Advice

At what age should I wean my young ferrets?

What’s the best way of weaning a litter of young ferrets off their mum, and at what age should it start?

Would you like to appear on our site? We offer sponsored articles and advertising to put you in front of our readers.  Find out more
Time Well Spent
Time Well Spent October 29, 2012

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.