Natural Diet: What Do Ferrets Eat in the Wild?

Ferrets are weasel family members and carnivores so their main food must be meat. They should consume about 35% of protein and 20% of fat on a daily basis as they are a source of energy for these small creatures. However, many people wonder what do ferrets eat in the wild to be active?

What Do Ferrets Eat in the Wild?

Ferret diet in the wild is dominated by the food of animal origin. The most popular animals eaten by ferrets are:

• Rats;
• Mice;
• Frogs

Sometimes they are also lucky to taste snakes, voles, invertebrates and even fish. You will never see a ferret eating corn or vegetables.

They are not able to digest fiber and have a short intestinal tract. It means that nutrients are not absorbed efficiently by them so a meat diet suits them best of all. Their high metabolic rate allows digesting meat easily in case a ferret eats often and by little portions.

So how can ferrets find pure meat in their natural environment? What do wild ferrets eat apart from meat? Similar to reptiles or dogs ferrets eat all the parts of the animal including bones. You may wonder how those small teeth can do that but in fact, it offers stimulation and exercises their jaw.

Food a Baby Ferret Eats in the Wild

Similar to other carnivores ferrets give birth to their babies called kits. These tiny kits are born with a weight of 6-15 grams and are as long as the human’s little finger on the hand. Kits grow very fast and put on 10-20 grams every week as they are fed by jill’s milk. Jills are female ferrets who take care of newborn babies.

Every jill has from 5 to 9 nipples to feed her kits, but of their number is bigger than the number of nipples she will feed them by shift.

Kits eat milk for about 3.5 weeks and have that milky smell by that time. After they get their first teeth they start eating solid food.

How to Feed Domestic Ferrets

It goes without saying that similar to their wild relatives domestic ferrets adore eating meat. Of course, it is not easy to provide it with mouses or rabbits on a daily basis but it is possible to offer these prey animals the following meat products:

• Chicken or turkey wings, necks, carcasses, legs, etc.;
• Minced beef, lamb or chicken;
• Pigeons and other birds;
• Any raw animal bones;
• Alive rats, mice, chicks.

However, not everyone can endure the look and smell of raw animal food but can not live without their pet ferret. Looking for an answer to the question “what to feed a ferret besides ferret food” many people get puzzled as it is important to provide an animal with a full range of nutrients for it to be healthy and active. But today there are examples of the best ferret food.

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These are ready-made solutions produced by companies. Such food is full of all the vitamins and minerals required by ferrets and is very comfortable and useful for feeding them on a daily basis.