144 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. 



well and in forty-two days she had eleven fine 

 young ferrets. 



The female was tame and I would handle the 

 young all I wanted to, which was every chance 

 I had. When the young were grown I had as 

 nice a bunch as I ever saw, all tame and gentle 

 as kittens. I would play with them, throwing 

 them from hand to hand, put my fingers in their 

 mouth, but I never had one offer to bite me. I 

 never had to put on a heavy mitten or glove, or 

 use a long stick with a hook on one end, to handle 

 my ferrets with, as I have seen some ferret breed- 

 ers do, who never handle the young until they 

 are large, when it is a very hard matter to tame 

 them. 



Some people have ferrets die when they are 

 about three or four weeks old. I believe that 

 they die because they do not get enough to eat 

 from the mother. When they are hungry they 

 will crawl around in the nest and cry something 

 like a young mink or rats. When mine began to 

 act hungry I got a shallow dish and filled it with 

 sweet milk and soaked some bread in the milk. 

 I then took all the young ferrets out of the nest 

 and put the little ferrets' mouths right down in 

 the milk for an instant. It won't be long before 

 they will drink alone. A little time and patience 

 will save a good many that otherwise would die. 



