204 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. 



sweating. This occurs wlien the mother ferret 

 covers the young too deep in the nest with straw. 

 The whole litter becomes wet and sort of gummed 

 up, so to speak, and is affected with a touch of 

 white scours. This trouble never arises until the 

 ferrets are a few weeks old. The loss from this 

 is small, as only an occasional litter becomes 

 affected in this way. When a litter becomes 

 sweated it is best to remove the nest box from 

 the pen. If the mother ferret is still inclined to 

 pile straw over the nest to hide the ferrets, all 

 the coarse straw should be taken out of the pen. 

 That gives the young ferrets a chance to spread 

 out and dry off. If an affected litter is treated 

 in this way, as a rule they will be saved. I have 

 tried washing the young ferrets and then rub- 

 bing them dry. This does not do any good. The 

 conditions must be made right, as has just been 

 described, and the little ferrets will dry off and 

 clean up in a few days' time. If there' is a litter 

 which numbers too many in a nest, it is best to 

 give a part of the litter to other mother ferrets 

 which have litters of the same size and age, but 

 fewer in number." 



Foot Rot. — This disease is one easily pre- 

 vented, seldom occurring where the ferrets are 

 well kept and cared for. The disease affects fer- 

 rets much the same as similar disease in sheep or 



