ferret lady
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Everything posted by ferret lady
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HELP ferret stolen 4 week old kits what to feed????
ferret lady replied to ryan123's topic in Ferrets & Ferreting
At 4 weeks, I'd feed them 4 times a day with mince and finely chopped meat/organs, plus giving them a good drink of goat's milk or other lactose free milk when they'd eaten all the solid food they wanted. They'd still be nursing at this age, so do need the milk for complete nutrition. -
I've had jills with small litters (4 or less) come in heat when the kits were about a week old on two separate occasions. Both times I tried to false the jill about her 10th day and both times she made it clear to the hob that he was dead if he so much as laid a paw on her. Their vulvas started shrinking a few hours later. The milk production was not affected at any time, and both jills continued to nurse their kits through 6 weeks or so.
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I agree completely. I don't think you'd be doing the kit any favors long term, only prolonging her suffering if she has one or more congenital defects which are preventing her from growing normally.
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I've never supplemented weak kits, as I don't think it's a good practise to allow such kits to survive if they can't make it on their own.
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I've seen this type of eye infection a few times over the years in very young kits. It's caused by a infection and build up of pus, and can be treated by very carefully opening the slit and putting in ophthalmic oinment. This is not something I felt comfortable doing, so just left it alone. The swelling went down within 2-3 days, and it didn't seem to affect the kit's health or future eye sight. I've never seen any indication that it's contagious, as I've never had more than one kit in a litter with it. The runt very likely has either a cardiac or gastrointestinal congenital defect. I
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Ferrets imprint on food at a fairly early age, so one raised on kibble almost certainly wouldn't even recognize meat as food. That said, when I first began raising my kits on a raw/whole prey diet several years ago, their dams began sampling it when they saw the kits gobbling it down until they'd switched themselves over to it. The hobs started eating it when they saw the others, so I had everyone off kibble in about 2-3 months. Kibble was still available for several more months, but was eaten less and less. Out of curiosity, I showed all mine kibble yesterday evening when I fed the c
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I have done brother/sister matings several times over the years and never had any defective kits. I inbreed at least every 3 generations to make sure I haven't brought any defective genes into my breeding program. But then I have and breed only sables (polecat color and markings) with full dark nose pigmentation from a solid sable background with no dilutes or white markings. It probably is wise not to inbreed or linebreed silvers and/or DEWs, or albinos with those genes behind them.
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Since she was in heat so early in the year, I'd wonder if the hob had been in rut long enough to be fertile. Breeding her to him when she comes back in heat should tell whether or not he is still fertile. I would not recommend leaving her in with him for more than 24 hours, so that you know exactly when she is due to whelp.
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If they have a background of good health and no genetic defects, are both very good quality ferrets with excellent temperaments, are very good workers, and their parents and grandparents were the same, it could be an excellent breeding. Inbreeding is only advisable when the breeder knows the background thoroughly for several generations.
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As a US breeder, I couldn't agree more. I breed only sables (polecat color) from a background of only sables to avoid the genetic defects and reproduction problems which have resulted from breeding silvers and other fancy colors. I am interested in importing a hob and a jill from the UK (dark coloration with a fully pigmented black nose) to continue my breeding program, as I am unable to find any quality breeding stock in the US which does not have a heavy background of fancy colors.
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I've never had a jill who was willing to be separated from her kits before they were at least 8-9 weeks old, and most of the jills stay with their kits through 3-4 months. Since the kits follow their dam's example, this is a great aid in training and socializing them. Keeping the kits together at least through 10 weeks also makes sure that they are properly socialized to other ferrets. I don't place my kits until they are at least 10 weeks old and usually 12 weeks as I want to be sure of their temperaments and conformation, so that I can be sure I'm keeping the best one(s).
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How did they confirm that there was no infection? Did they run a CBC on her?
