Excerpts from mail: 24-Feb-92 Ferret List Issue 216 by Ferret Mailing
List@ferr
>Date:  Mon, 24 Feb 1992 17:38:32 -0500
>From:  "Au Jennifer" <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: 20 Questions continued
>
>How do you know a female is fully in heat, when is the best time to breed? I
>had a female donated to me and she's already in heat.
 
[You should get a hold of "Ferrets" by Chuck and Fox Morton.  Barron's,
1986.  Covers this pretty well.  The Morton's run one of the bigger
ferret farms.  Wendy Winsted's book (TFH) is not bad either.]
 
A female is in heat when the external vagina is large and swollen. It
will probably have a shiny discharge. The dischar
brown or green. This would indicate an infection and is a strong
counter-indication for breeding. The ferret must be in good health
before it's bred.
 
[And people should be aware of the dangers of having a female in
heat for extended periods - they will often not come out by themselves
without being bred or given HCG shots.  There's a very high risk of aplastic
anemia and death.
 
I'd suggest, with a new jill already in heat, that your best bet would
be to get her out of heat with HCG and wait for the next cycle.]
 
>I also have a male that appears to be in season. Should I let them get
>together or wait or what?
 
A male is in heat when his testicles are fully descended and somewhat
swollen. They get more agressive when in heat. Both the male and the
female in heat will exude a stronger odor than normal, and are prone to
"scenting" (I think it ought to be called "stinking"!) when excited or
upset. They get excited or upset a lot more easily when in heat. I had a
back bedroom that smelled like a skunk bordello for almost a year from
trying to breed ferrets.
 
>Next question-The female is an albino, the male is a sable. Every kit in the
>male's litter was sable along with the dam. (Is that
>the correct term for ferrets?) I don't know the color of the father (sire?).
>Is it a pretty good guess that the kits from this cross will be sable
>(heterogenous sables)? Does anyone know the genetics of color inheritence in
>the ferret?
 
The proper term for a female ferret (usually used for a "whole" ferret)
is jill and the male a hob. Babies are called kits.
 
Ferret genetics is a big money business and not much is published on it
because the large breeding farms jealously guard their secrets. I've
been interested in ferret genetics for years, but haven't been able to
find out much at all about it. I do know that a sable/sable cross will
occasionally throw an unusual color, but most of the time you end up
with sables. A sable/albino cross is more likely to come up with some
interesting variations. I think sable (or any of the dark colors) is
dominant, but I'm not sure.
 
[Sable is the "normal" colour.  Albinos are some percentage of
sable-sable crosses (just like humans ;-).  Other exotic colours
are far smaller percentages.  The real trick is to *get* one of the
funny colours, then try to perpetuate/accentuate it by selective breeding]
 
>How common is false pregnancy? Any pointers on breeding would be
>appreciated. Thanks.
 
[Quite common.  It's also rather interesting to see a ferret treat
your fingers as her babies and keep dragging them under blankets or
into her cage.]
 
My friend's jill had two false pregnancies, both which ended in an
infection. She was going to have her spayed, but the ferret got into
some mouse poison and croaked. We gave the hob away to someone who got
him neutered. Infections are very common in breeding jills. It's common
that the new mother eat her babies. Unless a person is fairly
knowledgable about ferrets, I usually recommend AGAINST trying to breed
until you've owned ferrets for a while. There is little or no money to
be had unless you set up a huge breeding farm like the 100 ferrets in
 
[That ain't huge.  I think I heard that the Morton farm produces 50,000/year]
 
small cages routine that was described earlier. Breeding ferrets at
breeding farms are not usually pet ferrets. The breeder doesn't usually
have time to handle the ferrets. They have to be tame enough that you
can take the babies away, have good genetics, and that's about it.
Probably a better system for breeding ferrets would be a home setup
where family pets are bred. But like I said, there isn't much money in
it. Unless, of course, you are breeding for exotic colors and show
winners. Then you can take them to ferret shows and win ribbons and sell
them for large sums of money.
 
My first introduction to a cinnamon ferret was at a ferret show. It was
a truly spectacular specimen of a cinnamon hob, about 6 months old and
almost as big as my cat! Its fur fluffed out fully two inches. Now THAT
I would consider breeding for.
 
As for other breeding tips, put the cage someplace quiet. Noise and
disruption can cause unnecessary damage to the jill and the babies. I
didn't let the male "room" with the female, but allowed supervised
breeding efforts. The squealing, fighting, etc. was truly spectacular
and frightening.
 
[And *normal*.  Our original vet, who specializes in exotics, was
invited to watch once.  He came away with quite a sense of awe.
He kept saying "*Very* vigorous".  Unfixed males in season will often
treat any other ferret (except other unfixed males) as females in heat.
Including fixed males.  And unfixed males in season will fight.]
 
It's not uncommon for the jill to need medical
attention due to bites on the back of her neck after being bred. My
experience wasn't that excessive, but she sure did have some red marks.
The one breeder I talked to said that she's already had to take a jill
to the vet for stitches. Sounds a bit violent to me!
 
[One of the guidelines for breeding for temperment is to choose
males that don't do too much damage to the females.  Red marks okay.
Stitches - find another male.]
 
--Barb--
 
[Posted in FML issue 0217]