From:
Jacqueline Snyder
Date: 2001-04-19 16:14:00 UTC
Subject: Re:Keeping Gerber Baby food out?
Meat spoilage has a lot to do with temperature. If you keep the ferret room
fairly cool--ferrets are fine at room temperatures somewhat cooler than
people like, as long as they can get into warm hammocks and so on if they
want--food left out will spoil slower. It also helps to keep utensils and
so on as clean as possible. (Don't touch babyfood with your fingers--you'll
contaminate it. It's really pretty clean when it comes straight out of the
jar.)
On two occasions, we've had to leave a ferret that needed frequent feeding
alone for most of the day. I put some babyfood in two small dishes--wide
enough for her to eat from, but small enough to keep the food 'compact' so
it would warm up slower--and set each small dish in a larger dish of water.
Then the ''double dish" arrangements were put in the freezer. We also put
an unopened jar of babyfood in the refrigerator to chill thoroughly. Just
before we left, we gave the ferret her breakfast, using the chilled jar.
We put the frozen dishes in her cage so that she could eat that food as it
melted.
This seems to have worked reasonably well. She ate all her food over the
day (and got the melted water all over). She didn't get sick, and I didn't
smell any obvious bad odors in the dishes.