Chris (anon) writes:  "Shedding" -- #1533
 
>Its beginning to get warm here, at least in the middle 80's, and I have
>been worried about Simon not shedding.
 
This subject came up a while back in alt.ferrets without being
satisfactorily resolved.  My two 2 1/2 year old So. Cal. gibs are going
through their fifth coat change right now, all of which have been about as
exciting as watching paint peel.  They *do* darken and thin in spring, and
lighten and thicken in fall, but it's a gradual two to three week process -
nothing close to the "handfuls of hair" that some easterners describe.  It
more like 'wisping' a coat than blowing a coat, and begs the question: why
do the rest of you guys get such a swell show and we don't?  An incomplete
and possibly flawed theory follows:
 
The change in hours of daylight is more pronounced at equinox, and the rate
of change is greater the farther north or south of the equator.  (There are
12 hrs.  of daylight everywhere on Mar.  21, but you northern folk get
increasingly longer days until June 21).  Also, our seasonal climate change
is much subtler than the east or midwest, and subtler still near the ocean.
So, is it possible that this relatively lazy change of season also causes a
lazy coat change in ferrets, or are Chris and I the only ones with ferrets
that can't be bothered to blow their coats?  And, if Chris also happens to
live near the water in the southern half of the biggest FFZ, then is this
strictly a ...  ahem ...  So. Cal phenomenon?  Idle curiosity and little
more.  Other theories are welcome.
 
As you've no doubt read here, we're trying to UnFFZ ourselves at the moment.
Yes, again.  Believe me, we're as sick of this thread as you are so wish us
luck and write those letters.  We'll know more by the end of May.  Y'all
have seen the CDFA posts, so I won't stump any more than that.  For now.
 
Swampp
[Posted in FML issue 1535]