From:
"Chris"
Date: 2005-11-11 12:52:08 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] Re Age at Eye Opening Re: [ferrethealth] Digest 10 Nov 2005
To: <ferrethealth@smartgroups.com>
> kits having their eye opening delayed to that extent are seriously in
> trouble. As a breeder, that line would be stopped immediately <
It appears that in the UK sensible selective breeding is going to the
wall.
I am only a hobby breeder with normal only one litter a year and I
don't breed every year. Not realising the consequences I let my old
bloodline die out in the 90s. I'm sorry to say in the last 10 years I'm
finding the health/quality of the new kits I've bought to introduce new
blood into my business has gone downhill. They have looked perfect as kits
and yearlings but later started to show health problems/poor colour
definition. In 2000 I could boast my ferrets lived on average to 10 and now
just 5 years later I have lost 3 ferrets before they made 6. I have one 5
y.o. with cancer that will soon have to go to the bridge.
What we call sandy coloured ferrets used to be common but I have not
been able to buy a nice one for 3 years and finding a correctly marked
polecat colour type is like looking for hens teeth in my area. Every ferret
I have looked at to buy this year shows fancy colouring contaminating the
bloodline and since 1981 its been illegal to use/keep our native polecat
which incidentally has been reintroduced not 10 miles from my home . It
looks like next year I will become a criminal for about 48 hours, he should
have done the job by then. Using a polecat outcross was quite common before
the days of pet ferrets. Chris.
Wessex Ferret Club
www.wessexferretclub.co.uk
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