Marie Schatz's question on gender and personalities:
Much of a ferrets personality is individual but some can be gender based.
However the gender based portion normally comes with sexual maturity.  Pet
store early altered ferrets have not matured to the point that much of
their behavior is gender based.  Whole ferrets have and during the mating
season gender defines their personality.  Whole ferrets out of season and
later alters have some gender based differences.  The whole males are more
people oriented than the whole jills.  Some jills can be quite hormonally
'unbalanced' and a real effort at times.
 
Bill's Question on Water Consumption:
8 to 12 oz. of water doesn't sound bad to me.  We have one hob kit who
goes through up to 32 oz. a day.  Haven't seen any signs of problems
other than sheer size out of him.
 
Vaccine Recommendations:
I urge folks to remember the source of information on vaccines.  The
veterinarians on the list are by far the most qualified to speak.  The
successful breeders such as myself learn about this from the vets so our
information is second hand at best.  Non-professionals be they jewelers
or programmers or whatever are not as qualified as the vets.
 
Krista's Nameless Does Have a Color:
Yellow is usually a stain on an undercoat.  Living in pine shavings at a
pet store for example could easily stain the coat.  The color description
was very good.  The AFA standard name would be Black Roan Mitt.  Other
standards would use a name such as Medium or Heavy Silver or Silver Mitt.
The amount of black to white in the guard hairs is the difference.  The
dot on the back of the skull points to the Waardensberg gene.  There are
also probably white spots on the knnes and possibly on the belly.  I tend
to call these Wanna-be Blazes.
 
Simonetti Asked About Cages:
We use and recommend Safeguard cages.  The contact information is in the
STAR* list (I don't have it with me at work).  The FAQs also have good
information on cages.  Multiple ferrets in a cage is stnadard practice.
Only the whole males in rut have to be isolated.  We have cages that have
had up to 7 or 8 for very brief times (these are some big cages too).
 
Beth's Question about Ferret Foods:
The very best ferret foods are (to my knowledge) Totally Ferret, 8in1 (new
formula), Mazuri Ferret Diet and Marshall's.  Any of these is fine but they
are a bit more expensive than Iam's Cat or Kitten and some other fine cat
foods.  We and most of the breeders we know use Totally Ferret for kits and
pregnant or nursing jills.  These same folks usually use Iam's Cat or Pro
Plan Cat for most of our business.  For pets in smaller households I'd
recommend the good ferret foods or Iam's Kitten.  Mixing the foods is the
way to switch over.  Staring with little of the new and gradually reversing
the proportions until the old is no longer added.  Ferrets have extreme
fluctuations in weight and we add or subtract Totally Ferret to our ferrets
diet as they lose or gain extreme amounts of weight.  This means hobs that
go from 6 to 3 pounds and back.
 
bill and diane killian
zen and the art of ferrets
[Posted in FML issue 1416]