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When do hobs come off heat? - Also a Ferreting question
ferret lady replied to Haystack's topic in Ferrets & Ferreting
IME, the hobs come in rut a month or two before the jills start coming in heat, and go out of rut about a month or so later. -
A greenish discharge is an indication of a vaginal or uterine infection. She needs to see the vet asap.
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Here's the F1 hob at just over a year old, at his summer weight of about 5 3/4 lb: I'll post pics of his sons/grandsons as soon as I have the time to find them.
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I had an F1 hob who weighed over 6 lbs in winter weight. His F2 and F3 descendents weigh just over 4 lbs to close to 6 lbs, as none were as quite as big as he. They aren't that much bigger than "normal" ferret hobs, but are much better muscled, so the increased weight comes from their well developed muscles.
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I agree that, so long as you're breeding albinos together, it doesn't matter what color genes they carry. It does matter if an albino is bred to a colored ferret in hopes of getting a specific color. Unless the breeder knows what colors the albino is carrying that aren't expressed, he/she may be very disappointed in the colors of the resultant kits.
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In theory, two albinos will produce only albinos as they will both pass on one albino gene to their offspring. However, their offspring will also inherit the color genes passed on by the albino parents which are carried on other chromosomes. I have read scattered reports that albino parents have produced colored offsping, but have not seen any proof of that.
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I'd suggest you do some research on albino genetics. Albinos are the result of a defect in the tyrosinase gene so that there is no melanin production. They can carry any color genes which they inherited from their parents, although the albino genes which they inherited from both parents does not allow any of those colors to be expressed.
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IMO, there is not sufficient data to determine the long term effects of using artificial hormones to influence their reproductive cycles. Thus, I would only use it on ferrets not intended for breeding in the future, to ensure that there was no deleterious effect on kits. The manufacturer also describes the same effects when the implant is used on prepuberty cats and dogs as has been seen in early neutering/spaying. Other negative side effects have been observed in cats and dogs which were neutered or spayed before they were sexually mature, as well, and I'd be concerned that could also o
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Going by what the manufacturer says about this drug, I wouldn't use it on any ferret intended for future breeding. Also, to ensure that the ferret develops normally, I'd be very cautious about using it on a ferret until after it was fully mature and had gone through a rut/heat.
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So you're going to condemn all those who work their ferrets because you don't like the comments of one or two? I joined this forum to learn about working ferrets and have gained the exact opposite impression as you. I'm very impressed at the attitude of the vast majority of those who keep and breed ferrets for working. Most are obviously very knowledgeable about the ferrets and give them excellent care, far more so than many pet owners, and it seems that working ferrets have longer, healthier lives than many pet ones. If I were a rescue, I'd certainly be delighted to rehome ferrets to expe
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I don't doubt that the majority of American ferrets are vastly different from the UK ones, particularly those bred by commercial breeders and neutered very early as they do not mature physically, mentally, or emotionally. Most are bred for a "pet" personality, ie, a high nip/bite threshold, people oriented and docile personality, and a low personal flight distance threshold. That, plus the early neutering, makes for an animal which can be nip trained very easily so that they can be readily handled by anyone and kept in larger groups. Many of them also are not all that intelligent or athleti
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An understanding of genetics, along with knowing the various traits which are wanted and how they are inherited, takes much of the guess work out of breeding. With that knowledge, a breeder can produce what is wanted in more of the kits with fewer litters and in far less generations. I have not bred a hunting line of ferrets, as I live in the US, but use linebreeding and inbreeding in my line to make sure that they maintain their natural instincts and abilities. I did have a closely bred line of Basenjis (sight and scent hounds) for almost 30 years who were excellent hunters and needed
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Droid is correct in saying that there is no such thing as a "working gene." However, all the various mental and emotional traits which are inherited will determine what type of worker a ferret will (or won't) be. Training and environment enter into it as well, but cannot develop the traits which are not there to begin with or may not be able to override an unfortunate combination of traits which predispose the ferret to hunt (or not hunt) in a particular manner. I don't doubt that hunting instinct can be bred out of ferrets just as it's been bred out of many breeds of dogs where the various