Jill

[gibby 0]

I Think my jills coming back into season. Shes only been away from her litter 5 days but i noticed shes starting to swell again already! Is this normal? I was expecting it would take at least a fortnight or 3 weeks time perhaps!

 

Anyway Im not sure if I want to breed her again, Im keeping kits from her first litter and I got a couple from DEL too so Im all set for the season. So I think Im gunna sort her out with a snipped hob if I can borrow one or pay the vets to jab her.

 

Another idea I had is I know someone with a silver hob and Ive always wanted a silver so I was maybe going to use him as a stud.. But I think it would be better for the jill not to bother this year Ill see how she gets on.

 

Anyway is anyone else in the same position yet? Ive heard of someone who had 3 litters or more from the same jill in a year. Poor thing must have been bloody knackered after that lot

[Kay 3,709]

How old were the kits when you seperated them from there mother & was she still mothering them, ie cleaning them & dragging them back to the bedding area

[gibby 0]

Over 7 weeks. Some had already left at just under 7 weeks and were getting on ok. They didnt need any mothering she was getting pretty stressed out by them I think, thats why I took her away to give her a break.

[Kay 3,709]

I would put her back with the remaining kits & watch what she does. is she on her own now or with another adult ferret ? if so is she dragging the other ferret around, or if she is a lone ferret is she pacing up & down a lot & generally restless

[gibby 0]

Shes a bit frantic now that you mention it. Only thing is there are kits from another litter in with her remaining kits now so I dont want to put her back in case something goes wrong. What are you thinking could be the problem? Was she not ready to leave them? I could put one of her kits in with her to see?

[Kay 3,709]

I would do exactly that put in one or two off her own kits & just watch what she does. i suspect she will wash them to within an inch of there lives would you also let me know if the swelling reduces once she is reuntied with a kit or two, in a week or so

[Guest Bigbob]

Last year all my jills came in three and four times each this is where a snipped hob is worth his weight in gold

[gibby 0]

I would do exactly that put in one or two off her own kits & just watch what she does. i suspect she will wash them to within an inch of there lives would you also let me know if the swelling reduces once she is reuntied with a kit or two, in a week or so

 

Following your advice I put one of the kits in with her and to say she was pleased to see her kit is an understatement! She was like "right you- in bed!" and dragged her off to the nesting box by the scruff and is licking her all over as we speak, sqeaking away. Hopefully she will calm down after a while the 8 week old kit is probably not enjoying it lol it keeps trying to get away!

 

Ferretlove, thanks for your advice Hopefully this will make the swelling go down and make the jill less crazy whenever I go near her hutch. Could you please tell me where I went wrong though so i can learn from this? As I thought I was doing the right thing by taking her away because she really did look run down and like she needed a break. Plus the kits were weaned and seemed independant.

 

Thanks again

[Kay 3,709]

I would do exactly that put in one or two off her own kits & just watch what she does. i suspect she will wash them to within an inch of there lives would you also let me know if the swelling reduces once she is reuntied with a kit or two, in a week or so

 

Following your advice I put one of the kits in with her and to say she was pleased to see her kit is an understatement! She was like "right you- in bed!" and dragged her off to the nesting box by the scruff and is licking her all over as we speak, sqeaking away. Hopefully she will calm down after a while the 8 week old kit is probably not enjoying it lol it keeps trying to get away!

 

Ferretlove, thanks for your advice Hopefully this will make the swelling go down and make the jill less crazy whenever I go near her hutch. Could you please tell me where I went wrong though so i can learn from this? As I thought I was doing the right thing by taking her away because she really did look run down and like she needed a break. Plus the kits were weaned and seemed independant.

 

Thanks again

I dont think you did anything wrong , its just female hormones all over the place, if this jill had been jill jabbed or run with a vasectomised hob she would probably have mothered ferrets she lived with, dragging them into the nest box & generally driving them mad

 

When you think about it they carry the litter , give birth & the rear the kits, they invest such a lot of time & energy in doing so, there not likely to want to let go untill there ready , a bit like me when my eldest son left home 4 yrs ago it left a gap in my life which i hadnt expected

[gibby 0]

I dont think you did anything wrong , its just female hormones all over the place, if this jill had been jill jabbed or run with a vasectomised hob she would probably have mothered ferrets she lived with, dragging them into the nest box & generally driving them mad

 

When you think about it they carry the litter , give birth & the rear the kits, they invest such a lot of time & energy in doing so, there not likely to want to let go untill there ready , a bit like me when my eldest son left home 4 yrs ago it left a gap in my life which i hadnt expected

 

So one final question, when will the jill stop doing the kits head in by dragging it around to the nest etc? Take it it just depends when shes ready? Hopefully it wont be too long!

[ferret15 0]

if i were you i would put at least two of the kits in that way one gets a break

[Kay 3,709]

I dont think you did anything wrong , its just female hormones all over the place, if this jill had been jill jabbed or run with a vasectomised hob she would probably have mothered ferrets she lived with, dragging them into the nest box & generally driving them mad

 

When you think about it they carry the litter , give birth & the rear the kits, they invest such a lot of time & energy in doing so, there not likely to want to let go untill there ready , a bit like me when my eldest son left home 4 yrs ago it left a gap in my life which i hadnt expected

 

So one final question, when will the jill stop doing the kits head in by dragging it around to the nest etc? Take it it just depends when shes ready? Hopefully it wont be too long!

 

One thing i would do is increase the amount off food, this jills going to burn up extra chasing round after naughty kits at the end of the day she will be frantic if you remove the kit again & she will be frantic if you leave it in, so just top the food up & leave her to it, she will eventually get back to something like normal, its all hormnal behaviour

[gibby 0]

Ok what I have now done is put her in her old hutch again with her kits and the other kits I got from DEL off this site. So she will have a few to look after They seem to be getting on ok shes not done anything malicious to the other kits as far as I can tell. At first I thought she was biting there faces but I think (bloody hope) shes just licking them.

 

As far as food goes I will be feeding a bit extra to make sure the kits are full enough to grow anyway so she should get plenty.

 

Thanks again guys

[Kay 3,709]

Ok what I have now done is put her in her old hutch again with her kits and the other kits I got from DEL off this site. So she will have a few to look after They seem to be getting on ok shes not done anything malicious to the other kits as far as I can tell. At first I thought she was biting there faces but I think (bloody hope) shes just licking them.

 

As far as food goes I will be feeding a bit extra to make sure the kits are full enough to grow anyway so she should get plenty.

 

Thanks again guys

 

Nice one

[ferret15 0]

happy family's