From:
Ferrets4all@aol.com
Date: 2008-01-12 20:45:53 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] About the baby pictures
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
To everyone who has commented on them, thank you. I am glad that you are
enjoying them and find them educational. I plan to update the online album
with new pictures every few days, and I hope to be able to document in pictures
how the ears form and open, as well as the development of the teeth,
A little bit of history - the litter was born in the early afternoon on
Friday, January 4. I was not present during the birth, and Val, a first time
mom, took care of everything like a pro. There were 12 babies born, although
the largest one was stillborn. I suspect that there might have been problems
with his delivery, because he was a lot bigger then the remaining 11.
This was a very large litter. A more normal size litter would be 5 to 7
babies.
Because this was her first litter, Val was very nervous the first day, and
so I did not try to weigh or photograph the kits until day 2. When the babies
were about 30 hours old, they weighed between 6 and 10 grams. During the
first 48 hours, we lost the 3 smallest babies. It was a very sad thing, but
not unexpected. This is one of the hardest things about breeding ferrets, or
even other animals - you can't always save all the babies.
Val is a very devoted mother to her babies, and is trying hard to raise the
remaining 8. Unfortunately, there is one who is much smaller then the rest,
and I am not sure he will survive the long haul Yesterday, the 2 largest
kits each weighed 24 grams - over double their birth weight. The littlest one
weighed only 12 grams.
The kits are born with a fine pale fuzz over their bodies, which gradually
thickens and darkens. Their eyes are closed, as are their ears. Both will
open around the 4th week.
For any that are interested in knowing, the litter has 6 boys and 2 girls.
I was unable to determine the sex of the ones who did not survive, other then
I know that one was a girl.
Danee
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