>From:    Charles Younger <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Silvermitts?
>I was just wondering about types being more bitey.  I have a silvermitt
>male about a year old who bites.  The only other ferret I have had trouble
>with biting was also a silver.
 
Types are nothing more than a couple of genes.  I have not noticed a
connection between the behavioral genes and the color and pattern genes.
Silvers can have other colored ferrets as parents or children.
 
>From:    "Anna M. Adam" <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Ferret Adoption Web Page
>What about a web page just for adoptable ferrets?
 [..and..]
>[Moderator's note: Sure, if someone wants to keep the file up to date I
>can provide the LISTSERV file service.  BIG]
 
Okay this is a great idea.  I've been working towards that but there aren't
enough hours for everything I try to do.  I'm volunteering to assist with
additional space and programming.  I could easily write scripts to take mail
from a listserv and translate directly into HTML or the reverse - I write
software for a living.
 
I propose one solution...
A seperate mail address that could take adoption info in.  It could send
reports to a mail address I can set up that would enter a program that would
enter it into a database that could issue a report back to the listserv as a
file that could be requested.  The database would be available as a web page
or the file.
 
Comments?
 
>From:    "Anna M. Adam" <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: What's wrong with my boys?
>Both of my boys have decided maybe they ARE whole males afterall.  Max.3
>often tries to choose Beckett (the OTHER male) as his partner, but I've
>seen him on K-Nack (female) as well.
 
This is not uncommon.  I seriously doubt there is a medical condition (but
remember I'm not a vet) and it is just the way some ferrets are.  We
constantly rearrange the ferrets as they decide who they do or don't like at
any given time.  We usually don't recommend more than one male together as
this is normal.  Of course I hear that things are completely different on
the West coast (seriously).  We have only one pair of boys that get along
well enough to room together - but they don't get along with anybody else.
 
>From:    "JEFF JOHNSTON, EPIDEMIOLOGY" <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Distemper reactions; misc ferret biology
>Debbie Riccio and Sophie Montgomery discussed the relative sizes of
>North American vs. Aussie and UK ferrets. ... (Still doesn't explain
>why they're smaller in England...unless the Pommie Ferts have been bred
>to be small for hunting [I'm rationalizing now])
 
But that is a major reason.  Larger ferrets don't go through the tunnels as
well so they aren't as good as hunters.  Pets are often desired "larger" so
they are bred larger in the US.  Aussies I think are more recently imported
from England and might have a decade or three less "pet" development.
Breeders here in the US specifically but the biggest with the biggest trying
to develop larger ferrets.  One of my sources for this is the books of James
McKay in England, others are conversations with various breeders - large and
small scale.
 
bill and diane killian
zen and the art of ferrets
http://userwww.qnet.com/~killian/zen_home.htm
[Posted in FML issue 1565]