Coneytrappr
-
Content Count
468 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Gallery
Articles
Gun Dealer's and Fieldsports Shop's
Reloading Room
Blogs
Calendar
Store
Classifieds
Everything posted by Coneytrappr
-
It isn't always a good reason though mate...before I took him the albino in my sig was going to get bucketed because...he was albino. Some people. And most behavioural issues can be easily sorted with a bit of time and good treatment. I nearly always rescue mine, as it has always worked out very well for me. Ironically, the last kit I actually 'picked' from a litter to bring on turned out to be the most useless worker I had ever clapped eyes on. Just my luck.
-
The best worker I currently own was a starved, flea ridden rescue. He's a real attribute to my team and the worker I would most sorely miss. He nailed me a good one the first day he was here but it has been well worth it.
-
Fresh Earth I must say that I am very impressed with the maturity you have shown in that last post, far beyond what I've seen from a good number of grown men who won't listen to reason. Well done fella. Aye keep working the blind albino, as you say there's little enough to be seen several foot underground. You will have far better luck with the colour combinations you have mentioned having bred before, ferrets can certainly be line bred, but some colours are hard to work with and are best left alone. Same with dogs, breeding Merle to Merle will produce Double Merle pups which have hearing,
-
simple genetics ? so you are telling me at 13 you understood the genetics of colours etc etc in ferrets 'Simple genetics' as in basic genetic theory. I had a passing knowledge from reading a few books on mouse genetics, but I did not kid myself into thinking that I knew enough to line breed colours that are known to go hand in hand with health problems. :S the hob i have is over 5 i got him he was 3 and he has been here over two years he is a big ferret who works for fun hence i like him his kits will be just over 2 years old also are my best working ferrets out of 9 Everyone
-
I've seen them have perfectly clear urine, yellow urine both pale and vivid, chalky white, pink, red and dark brown. Have always thought that their diet and water intake has had a fair bit to do with the colour.
-
Inbreeding does not 'create' faults as such, it simply brings the 'rubbish into view', so to speak. The traits exist, they are simply hidden. The reoccurance of certain genes [which is more likely in related animals, as they are more likely to have similar genetics] will make the traits manifest. Which is fine if you are willing to cull extremely hard to remove the deleterious traits, so that only the desired traits remain...but honestly, to do that just for colour is ridiculous. Now if it was some trait that gave an animal a distinct working or health advantage... Outcrossing on the other
-
Who gives a shit what colout their jacket is like, working ability and health is the only thing that should matter. Breed them for those reasons, not because you want something different or pretty...it is a mere step away from what the Americans are doing and it has not worked out well for them at all. They've still not learnt though and continue to breed for dilutions and weird markings. Their ferts are considered 'old' at three years of age, many are deaf, etc. Personally BEW father/daughter would be too close for me. If it was a poley mating you would likely be fine, but with BEWs you
-
That's a good combo of ferrets, can't really go wrong there. Unless you go out of your way to seek out lines known for being larger or smaller, they are all much alike. No colour works better than another, it is down to personal prefference as to whether you get poleys, albinos, sandies, etc. Goodluck!
-
A rat will dole out a harsher punishment than coney will.
-
what do you mean brought out os season? what is the reason for this? thanks for your reply Hi mate, unlike dogs, which cycle in and out of heat, female ferrets will come into heat and then experience a prolonged season, typically staying in heat until something happens to stop it, whether being mated to a intact hob, a vasectomised hob, or given a hormone injection. If left in prolonged heat, the jill will become more prone to picking up dangerous infections and the elevated hormone levels can cause a suppression of bone marrow production, which is bad news. A lot of people deal w
-
Could start out with a pair of jills, just keep in mind that they will need to be brought out of season, and that you don't actually have to breed them to do this [nor should they be bred, until they are well proven]. Or you could get a jill and a hob and have the fella vasectomised so he can bring the jills out. Or just get them all desexed, which is the easy option. I start mine working at six months of age, but don't judge their working ability until the second year. Some are slow starters and don't get the hang of it the first season, but I have had some very good ferts that were slow
-
Bud, if we were in the same country it would be a good experiment, but I assure you that your large ferts would deal you out the same grief that my large ferts dealt me, in the rock warrens on my permission. Again, it comes down to what you want the ferrets to do. I'm not getting a small fert with the intention of hammering a bunch of warrens that an average fert could work, nor do I expect it to 'keep up' with my day to day ferts...I want to be able to selectively enter it to clear warrens where digging is impossible. I don't just mean 'five plus hours of backbreaking graft', I mean literal
-
Hi Droid, I believe you and I thoroughly agree on the topic of hybrids, angoras and fancy colours, but I also believe that the smaller lines of fert are definitely viable beyond being a gimmick. They do typically have a harder time killing under than big ferts [i have a large hob who, if he catches underground, will kill the rabbit within half a minute. And has been known to then be stuck behind it in the tube...a real pain in the neck.]and in some areas this is a real benefit. The ground I work is extremely rocky and my largest hob has been banned from these warrens, as digging is near i
-
Jackson, I'd say the chances of a fert taking a serious or fatal injury from a rabbit is far less than taking one from a rat. The chances of a serious rat inflicted injury being too great for me to 'chance' it. Plus, my ferrets are good at what they do. I don't want to risk them on some stinking rat that can be bolted by other more effective means and which won't even go to the pot or freezer. That was the long answer. Short answer is that I like my ferrets.
