My ferrets have just had a litter and I wanted to know if the hob can now be put back in with the mother and her kits?

Is there an easy way to tell if my jill is pregnant without taking her to the vet?

I have 3 male ferrets, one has been sterilised (Oscar), the other two have not. Until recently they all got on well, but now the two whole males are always trying to mate with Oscar, and he's losing weight and cries. How can I resolve this please?

I have an 8 month old male ferret who has stopped using his litter tray and is now is using the second shelf of his cage. I’ve tried everything to get him to use his litter tray, even putting in special litter which only encouraged him to sleep in it. When I tried putting a litter tray on the shelf he just threw it out. What can I do?

I have a 4 year old female ferret whose best friend died recently. She's never been caged but since a friend's dog came to visit, she nips almost everyone who comes into our home and has drawn blood on 3-4 occasions. I am now quite nervous when anyone comes into our house. I can't trust her even though she is very lovable to me and my partner.  We love her very much and I don't want to change her lifestyle by caging her.

We're thinking about getting a ferret, but which one's best to chose, male or female. If we were to get two, would it better to get two males or two females?

My ferrets have just had a litter and I wanted to know if the hob can now be put back in with the mother and her kits?

On no account put your hob back in with the mother and her kits!!  He will attack the kits and his attentions will stress the mother and reduce her milk production. Indeed, it would probably be best if, during the summer months, you only put intact or vasectomised  hobs in with jills when the jills need to mate i.e. when they are in oestrous, because intact hobs tend to bite and chew the  jills, even when the jills are not in heat.

If you don't want to continue breeding, we recommend that you have both parents neutered.  This will reduce the aggressiveness of the hob, although the effect is not immediate (one to two months). Additionally, if the jill  is spayed you will not have to worry about oestrous ever again.

If you do want to breed from your jill in the future, but not now, an alternative way to end oestrous  is the 'jill jab'. This is a hormonal injection that bring jills out of heat. Be warned though, a jill may need to be jill jabbed twice a year, and there is evidence in other animals that repeated  use of hormonal treatments to end oestrous may increase the incidence of tumours in later life.

 What do you want to do with your kits?  They can be rehomed after about 12 weeks. If you can't find homes for them all you could contact one of the rescues on our links page.

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Is there an easy way to tell if my jill is pregnant without taking her to the vet?

Well, up to 10 or 14 days the kits can only be detected by ultrasound. After 2 or 3 weeks you should be able to feel the kits by palpation, i.e. if you stand the jill upright and feel around the womb area, you should be able to feel the kits as little lumps. If you can only feel two lumps, then you may be feeling the kidneys, since they are in a similar area.

Behaviour is also a good guide since a pregnant jill becomes quieter, less interested in food, and spends more time in the sleep box.

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I have 3 male ferrets, one has been sterilised (Oscar), the other two have not. Until recently they all got on well, but now the two whole males are always trying to mate with Oscar, and he's losing weight and cries. How can I resolve this please?

You will need to have the two whole males castrated to solve your problem. But even if you have them castrated now it will take one or two months for the effect of the male hormone, testosterone, to wear off.

If you need to spread the cost of castrations, I would suggest the following plan of action:

• Temporarily keep Oscar separate from the other two boys.
• Castrate one of the whole males as soon as you can afford to.
• Wait one month and then put the castrated male back in with Oscar.
• When you can afford it, have the second male castrated. Again, wait a month after the operation before putting this second male back in with the
  other two boys.

Some good news; in autumn the hobs testosterone levels will drop naturally, so you may be able to re-introduce the second boy,  uncastrated, in the autumn. That way you could delay having him castrated until January or February next year, allowing you to spread the expense of the operations even further.

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I have an 8 month old male ferret who has stopped using his litter tray and is now is using the second shelf of his cage. I’ve tried everything to get him to use his litter tray, even putting in special litter which only encouraged him to sleep in it. When I tried putting a litter tray on the shelf he just threw it out. What can I do?

