From:
Sukie Crandall
Date: 2001-08-31 16:40:00 UTC
Subject: re: adrenals
>>all have seen the 4.5 kit in the pet shops with milk teeth which means they
>>were altered about 3.5 weeks of age-- to ship to distributor to ship into
This confused me. Milk teeth/baby teeth/deciduous teeth are retained
for QUITE some time. The ages below are from Fox's vet text,
_Biology and Diseases of the Ferret_ , and you'll find more detail in
a number of Bob Church's recent posts. Here are a few of the
approximate ages at which some milk teeth are lost and are replaced
(or joined in the case of molars) by adult/permanent teeth.
50 days (about 7 weeks): Canines (upper and lower) and lower Molar 1.
53 days (about 7 and 1/2 weeks): upper Molar 1
60 days (about 8 and 1/2 weeks): upper Premolars 2, 3, & 4, lower Premolar 2
67 days (about 9 and 1/2 weeks): lower Premolar 3
74 days (about 10 and 1/2 weeks): lower Premolar 4, and lower Molar 2
In other words, you can expect one milk tooth to still exist in the
mouths of kits up to an age of around 2 and 1/2 months, and multiples
to still be retained till only about a week before that, on average.
Eye's open at around 5 weeks of age, plus or minus about a half week,
if my memory of what multiple breeders have written serves.
(Breeders, correct me if I am wrong.)