We don't like people breeding ferrets because a lot of the time people can't
find enough homes and who gets the babies the rescue centers and its not
like you are going to make money out of them, if you feed them properly, it
will cost you money.

We do have lots of experience breeding ferrets because of the amount of
pregnant Jill we have handed in to us, this year in 2006 we had a Jill 
handed in and within one hour she gave birth to 11 kits (babies)

So if you think you can find homes or intend to keep up to 16 kits from one
litter, and intend to breed, we thought it may help if we would put down a 
few pointers, because people have called us after kits have died.

The most important part of breeding is the parents, only breed ferrets with 
good temperament's, never with bad temperament just for color, we find
temperament can be passed on to the kits, some years ago people were
trying to breed Black eyed Whites irrespective of the parents temperament,
just because they could charge more money for them, we ended up with 
lots of Black eyed Whites because of there nasty temperament.

Never breed close related ferrets

When the Jill comes into season put her in with the Hob, mating can be 
aggressive, take her out after 48 hours, gestation is 43 days from 
conception to birth, you will see the Jill getting bigger and changing 
shape, give her a nice quite cage with a separate bed box on her own as 
the time gets close she will start to build a nest sometimes using her own 
fur, do not let the Hob stay in with the Jill when the Kits are born he 
could kill them.

Leading up to the birth we feed mum dry ferret food, chicks, turkey and
cat milk, with more of the same after birth, when the kits are born you 
will hear squeaking, when you feed mum and she leaves the babies you
can have a look, unless you have a very special relationship with the Jill
its best to look to make sure everything is OK, but not touch them, if any
of the babies were still born, remove them, when we have ferrets come in 
and give birth we don't start picking up the babies untill they are two 
weeks old. 

The picture below is a two day old baby, the mother and I have a very 
special relationship within hours of the birth she took my hand in her 
mouth and backed into the nest, as far as she was concerned I was part 
of the family, that invitation was not offered to anyone else.  

                                


The picture below is two one week old babies from the same litter

                                  


The picture below is a four and a half week old baby from the same litter

                         

As you can see from the pictures they grow so fast, nature did a wonderful job designing ferrets perfect for hunting rabbits and small rodents in borrows with a short digestive tract ideal for a meat eater, now here is the problem, if they were wild, mum would bring back meat for herself and the babies and from two and a half to three weeks old even though they can't see they will drag themselves to the meat to eat, its instinct, they will also be suckling from mum, now if your Jill only eats dry ferret food the babies will not eat dry food untill they are much older so they will have to live on mothers milk, its not how nature intended, so do the right thing and feed the babies meat ( not pork) otherwise the babies will not grow as they should and could die.

Everything on this page is simple I know, but we have had people call us 
because they have left the Hob in with the Jill and he is killing the Kits or 
they have not feed meat and the Kits are dying, you can always give us a 
call if you need advice.

If the Jill is in any distress a kit could be stuck, don't mess around, take 
her to a vet immediately. 

So lets go though the rules of breeding.

If the ferrets you intend to breed with are nervous or have a tendency to
bite don't use them, only use ferrets with good health and temperament,
and I don't care what, really interesting color they are, and never breed 
closely related ferrets read Honey & Polo in storys to see what can happen.

Make sure you feed the Jill extra before and after birth she will need it.

Feed the kits meat from three weeks old, chicks, turkey, not pork.

Handle kits  from two weeks old, earlier if the Jill is OK with it.

Good parents, good food, good handling = good ferrets.

Then when you realize what a bad idea breeding ferrets was because you
can't find homes for them and bring them to us, it will be easier for us to
find them good homes, if you stick to the rules.