This is from the web cam site:
http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/NorthAmerica/default.cfm?cam=BFF

>Kit update: The male kit on view on the web cam is doing well. Some
>people have wondered about the ferrets' nest boxes and diet, and the
>kit's name.
>
>The ferrets at CRC are fed a special diet for small carnivores that
>consists of raw ground meat. The white bedding you may see on the cam
>is called alpha-dry. The ferrets do occasionally ingest it, so we tend
>to provide food outside of the nest boxes to reduce this. However,
>many adults carry food into the nest box and put it down on the
>alpha-dry before eating it. The bedding sticks to the meat, but it
>does not hurt them. They pass it out with their stool. Wood shavings
>may cause minor injuries so we don't use them. Now that the kit is old
>enough to venture outside of the nest box, the ferrets' keeper will
>start providing food outside the box. For all of you wondering about
>the kit's name, we have not yet named it. We will post the news when
>we do.

I think they are waiting until the check clears to announce his name!

I think it was Robin who asked about what is outside the nest box. From
the couple of brief glimpses I've gotten when they've moved the camera,
it appears to be a large pen with a natural floor. There are some
sections of drainage tubing (sometimes visible out the door). I can't
really tell how big the pen is, but it's quite different from the cages
we say at the breeding facilities in Louisville and Fort Collins.

Linda Iroff
International Ferret Congress
http://www.ferretcongress.org

[Posted in FML 6048]