>From:    Jacqueline Snyder <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: ivermectin?
>While I was wandering around Wal-Mart this weekend looking for cheap
>litter pans (they have plastic bins that work fine at $1 each), I also
>saw Ivermectin for horses.
 
There is no 'ivermectin for ferrets'.  Its an off label use.  We use bovine
ivermectin.  This is what we learned fom Dr. Kawasaki.  I don't know the
'strength' of equine versus bovine.  That is horse versus cattle.  Any
large animal vets out there? <grin>  Well okay any vet can probably look
it up for us...
 
>From:    Sharon Pease <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Question & comment
>Does anyone know the origin of the word "packrat"?
 
There is a critter called the packrat.  But whether the behavior's term was
applied to the critter or the critter's name was applied to a behavior I
don't know.
 
There are at least the Neotoma albigula--White-throated Packrat and the
Neotoma micropus--Southern Plains Packrat from a quick glance around the
net.
 
>From:    Kemper <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: Albinism and blindness/blazes and deafness
>In my opinion Blazes/Panda's are a physcal mark of a genetic disorder.
 
Shared opinion.  Though it is a popular genetic defect.
 
>I find it interesting that though all colours of ferrets were let
>loose (intially to control rabbit population, well thats another story),
>they have all reverted to the sable coloured ferrets.  I find this
>interesting and I'm not going to speculate on that now, but it's food
>for thought.
 
That shouldn't be surprising.  They gravitate toward that coloring for the
same reasons that polecats are that coloring.  Its the best for their type
of hunting and hiding from enemies.  White is a bad color for most animals
(well except in the arctic or antarctic)
 
There are believed to be feral ferrets within the natural range for the
polecat as well BTW.  Not too surprising, ferrets end up doing the same
thing their ancestors did.  Likely the success rate of going feral is lower
than the survival rate for the normally wild polecat.
 
>From:    Derek & Amy Flemming <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Ed's experience breeding ferrets
>Ed - what is this "secret"?
 
If I remember, Ed has talked about double mating, the jill going to both a
vesectomized hob and a whole hob.  The thought being the eggs released in
reaction to the vasectomized breeding are not as likely to get fertilized
later when the second breeding to the whole hob occurs.  The second release
should be of a lower number of eggs which should reduce the number that
get fertilized in that breeding.  We've had plenty of luck with merely
limitting the amount of time that the jill and hob are together.  'One
coupling' if the female gets enough hormone dose to come out will have a
smaller litter than 'numerous couplings' if the pair remain together for
days.
 
>I disagree.  I think pedigrees are helpful.
 
We agree with you.  Ed is just doing a funky naming convention that is in
effect a pedigree.  Just with less information than we store about each
parent/grandparent etc.
 
(Ed said)
>>I am extremely warry of any breeder of ferrets who claims that she has
>>pure-bred, pedigreed ferrets; especially if she uses the term, "purebred."
 
>I do agree on this.
 
It goes both ways.  All ferrets are pure-bred UNLESS they have a recent
cross to a Polecat.  We are STRONGLY against crossing ferrets to polecats
by most breeders.  There are some problematic ferrets in this country
because of what is really careless hybridization.  Some breeders such as
George Parker seem to actually know what they are doing and seem to avoid
the problems we've seen from others.  We wish some of the 'experiments'
done here in the US had not been done.
 
But we also have not heard any breeder use the term 'pure bred ferret'.
 
>Or you can enter all the information in a computer program that does
>inbreeding reports for you on a "proposed" breeding - such as a pedigree
>program or "create your own" with Microsoft Access.
 
We for years have recommended Broderbund's "Family Tree Maker" over all
others.  You can change all 'labels'.  You can print 'fancy' pedigrees AND
more detailed informative pedigrees.  We have not liked any of the various
dog and cat breeder programs we've tried to use.  We use the same program
for 'people' geneology but since the 'label mods' are in the database file
there is no problem going back and forth.
 
-bill
 
--
bill and diane killian
zen and the art of ferrets
http://www.zenferret.com/
mailto:[log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 2575]