>From:    Danee DeVore <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Update on Val's Litter

Dear Danee,

Viewing your pics it seems mother Valkyrie is mothering her six kits
quite well. These pics take me back some years ago when breeding
ferrets was a major undertaking here at Ferrets NW Foundation.

Most adopters preferred kits rather than rescues and some had a more
difficult time rearing them than they anticipated. The teeth of kits
are just as sharp as needles, as you know by now.

Although kits are seemingly cuddly they can draw blood with aggression
that is unbounded, especially when mother ferret has fewer milk
producing glands than the number of kits. They do not share equitably
mother's nipples, the larger kit dominating all lesser kits so that
monster man grows faster and larger than the lesser ones.

How many nipples does Valkyrie have working? Does each kit have access
to a separate one or is sharing a requirement if she has fewer that
six?

We were able to solve the needle kits biting by supplementing them
with a soup mix,even before their eyes opened, the soup that we still
use today.

Adopters who dribbled our soup in their palms before handling a kit
experienced the delight of a miniature tongue lapping their palms.
Better yet, the scent of an adopters skin sensed by the licker turned
out to be an amazing bond between the kit and the new owner.

I remember vividly how pleased I was just to watch the adopter smiling
with delight as the in-hand kit was raised to eye level and brought
right up close to the adopter's face.

Here again we stumbled onto another bonding method as the adopter's
breath was sensed by the kit, most likely never to be forgotten
especially since it was repeated frequently. And equally for the
adopter the unique scent of a newborn kit will never be forgotten
either.

A question for you: how has or will the tail tape numbering be of
benefit to you? I'd be concerned that the tail tape would contaminate
all the other kits after the tape is contacted with the feces/urine
and thereafter brought into the nest as the kits intertwine themselves.
Also, how do you intend to remove the tape from the apical tail?

Here at Ferrets NW Foundation we found that no two kits are identical
in their markings after a certain age. There are always differences if
you look carefully, or in the event the differences are so slight as to
require magnification, then we marked the back skin just above the tail
with indelible ink spots.

I didn't know that Meesha had a litter previous to Valkyrie. Who is
the fathering ferret and is he the same for both mothers?

Can you tell us the intended disposition of the current litter and the
past disposition of Meesha's litter? You must have given some thought
to the prevention of inbreeding as well as crossbreeding. How do you
prevent undesirable breeding after the kits are sold and out of your
control?

As a suggestion, you might consider nomenclaturing the kits in a manner
that shows the geneological relationship of mother and father in the
name of the kit. This geneological kit name would appear on the
adoption certificate and could provide a clear benefit to preventing
possible disasterous, albeit accidental inbreeding. We would like to
know how you intend to protect you future F2 generations once they are
beyond your control.

In naming ferrets we have opted to use Japanese vocals for numbering
the individual ferrets in a F2 generation as a suffix to their binomial
litter name.

For example, male A and Female B: litter name will be AB, such that
all F2 gen kits are nomenclatured: AB's. Then to identify and name the
individual F2 gen kits in the AB litter, the first one adopted would be
suffixed as 1 in Japanese, or altogether, the name would be AB-ichi.
The second kit would be named AB-ni, the third, san, the fourth, shi,
and so on. Consult a Japanese/English dictionary on the net.

Here in Seattle we have a sizable minority of americanized Japanese.
Most like ferrets very much, once they are introduced to them. The
practice of naming ferrets in partly Japanese names is apparently a
highly desirable trait and has enabled us to adopt many more ferrets
than if we used English numerals or numerals from any other language.
The names of the numbers should be as short as possible, easily
pronounced, and Japanese number names are perfect in this instance.

As you all may know, pet ferrets are hot items in the islands of
Nippon. Were you to relocate to Tokyo and open a small ferret shop.
marry a Japanese, breed and sell high quality ferrets, you'd have no
financial worries whatsoever ever!

Just so you know the difference between linebreeding and crossbreeding
is in the degree. Inbreeding mates father to daughter, and mother to
son. Also brother to sister.

*Linebreeding begins with mating half-brother to half-sister followed
by mating of uncles to the resulting offspring (or aunts or cousins of
all kinds in a close selection of lines).

The development of a pure line will eventually occur. The line should
be superior to the average in the breed.

Longterm linebred ferrets offer the unique possibility that, along with
other factors, may indeed reduce the frequency of adrenal cancer in
ferrets that occurs today.

Finally, a linebred pedigree is valuable or dangerous in exact
proportion to the QUALITY of the individual ferrets from which you
have selected. Linebreeding will give you a wider range of choice
within your breed.

Edward Lipinski
Ferrets NW Foundation

[Posted in FML 6276]