FERRETS — A TO Z. 197 



Fleas never trouble ferrets if the pens or 

 boxes are cleaned ont often. Fleas breed in old 

 chaff and straw which has been left unclianged 

 too long in the pens. If fleas appear in the pen 

 or box, it should be thoroughly cleaned at once. 

 If ground floors are used, it is best to remove a 

 quantity of dirt. The pens should be sprayed 

 with a good disinfectant which can be secured at 

 any drug store. The ferrets should be dusted 

 with some good insect powder. When the pens 

 are supplied with fresh clay and dry bedding, 

 they will be in condition again for the ferrets 

 and if the bedding is changed often and no chaff 

 or litter is allowed to remain in the pens, the 

 fleas will disappear. 



Young ferrets, while they are yet in the nest, 

 sometimes become afflicted with a form of sweat- 

 ing; this occurs when the mother ferret covers 

 the young too deep in the nest in the straw. It 

 affects the young while they are in the nest and 

 nursing. They are subject to this from the time 

 they are a month old until cold weather in the 

 fall or until they are about four or five months 

 old; and in fact, at any age of their life, if the 

 conditions are favorable to produce sweating. 



First, you will notice that the little fellows 

 will be wet or damp about the head and neck 

 ^nd if you allow them to keep on sweating they 