-
Rabbiting Pic from the 70's
Coneytrappr replied to Downunder_Sthn_Ferreter's topic in Ferrets & Ferreting
That last photo is fantastic! Great thread -
Rabbiting Pic from the 70's
Coneytrappr replied to Downunder_Sthn_Ferreter's topic in Ferrets & Ferreting
The shooters wouldn't have been working for one Jack McCraith, would they? For anyone who is interested, there is a very interesting book titled 'The Rabbit King' by Catherine Watson, detailing the foundation of the rabbit industry in Australia. Great true story about a lad who decided to make a living off rabbits, started out with a few ferrets, traps etc and ended up exporting millions all over the place. Great pic and an impressive haul. -
I am by no means a longnet expert, but the differences as I percieve them are thus: The quickset is as the name suggests, quicker to run out. However I think it loses this advantage the second you take it off ideal ground. On perfect ground ground it may be quicker for a novice netter...but once you get to netting where there is a bit of unlevel ground, you may just find that there will be gaps between the earth and the footline as you can not peg to the contour of the ground. You can with a traditional. The traditional net may seem slower to run out [god knows I struggled the first few t
-
Never said folks were keeping their ferrets like rubbish, just that they treat them like rubbish. There is a difference, albeit a subtle one. To discard something is to treat it like rubbish, in my opinion. I'm of the opposite view- I have decent ferret housing, a supply of rabbits and other wee bodies that need to be disposed of and ferrets that work so well for me that a few non workers make no difference at all. I have no reason not to keep them.
-
And they wonder why rescues wont rehome to working homes Exactly WORKING!!! Why the f**k would you keep a ferret for years that doesn't work. Working people to my knowledge do nat ask rescue orgs for ferrets it really pisses me of when people try and accuse realistic working people of being unsuitable owners Have you never heard of culling?! Stupid fluffy b*****ds are the reason so many problems occure with mass breed rubbish Rant over thankyou Keep one for years ? You have just recommended that someone kill their ferrets at the age of 6 months after she has worke
-
I prefer the albinos and sandies as I work a lot of thick cover, but the best worker I have ever had was a wee poley jill. She was a cracker. Second best was a massive albino hob, so I would say colour doesn't make much of a difference. I am leery of silvers and darke eyed whites, mostly because of the associated health problems.
-
I start mine at six months and some pick it up quicker than others. But I've found that a ferret that launches into work at six months is not necessarily the ferret that will be the best worker over time. I've had some late starters that turned out to be very good once they hit their second season. Yes a ferret may have attained its adult size by six months but in my eyes it is more or less a kit until it goes through it's first season- it knocks a lot of the sillyness out of them. Keep trying your kit, there is plenty of time for it to pick up and you may be susprised. I started a nice
-
Have to admit that my ferrets have dined on both types of feral before, with no ill effects. Without taking the stinkers in for a PM there's no way to know for sure what killed them. I had a youngish jill do nearly exactly that- fine one day, flat out and near to death when I went out to check them the next morning. She died shortly after going to the vet and for the sake of curiosity had a PM done...which revealed that the jill was riddled through with 'Lymphatic Cancer', which is apparently a very aggressive disease which effects ferrets under two years of age. There is a slower progress
-
G'day, does anyone here have experience with finding young leverets. The reason I ask is because this morning I came across a female hare freshly dead on the side of the road. Never one to pass up free ferret food it is now in the freezer...but I noticed that it was lactating [hare breeding season where I live] and think it's a shame that the leverets will likely die. I would like to find them if possible- so does anyone here know how to find the wee creatures? There is a large, well grassed paddock next to the road so I know they must be there somewhere. I don't have a dog which I could use t
-
Mate feeding them tinned food will rot the teeth out of their heads...its too mushy, not abrasive enough. And not particularly suited for ferrets nutritionally, either. Do them a favour and get them onto a proper diet. In winter I feed rabbit. They have one available in their cage at all times and they usually eat from the carcass two-three times a day. I'll also give them hare, mice, whatever I can get my hands on. In summer they have food available all night, usually chicken. Necks and frames are the staple as they have plenty of edible bone content and the frames aren't always gu