John: We have a breeder in our city who claims average ages of 12 to 15
years consistently but without proper documentation, there is no actual
proof of it. Besides, unless a breeder keeps in contact with each person
who has bought one of the kits and they keep the same vet, there is no
way to know for sure. As far as I am aware, she does not keep this kind
of record anywhere.
In our home we seem to average about 8 years and these are ferrets that
were both adopted from the SPCA and bought from the pet store. The last
few have died at around 6 and we had one die at 2. Max died just under 10
from adrenal related problems, and I feel he would have lived longer if I
had known then what I know now. Vincent was 8 when he died of bone cancer.
We have with us some 7 year olds and one 8 year old but I can't take credit
for their longevity at this point (except for Spaz's surgeries). I do see
them doing better now that they have been here awhile so I am hopeful that
they will see the double digits in their lifetimes.
I do feel that there is a correlation between free roamers and longevity...
although it is just an opinion, with no scientific data to back it up. I
can see my guys seem healthier overall and I think that getting the amount
of self regulated exercise helps this a lot.
Sukie (coat changes): I would have to say longer nights for guard hairs as
in my home we have very little unnatural light on during the evening. The
ferrets main area has a large window that gets east light and we are not in
the habit of turning on a light in their room or in the rest of the house
unless it is too dark to see what we are doing. I try to clean mostly in
the day time so that they can experience the natural cycle of darkness
and light as part of what is happening out doors. Our winters can end up
giving us barely 6 hours of daylight. The sun makes a mid sky ascent
giving us very few hours of strong light. Our summers hold the sun much
higher in the sky. Since there has been talk off an on about the
relationship of natural light (as one factor out of many) and adrenal
disease, I should add that most of my ferrets were attained at about 1 year
of age. Only 1 out of my original 14 ferrets had adrenal disease. That's
about 7%. (I would like to know what would be an average figure, if it is
known, about the likelihood of a ferret getting this disease. I was under
the impression that it could be higher, but I could be wrong. I know that
this will vary from country to country.) We have had many people in our
city have ferrets with adrenal disease, so I have to ask myself what is
different in our household. The amount of unnatural light sources seems
to be a major contributing factor, and allowing the ferrets to live in a
natural light cycle as best as possible.
In terms of the undercoat changes, I have to say that day length has not
as strong an influence as temperature does. If the ferrets are kept in
warmer, consistent temperatures within the home, the undercoat does not
seem to thicken up in response to the colder temperatures that are
happening outside the home. I keep the thermostat on a programmed
setting that does not allow the house to get colder than 16 C, but this
temperature, which I find is sweater weather for me in the house (and I
like it cool) is sufficient to see a thicker underfur appear by the fall
coat change. Since natural rise and falls of temperatures (outdoors) and
day lengths are directly related to one another, the only conclusion I
can come to is that while the amount of daylight with sufficient dark hours
has an affect on when the coat changes, the shift in temperature within
their living environment signals the sprouting of denser underfur. Just
as I would assume it would happen in the wild or with their wild cousins.
But I'm no scientist... just an observer. This is just an educated guess
at best.
Sukie (scents): I find that the more I try to hide, or disguise the new
smells, the more my ferrets mark. At first it seems like what I tried
worked, but then the landslide comes once one ferret makes the break for
it and marks an area. I have used many different types of cleaners - with
scents, unscented, with and without vinegar, etc. I have use perfume and
panty drawer soaps (can't remember their real name, sorry) but they always
come back to mark very particular areas. High traffic areas are the most
targeted with high tides and low tides for marking. With 15 out of 16
ferrets having free run of the house, and most of those utilizing the
entire house, it makes for some interesting mark making indeed. As of
today there are 20 ferrets in the house and the heavy territorial marking
will begin again. I may have to start numbering the tiles on the floor
and create a chart for who poops where, just like Bob C did.
Betty and Her Blur O'Fur
For the love of Ferrets...
[Posted in FML issue 3186]
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