Could anyone please tell me why my nursing jill, Tara, scents and does little poops - maybe half a dozen or so around the room when she has her break (playtime/exercise) away from her kits, the kits were 3 wks old last Thursday. All my other ferrets also have their playtime in the same room. When Tara is in her own cage she just uses one corner of the main run for her toilet area and is very fusy about keeping her kits and the nursery clean. I don't actually breed ferrets - there are enough people doing that already - Tara is stray that I took in 3 wks last Friday so all this looking after a nursing mum and babies is very new to me. Tara is an albino and she has 1 albino kit and 5 darkish kits, 3 jills and 3 hobs. Mums milk diet is now being supplimented with softened with boiling water and then mashed up Ferret Complete - I'm rather scared of the babies choking on lumps of the biscuits. I may give them a day old chick to suck on this evening - a friend of mine recommends pulling the chicks' breast open and letting the kits have a go at it. She says they won't eat it but will really suck on it! I am having a bit of a problem with opening the chick, I'm rather squimish. (I tried gutting a rabbit once, I managed to cut open the abdomen and then nearly threw up when I removed the guts - mind you the smell was terrible!!!). A week ago we did a PR show and racing in Brecon, South Wales - we took 17 ferrets with us and came back with 19! Brecon is a silver mitt hob kit of perhaps 8 wks old and Powys is a sable jill kit, possibly Brecon's sister. Brecon is a real softie but Powys is rather nippy - I've got the scars to prove it, she is, however getting better but we still have to watch her very carefully and she really bites hard and is very reluctant to let go. Sheila Bolton Ferret Welfare & Newsletter Editor of the National Ferret Welfare Society of the UK The opinions expressed by me are not necessarily those of the NFWS [Posted in FML issue 1658]