We had unusually warm weather the end of Dec and early Jan, with temps eventually reaching the 50s and even 60s. I was in the local pet shop and a woman who works there was concerned about her ferrets. She has several that she breeds, and with the warm weather, her females had all gone into heat. (She keeps them in a barn.) She didn't want to breed them now and have babies born in February. She was aware that prolonged estrus was bad for them. Did I have any suggestions? I gave her the name of a vet that I knew could give hormone shots. The day after I was there, the temp started started to plummet, and we've been shivering since. I stopped by the pet shop yesterday to see how her ferrets were doing. She said as soon as it started getting cold, they went out of heat. I was not aware that temperature could affect the estrus cycle. Have other breeders experienced this? By the way, Bill Killian, have you finished your breeding faq? I would love to give her a copy. Linda Iroff North Coast Ferret Shelter Serving Northeast Ohio http://www.oberlin.edu/~liroff/ncfs.html [Posted in FML issue 1816]