How many people on this list this list have actually raised new born
ferret kits.  I mean kits that have never fed from their mother not ones
that have been rejected after a few days or weeks.  I've heard it's very
difficult to do.  I don't even open the nest box to look for the first
5/7 days, I like to listen every 2 hours and as long as I can hear the
kits squeaking normally I leave well alone, I've found the more you
bother the jills the more problems they have and more likely you are to
end up with dead kits.  You don't have to see or count the kits to know
if the jill has killed one.  Poop watching can be a harrowing experience.
 
Years ago I had a call from a first time breeder saying his one year old
jill had just given birth to 14 kits, that evening it was down to 12
kits, next morning 10 and that evening 8.  At that point I threatened to
break his arms if he touched the mother or kits again for the next week.
She must have killed 1 more but then raised 7 healthy kits.
 
Some laid back ferrets are happy to let people they know and trust touch
their babies but most new mothers get pretty stressed and will kill or
just refuse to feed kits that smell of strange fingers.  I always get a
bad feeling when I get told that a jill gave birth to x number of kits
but only raised some of them.  I've raised them from 12 days after their
mother died but don't think I am capable of raising new born kits myself
so I don't push my luck by stressing the mothers.
 
Chris.
The Wessex Ferret Club www.ferrets-r-us.co.uk
[Posted in FML issue 4010]