BREEDING. 71 



that they do not eat, because it will get sour and 

 this will make them sick. 



Give the pen a great amount of fresh air and 

 sunlight, but never let them get sick. If their 

 eyes or neck swell up, wait until it gets soft and 

 then lance it. Keep the ones thus treated from 

 the rest, as they will eat the unfortunate one. 



A ferret in good, healthy condition will gen- 

 erally come in condition to breed about Feb- 

 ruary. The buck should be left with the female 

 about one week, unless you have several females, 

 then leave only a day or two with each, then they 

 should be separated and the female left entirely 

 to herself. They carry their young six weeks 

 and during this period they should be fed all the 

 fresh raw meat they want ; most any kind of raw 

 meat will do, but under no circumstances should 

 meat containing salt be given them, as it will 

 kill them. 



I have bred them twice during the same year 

 but nine out of ten will only breed once. The 

 only way I was able to do it, was to take the first 

 litter of young away from the old ferret as soon 

 as they were large enough to crawl out of the 

 nest themselves and go to the dish to eat. About 

 May the old ferret would be ready to breed 

 again. They usually have from four to eight in 

 a litter. It must be understood that this applies 



