Sorry Its taken me so long to post the rest of my information I recieved
from the zoo, but here it is.
 
During the kit season, the workload more than doubles.  Cages need to be
cleaned twice a day and kit formulas need to be made in addition to the
other tasks at hand.  The number of ferrets triple during this time.  Kits
start arriving around derby day (1st saturday in may).  Breeding season
begins around mid march and gestation is 42 days.  Before females and males
are matched, the keepers consult two charts detailing each ferrets mean
kinship value and inbreed coefficient.  This is done in order to determine
which one of 4 males can be bred to each female to insure the greatest
amount of genetic diversity.  During this time, females and males cycle in
and out during the spring of the year, hence the need for breeding charts.
According to the keeper, there are generally 16 females and 12 males
available each year for breeding.  Once males and females are paired,
infrared cameras like those seen in banks are attached to the breeding boxes
to observe breedng behavior as well as monitoring kit care.  Breeding boxes
are attached to more open living and eating quarters by means of pvc tubing.
This is one way to simulate the underground prairie dog burrows the ferrets
will occupy in the wild.The kits are born blind and nearly hairless.  The
first 5 days they do not clean the nest box, then after that they quietly
clean the latrine side once a day.  At 24 days, they give them kit care
gruel, a slurry of a kit milk replacement with pureed chicken and distilled
water.  They really swim in it as they eat.  Then they are taken out,
bathed, and put under a heat lamp to dry as the keepers clean the nest box.
This is done twice a day.  They also weigh the kits before and after
feedings to insure all kits are getting enough to eat.  An extra bowl of
gruel is placed in the nest box for mom.  Sometime between 60 and 120 days,
the kits are given processed, disease free prairie dog.  They all seem to
like it very well and actually fight over it.  Ferrets will imprint on a
food source at 60 days, so they are also given a dietary supplement so that
they wont imprint on the prairie dog exclusively.
 
When released, young ferrets are put in a preconditioning pen where they can
dig and hunt for prairie dogs.  They generally spend from 30 to 60 days in
the pen before being released.  This helps in the transition from captivity
to prairie life.
 
One major contribution the louisville zoo has made is learning that BFFs
will breed in the day as well as night, as thought before.
 
Oh , another neat thing, they are considering giving the BFFs Totally Ferret
to replace the moist food they make themselves.
 
One of the keepers writes for a newsletter called Husbandry Herald, its a
newsletter for captive breeding facilities of BFFs.
 
What was really neat also is they talked about how each ferret has a
different personality, and Happy danced, ( I assume our version of war
dancing) and that some would bark very loudly while others were timid and
shy.
 
Its a nice little zoo to visit, and I am sure in late august I'll have some
more information to give you!
 
Thanks for listening!!
Misty
[Posted in FML issue 2348]