>If, however, you would like to check out Wolfy's website >(http://www.wolfysluv.com/deaf.html), I believe it will be a wonderful >starting point for you. Vets do not use any type of equipment to check >the hearing in ferrets. And, many deaf ferrets are able to hide their >deafness because they do not rely heavily on hearing in a domesticated >environment. Deafness is often linked to other genetic factors or to >other problems, such as chronic ear infections. Dear Rene Downs, Thank you for your post. At the ferret frolics/olympics that I formerly ran in a local park, one of the events I designed was a device that was used to check ferret hearing at different frequencies of pure tones as well as their harmonics. The test box was a large cardboard box with two holes cut in opposite sides, into which was inserted two long carpet tubes. One hole each was cut into the carpet tubes, the hole being accessible only from inside the closed box. The test ferret was placed inside the box and the box was closed. The only way out of the box was for the ferret to go into one of the two holes in the carpet tubes, crawl through the tubes and exit onto the grass where most of them did their characteristic weasel war dance; that is those that were hearing stimulated. Using random frequency generators I delivered shrieks of agony into one end of the two carpet tubes. I used ten different shriek generators that we hunters use when calling in cougar, coyote and other wilderness creatures in our pursuit of good fur pelts. The make a god-awful sound when you blow into them and by applying varying pressure with your teeth, you can modulate the sound to simulate a little bunny being torn to pieces by a ravenous ferret. You may not know this, but ferret pelts make wonderful steering wheel covers.* We do know that ferrets kill rabbits, mice, and other small game, including prairie dogs. During the killing process the ferret's victim screams wildly as the K9's of the ferret penetrate the cranial cavity of the prey and kill it. Animal screams are coincident with killing, and a ferret just loves to kill, as you all probably know from tales you've heard about ferrets in the chicken coup. Ferrets will kill just for the love of it. To them it is a most wonderful enterprise. Some ferrets responded to one predator call while others did not and some responded to a different predator call (I had 10 different ones to use) that did not initially respond. I was surprised at the quickness of response of most of the ferrets tested and had to roll away quickly from the end of the carpet tube when I heard the ferret coming rapidly toward me at the end of the tube. I lay on my belly with my mouth and predator call right in the end of the carpet tube. This ferret testing was a big hit at the ferret frolics/olympics and I made good money on the tickets sold. People got a big laugh when they say me rolling away quickly from the end of the tube and the ferret come shooting out of the tube at full speed. I want to repeat this hearing testing, keep written records and have the frequency spectra of each of my ten predator calls recorded on a spectrum analyzer tape. I'll get around to that some day. BTW, ferrets can scream just as loud if not louder than rabbits. The first time I heard one, I could hardly believe my ears. Shucks, I know a wonderful joke about a wife who was hard of hearing, but I can't tell it here. Edward Lipinski *Just kidding, just kidding.. [Posted in FML 6221]