silver to silver

[socks 32,253]

the silver lines were absolutely fine .........

[TOMO 26,392]

why take the risk , just breed the siver ( if its a good worker) to an albino or a light coloured polcat there will still be some sivers in the litter

[Crow 1]

crow none of my silvers had a white stripe or blue eyes or eyes set wide apart or a flat skull etc etc etc .... BUT when bred they did produce blind deaf weak and deformed offspring .........

 

How many times did you get this result?

[socks 32,253]

i bred silver to silver twice out of seperate lines and got the same result both times ... i also know of other litters produced by silver to silver mating that were the same ............

[Crow 1]

You've mentioned the offspring were deaf and blind (incidentally, blindness is not a symptom of Waardenburg Syndrome) and that they were also deformed. In what way were they deformed?

 

It still must be stressed that Waardenburgs can be found in many types of coloured ferrets not just 'silvers' - black eyed whites can hold the gene, as can a multitude of ferrets that have a white (or predominantly white) head.

 

Now, and here's the killer point, some forms of Waardenburg seem to only need ONE parent to hold the gene, so mating your affected silver to an albino could still result in affected kits!

 

Anyway, I'd be interested to know how your kits were deformed as I can find no research which catagorically states that mating a silver to a silver will always produce deformed kits.

[socks 32,253]

as i keep stating i dont believe they had Waardenburgs ... i believe the recesive gene in the silver caused the problem ... crow they ranged from being very weak boned feeble creatures to having deformed spines to their legs not being formed correctly .... they were just weak and feeble creatures that i had to cull so thats why i wont embark on a silver to silver mating again ...........

[Crow 1]

Socks, sorry for the delay in getting back to you - too engrossed in Christmas cheer!!

 

Then we'll have to agree to disagree; you have had problems so will not breed again, I haven't so I will.

 

Having said that I would like to make it perfectly clear that I wouldn't breed from a ferret showing any defective signs (not just Waardenburgs) and wouldn't suggest others do either. However, I wouldn't suggest someone doesn't breed from a ferret simply because it's a certain colour.

 

In closing heres a ferret showing the white stripe down it's head - an indication of Waardenburg Syndrome:

 

 

Crow

Edited December 27, 2007 by Crow