Ferret Help, Desperate.

[jasper65 6]

Just been round the Ferrets with one female rearing 6 young. normally she will be at the bars waiting for a Rabbit carcass but she wasn't there, I opend the door to the nest chamber and there she lays dead with the 6 kits trying to suckle off her, she was perfect this morning .

 

the kits will be 4 weeks saturday but I have no idea what to do to get them reared? option 1 would be to mash some Rabbit up and a few skinned chicks or perhaps some biscuit mashed with plenty of fluid, I have no idea weather this is the right method to take?

 

Option 2 is I have another female who also has 6 kits which are a week behind these one's, could I mix them in with her kits to get the scent on them in the hope she will rear them? I'm also thinking putting 12 kits with her would be a bit too much for her to deal with?

 

any help would be much apreciated .

 

One other thing!! would it be a good idea to bring the young in the house to keep a eye on them?

[PoCk0 40]

Sorry to hear about your ferret. At the age they are now they should be eating solid food. I've got a litter of 5 that will be 4 weeks on saturday too, and they're all eating solid food. Mine seem to like softened biscuit and minced beef. I've never had to foster any of mine onto another mother before but they should be old enough to survive on their own, even though you may have to hand feed them regularly throughout the day.

[Guest vin]

put them in with the other litter mate..take the jill out and feed her some milk or rabbit and while she,s busy just drop the other kits in with the rest of em...try and make sure the other kits are fed and not hungry etc etc.. them just give the jill as much help as you can with the feeding...loads of minced up rabbit and chicken ...i water it down a little so they can almost drink it like soup when they are still small...but also leave them carcasses to chew on overnight..

 

i had to do it with some kits and they have survived so far...a much better option than trying the hand rearing route. . . and better feret kits will be reared by natural parenst than softy softy kits that are imprinted on humans too much.. thy should know how bad them Imprints are matey...LOL

Edited June 7, 2012 by vin

[Jamie m 668]

When a Jill gives birth I allways put a bowl of water in for the first 4 weeks , jills can become dehydrated quick they can't get enough out of a bottle more so when it's hot , I nearlly lost a Jill a few years back it was touch and go , sorry for your loss ,

[PoCk0 40]

put them in with the other litter mate..take the jill out and feed her some milk or rabbit and while she,s busy just drop the other kits in with the rest of em...try and make sure the other kits are fed and not hungry etc etc.. them just give the jill as much help as you can with the feeding...loads of minced up rabbit and chicken ...i water it down a little so they can almost drink it like soup when they are still small...but also leave them carcasses to chew on overnight..

 

i had to do it with some kits and they have survived so far...a much better option than trying the hand rearing route. . . and better feret kits will be reared by natural parenst than softy softy kits that are imprinted on humans too much.. thy should know how bad them Imprints are matey...LOL

This is good advice. Will be much easier than hand rearing and the mother should be able to cope with them. Good luck anyway!

[Guest bullterrier]

some good advice lads hope every thing turns out ok for your kits tony john

[Guest vin]

i lost a jill myself last week..its a right headache..but you will be suprised how well the other Jill will handle it.

[jasper65 6]

what can I say except thankyou all for the lightning quick advice .

 

I skinned some chicks and noticed they're taking some tiny peices off them, skinned a Rabbit leg too before I read the replies. I'm about to drop three in with the other female to see how she deals with them and if all is ok I'll put the rest in , I need to mark these one's somehow as they are a different line I'm interested in workng this year.

 

a big thanks again all, my little girl has been breaking her heart because the mother was one of her favourites , hopefully these will come off to make up for it....

[Dazzam 239]

The same thing happened to a friend of mine a few weeks ago. The kits were three weeks old. Some of them he put with another jill who had kits the same age and the other 4 he has been hand rearing. He was feeding them every four hours on lactol and after a week they were twice the size of the other kits. Hopefully he'll be on the forum soon and reply to thie topic.

Edited June 7, 2012 by Dazzam

[dave1600d 35]

sorry to hear about your loss of your jill mate,,,,,,most on here know more than me,,sounds like good advice youve been given,,,all the best with the kits,,,,,,dave

[Guest vin]

what can I say except thankyou all for the lightning quick advice .

 

I skinned some chicks and noticed they're taking some tiny peices off them, skinned a Rabbit leg too before I read the replies. I'm about to drop three in with the other female to see how she deals with them and if all is ok I'll put the rest in , I need to mark these one's somehow as they are a different line I'm interested in workng this year.

