Hi Jan, I never spay my jills, always hormone jab them if they are not going to be used for breeding in March or April depending on how early the spring has arrived in Southern UK. One jill I never got round to breeding was jabbed 10 years in a row with no health problems. The hobs are only castrated if they are not up to standard or too old for good breeding, it was around 6 with my bloodline. Some whole hobs will live quite happily with a whole jills as long they are not in season but some randy buggers will try and mate any thing all summer. You can have whole ferrets and not breed but if you want to keep them living together a lot depends on the temperament of the ferrets. Up to 3 years ago I had kept whole 5 jills and 3 hobs together with on problems until the old Alfa male died at 12 as the second oldest was 10 he was promptly badly beaten up by the 6 hob year old and was p.t.s. a sort time later. I had to then have the 6 year old castrated as after 5 years of not being alowed to touch the jills he went sex mad and started to damage some of the jills even though they were not receptive. He ended a bloodline that I had had for over 20 years. Small time breeding can be great fun but also a great worry and a lot depends on the temperament of the ferret used. Best of luck. Chris Lloyd ICQ no. 44575318 Wessex Ferret Club Southampton. UK. www.wfc.cwc.net [Posted in FML issue 3391]