What’s the best way of weaning a litter of young ferrets off their mum, and at what age should it start?
FERRETS
EDWARD COOK
Normally this all happens naturally but I would expect my kits to be weaned by the time they are 6-7 weeks old and certainly ready to go at two months of age.
To help the process along I normally introduce small, tender, bits of rabbit to the kits when their eyes start to open, a regime that slowly starts to take pressure off the jill and which helps ensure as many as possible survive.
Once the kits start crawling around the hutch I introduce a shallow dish of goat’s milk which helps teach the young ‘uns to drink from another source.
Once they get accustomed to this and have been weaned I slowly start to water the goat’s milk down until they are capable of drinking from a water bottle.
Once they are feeding and drinking as an adult they will be ready to leave the mother.
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