 

a big thanks again all, my little girl has been breaking her heart because the mother was one of her favourites , hopefully these will come off to make up for it....

 

 

 

get them all in mate...just get the jill out of nest box and on some grub while you drop em in...if there crying and hungry she,ll take over...fortunately there older than the ones your dropping them in with so they will have no probs getting fed...just make sure you give them plenty of extras for them and the Jill..she will need all the help you can give her.. but even if its a just for a couple of weeks it will give em a better start than hand rearing them... thats a full time job and a messy stinky one....LOL.

 

keep us posted mate... we like a happy ending on this section of the site...its not all about killing things...LOL.

Edited June 7, 2012 by vin

[jasper65 6]

get them all in mate...just get the jill out of nest box and on some grub while you drop em in...if there crying and hungry she,ll take over...fortunately there older than the ones your dropping them in with so they will have no probs getting fed...just make sure you give them plenty of extras for them and the Jill..she will need all the help you can give her.. but even if its a just for a couple of weeks it will give em a better start than hand rearing them... thats a full time job and a messy stinky one....LOL.

 

keep us posted mate... we like a happy ending on this section of the site...its not all about killing things...LOL.

 

spot on Vin! just checked on her a few mins ago and she is crashed out with her kits and the three I put in all trying to suckle off her, have to say you are bang on and she seems none the wiser .

 

I'm now off out there to put the rest in and a nice skinned Rabbit to play with. think Jamie m had a good point about the water. stuck a dish in with some water and she lapped it up for a fair while, she has a water bottle but she hammered the bowl of water...

 

I'm desperate top get these kits off, I used a different Hob which was one of the smallest I have come across around the size of the Jill, he's also been a cracking worker so I'll be interested to see how these turn out ....

[paulus 26]

should be fine mate, i use to breed severel jills in the same ferret court they were forever nicking each others kits

[Jamie m 668]

An egg yoke too instant energy not too many mind twice a week

[vermin catcher 219]

Hi there mate

Im the guy Dazzam posted about a few posts up,he contacted me to see if i could help you out.As Darren said my own circumstances were exactly the same as yours.The jill was fine sitting on 10 Kits one day and gone the next.Mine were just 3 weeks old so i headed to a local pet shop (jolly's) and got kitten rearing milk (beaphar)was the make and a small beaphar feeding set .The kitten milk is better as some of the dog rearing milk has lactose and ferrets dont do well on it as they are lactose intolerant.You get a small plastic spoon in the tin with the powdered milk mate and all i do is put 2 level spoons of the powdered milk into a glass and then 7 spoons of semi warm water and mix it.Put it in the small feeder bottle you get with the beaphar feeding set put your finger over the end and give it a good shake this helps to mix as well.That will be enough for aroung 6-10 kits.I then put the kits into a small box and lift them one at a time and wrap them in an old t-towel for feeding with just the head poking out as they can dribble a fair amount of milk out untill they get the hang of the bottle.If you dont use the t-towel all you end up with is a sticky ferret kit and fingers and that leads to a cold shivering kit and you having to completly clean the kit and thats not recommended when you have another 8-9 crying to get fed. once the kit has enough it will usually pull away or fall asleep i then unwrap it from the t-towel and wipe its arse and other bits to stimulate it to empty its bowels.baby wipes are best for this as they are already moist and you are not messing about with bowls of water ect and adding more problems.Never neglet to do this part as very soon you will have kits with really extended bellys as they cant empty their bowels without the stimulation.Once the kit is fed and has emptied itself have another box or similar to place the fed one into so you know yous been fed already.Trust me they dont like being left alone and he will cry untill you have did another one and then place it with the first.I go through this with each kit and when i get to the last one i put him in and try each kit again before i quit untill the next feed.Mate all this sounds like a real nightmare and i suppose it was for the first couple of days but i just got into a routine and it became easier.I also have a jill that is not on any young and i put her in with them at nights and after each feed so she helps in the cleaning end of things.One other thing when cutting the end of the teat from the feeding bottle just take the tiniest amount off as if its too big it will end up all over you and the kits. Hope i have helped you in some way mate,it might not be the best way to do it but it has worked for me the last few weeks and i have started weaning mine a few days ago and havn't lost any of the 10. If you are unsure about anything let me know and if i can help i will.Youll not believe this but i was actually going to do a youtube video of me hand rearing my kits so that others could get a lay-mans view of it being done.Decided against it on the grounds that my missus couldn't work the cam-corder wish i had of now.