Sorry to hear about your 'potty  problems'!
We suggest the following:

• Put his litter tray in the cage in the position YOU want. Don't fill it with cat litter, use a few cheap paper tissues instead. Put some of his droppings in  the tray so that he can see and smell them. Clean the tray between uses but don't wash it with disinfectant etc., ,just swill it out with water and put in new tissues. If he tries to move it,  fix it down with clips, wire, or self-adhesive Velcro strips (from curtain/dressmaking shops).
• Thoroughly clean the shelf with bleach to get rid of any odours and fix some of his USED bedding onto it to cover the whole area (this is because ferrets will never normally soil their own bedding). Tie the bedding down so he can't move it.
• Reward him with praise and treats every time you see him use his litter tray in the right place.

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I have a 4 year old female ferret whose best friend died recently.  She's never been caged but since a friend's dog came to visit, she nips almost everyone who comes into our home and has drawn blood on 3-4 occasions. I am now quite nervous when anyone comes into our house. I can't trust her even though she is very lovable to me and my partner.  We love her very much and I don't want to change her lifestyle by caging  her.

One of my ferret sitters owns dogs and brings them round to play with our ferrets when we're away, so there's no reason for Chatter to attack dogs or dog owners, unless she's had a bad experience with a dog in the past.

It sounds like Chatter has become very territorial and dominant since she lost her friend, and now thinks that she's the boss in your house.

We had a similar problem with a jill, Rosie, a few years ago. Rosie was an abused ferret (she was taken from her previous owner because of this). When Rosie first arrived, she used to attack us and our visitors. It took me a while to realise that she was defending what she saw as her territory. Once I understood, I realised that I had to gently teach her that we owned the  territory, and that we would say who was allowed in to  the house.

To stop Rosie biting me, I would hold her firmly, but gently, for half an hour a day while I was watching television. To stop her biting visitors, I would get hold of her whenever visitors came, and sit so that she was facing the visitors. In doing this  I was trying to say 'this is my territory and I say who is allowed in'. We never actively punish our ferrets for biting (apart from  shouting at them when it hurts!), and 'nose flicking' is banned in our house!

Rosie is now a super star at ferret public relations. We take  her out most weekends to do ferret events at local carnivals and etes, and Rosie is the ferret I choose to be held by really tiny children because I know that she can be trusted. Rosie also dries my feet for me when I get out of the bath so I guess that I look after her, so she looks after me!

Female ferrets can be very dominant, the secret is to GENTLY establish that you are dominant and that what you say goes. This will take time (1 to 3 months) but with patience you will  be able to stop Chatter's dominant behaviour.

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We're thinking about getting a ferret, but which one's best to chose, male or female. If we were to get two, would it better to get two males or two females?

It's difficult to say because all ferrets are different in character, be they male or female. If you have never had a ferret before, then you should get an adult  (one year old plus) because the kits are very lively and need training (gently!). It would be better to go to a ferret rescue than a ferret breeder because rescues have lots of older ferrets, and they will make sure that you and the ferret suit each other. They will also give you advice on how to look after ferrets and be there if you need support.

As regards ferrets getting on with each other, I find that it's impossible to predict who will get on with who in my 'business'. It all depends on the nature of the individual ferrets. With time and patience, most ferrets will get on with each other, but you do get the odd 'grouch' who doesn't want to know other ferrets. Also, some ferrets can be bullies (as can humans) and they can only be housed with strong confident bold ferrets. Neutering (castration/spaying) does help reduce tensions in the ferret business, stops male ferrets being smelly and eliminates the need to jill jab or mate the females.

When someone I know wants a second ferret, I take them down to my local ferret sanctuary, and the sanctuary owner spends about an hour putting different ferrets in with the first ferret to get the best match.

If you want to find a ferret rescue then see our links page. If you can't find a local ferret rescue then telephone an animal welfare organisation such as the RSPCA.

As you may have guessed, I'm a strong believer in 'rescued ferrets'  and all but one of my nine ferrets have come from rescues or were  unwanted. And the ferrets at rescues are not 'second best'. I know someone who wins masses of rosettes with ferrets that have all come from rescues. Also, one of our own rescue ferrets won 'Best in Show' at the 2002 National Ferret Welfare Show - against serious competition - so we're very proud of him.

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