is my theory. It costs me $25 for 500 crickets in the area. I have tried online suppliers but by the time you add shipping i costs even more. If I can manage to make my home bred crickets grow large in the thousands then a few handfuls of ferret food is justified. Also when I grow them myself I know they are clean and well fed. Sometimes the crickets I order at the pet store die off quickly despite my best efforts.

I just dont want to feed my Chameleon anything that may harm him. Thats partially why I started this thread...to make sure there was nothing in the list of ingredients of ferret food that would harm my reptiles. In addition to the ferret food the crickets ARE offered oatmeal (love the price) and cricket calcium diet. In addition to that they are getting bearded dragon salad daily which has various fruits and veggies.

The goal is to make them grow at a faster pace...it makes me wonder what cricket farms do to grow a cricket to full size in 5 weeks.

 

[ladysilkworm]

Hi Ladysilk, thanks for your reply. Ferret food is expensive...I was very unhappy with the ingredients for the Marshals brand and actually feed my boys Ultimate 8 in 1 (30dollars a bag) because of the ingredients. (Chicken instead of Chicken byproducts.) Yesterday I went ahead and gave the baby crickets some ferret food mush (added water until soft) and the crickets went crazy. I could not see the small dab of food I put in there because it was completely covered by crickets. It was gone within an hour.

Here is my theory. It costs me $25 for 500 crickets in the area. I have tried online suppliers but by the time you add shipping i costs even more. If I can manage to make my home bred crickets grow large in the thousands then a few handfuls of ferret food is justified. Also when I grow them myself I know they are clean and well fed. Sometimes the crickets I order at the pet store die off quickly despite my best efforts.

I just dont want to feed my Chameleon anything that may harm him. Thats partially why I started this thread...to make sure there was nothing in the list of ingredients of ferret food that would harm my reptiles. In addition to the ferret food the crickets ARE offered oatmeal (love the price) and cricket calcium diet. In addition to that they are getting bearded dragon salad daily which has various fruits and veggies.

The goal is to make them grow at a faster pace...it makes me wonder what cricket farms do to grow a cricket to full size in 5 weeks.

hmm.. seems like your methodology makes alot of sense!! and come to think of it, I should've bought the right stuff to grow the mealies.. I would order 0000 of large and their offsprings are few and tiny.. If i had only spent some money gutloading them maybe I wouldn't have to spend so $ much constantly ordering.. I guess I did raise my suggies well that they constantly bred around the clock.

 

[JJC]

hmm.. seems like your methodology makes alot of sense!! and come to think of it, I should've bought the right stuff to grow the mealies.. I would order 0000 of large and their offsprings are few and tiny.. If i had only spent some money gutloading them maybe I wouldn't have to spend so $ much constantly ordering.. I guess I did raise my suggies well that they constantly bred around the clock.

My mealworms are super small too...I think part of it is that pet stores actually give the worms hormones to prevent the worms from turning into pupa...this in turn makes them larger... My meal worms only reach about 1 inch in length before morphing into pupa/beetles.

I guess now all I can do is wait and see if the ferret food does in fact make them grow faster. I will keep you posted!

 

[ladysilkworm]

My mealworms are super small too...I think part of it is that pet stores actually give the worms hormones to prevent the worms from turning into pupa...this in turn makes them larger... My meal worms only reach about 1 inch in length before morphing into pupa/beetles.

I guess now all I can do is wait and see if the ferret food does in fact make them grow faster. I will keep you posted!

LOL. really? only one inch too?/ very interesting...see, we are at their mercy. Thats how they make money.