Wolfy asked me:
"When are kits weaned naturally? & Would they really have a negative
effect being UN-handled until week 8?"
 
I am answering Wolfy's questions on-list in case anyone else shares an
interest in the answer.  Those who don't, can scroll on to the next post.
 
Wolfy,
You are so right about it being a catch 22.  In answer to the weaning
question.  Ferrets are unique in that they get baby teeth at 3 weeks and
start eating solid food at that time; yet their eyes don't open until 4
weeks.  So here you have these blind kits crawling around hungry and
actively (aggressively) seeking and searching out for food.  They are
extremely competitive and this could be why some are so aggressive, maybe
coming from large litters.
 
So, they start eating at 3 weeks, over the next two weeks, they are
eating and nursing.  By week 5, I would say yes, they could SURVIVE
without milk, but since I would still observe occasional nursing, I
would never dream of selling them that young.  By 6 weeks the mother is
pretty much, "fed up" with the kits (mine would take to sleeping on top
of her nest box just to get away from them)  The kits don't stop to nurse
anyway, they are much too busy exploring the big wide world.  Does the
mother still have milk in her teats and do the kits still nurse at all?
Well, ... maybe, but I never noticed it, so I couldn't justify to myself
keeping them another whole week, cute as they were.  This is why I would
sell my kits at 6 weeks, but still I would only sell the largest ones
first and progressively move down from there.  Right from the time they
are born, some are just bigger and stronger than the others.  People
didn't like that I would sell the largest ones first because they wanted
to pick out their own kit from the litter.  I would say no.  This is the
one for sale today.  If you want to pick out a smaller one, you must wait
until the other larger ones are sold.  This way the smaller one has time
to catch up.  Only once did I let someone choose between 2 kits; who were
alike in size.  I also never sold more than one kit a day.  That way the
litter would gradually get smaller; in case the mother was still secretly
nursing.  I also just didn't want her to suddenly loose all her kits at
once.  I didn't think it was good for her, or the kits psychologically.
I guess I'm just overprotective that way.  Keep in mind, that not all the
kits would sell in the 6th week.  Depending on demand, I often had a few
kits left over and sometimes the last ones were not sold until week 8;
however, I never saw any more nursing after week 6.  That's not to say it
didn't happen, I just never observed it.  And I was always very observant
of my kits.
 
As far as them being OK if they are sitting around longer; until 8 weeks,
without any handling.  Well, ... I just don't know, I would say it
depends on the kit.  Most seem to be fine and will turn out to be good
ferrets anyway, no matter what.  Then there are those kits that just need
more handling.  Even my kits who were handled DAILY, from the time they
were born (I had a very trusting jill) were wild, feisty, aggressive
little guys.  By the time they were 6 weeks I would say mine were well
socialized.  But even I; YES ME, (with all of my handling, holding,
petting, and loving) I still had one kit returned to me at 10 weeks for
biting.  That was a kit who needed additional handling and training.
The new owner was holding it less and less because she was afraid of
being bitten.  All kits go through a nipping stage and most out grow it,
however, this one was going from nipping to biting hard.  I worked with
it for another week and then resold it with no further problems.  So you
see it can happen, in even the best of all possible situations.
 
I do remember once when I was little, our cat had kittens.  By the time
the kittens were a couple weeks old, my sister and I had spent plenty of
time holding, petting, and loving them.  Then we all left the house for a
two week vacation.  My mother left plenty of food and water for the cat
and kittens.  When we came back, they were wild.  They were scared to
death of us.  No amount of holding, handling and petting of these kittens
would help to calm them down.  They continued to hiss, arch their back,
every hair standing on end, and run away as fast as they could.  When we
did catch them, they just struggled like mad to get away from us and
hide.  After days of trying, my mother finally gave up.  She called
Animal Control to come and take them.  They had to use nets to catch
them.  They said that since the kittens had not been properly socialized
during such a critical stage in their life; when they are developing
very important first impressions, they would always be wild.  They would
never make a good pet.  The kittens were put to sleep.  The window of
opportunity to socialize them is brief and once closed, it can never be
reopened again.  My mother had no idea.  All the time that we had spent
with them before we left, could not make up for the time they spent
alone, growing with no human contact.  Granted, kittens are not ferrets.
But as you all can tell; that experience had a huge impact on me, being
quite young and impressionable myself.
 
Pam
[Posted in FML issue 4665]