On Thu, 10 Sep 1992 Laura asks:
> ...  Any suggestions you have about raising a young `un for the
>first time would be greatly appreciated -- she hasn't eaten anything since I
>got her at 7 o'clock last night, but she's not lethargic -- the president of
>the ferret club here said she's probably just overwhelmed -- she's drinking
>okay and played with some toys last night (she especially liked playing with
>the ball on the string -- I thought about naming her `Circles' or
>`Roundabout'!).  How long (on the average -- I know it's different for each
>baby)  does it usually take for them to become acclimatized, and especially to
>get to like their human?  I hope she eats today!  Any suggestions?
 
Congratulations on getting Circles.  (Oh well, guess that's her name now that
you mentioned it).  I hope she eats soon - perhaps finding out what the
breeder/pet store was feeding her and giving her the same thing would help.
Some ferrets are very picky eaters (and others are like a stray dog!).  The
whole digestive cycle from intake to elimination is only about 4 hours in
ferrets, so Circles is probably quite hungry.  (As an aside, they can go
without food for a while, especially if they are in their "fat" season -
during some times of the year a ferret can store fat subcutaneously.  This
fat can amount to nearly 1/3 of a ferrets weight.  But this ferret is a baby
and is active, so I'd say get food into her fast!)
 
As to how long it takes to get to like their human... oh... quite a while.
Like a few minutes.  (Though probably "bonding" takes a couple of weeks...
just guessing on that).
Bill
 
[Posted in FML issue 0302]