Feeding technology of ferrets The ferret (scientific name: Mustelaputoriusfuro), also known as the Mediterranean ferret, belongs to the ferret family. Domestic mink is a subspecies of wild mink, which is also called blind mink. Domestic ferrets can also be called blindfolded ferrets. It has a slender figure, short legs and feet, and a flat triangular head. The body is yellow and white, and some are brown. Domestic ferrets are usually kept as pets or used to drive away rats and rabbits in caves. Wild ferrets are extremely destructive, especially like poaching poultry.
Ferrets are carnivores and belong to the weasel family. Ferrets are slender and covered with fur of brown, black, white or mixed colors. Their average length is 565438 0 cm (including the tail length is about 65438 0.3 cm) and they weigh 0.7-2 kg. The average length of adult ferrets is 0.5m, the average tail length is 0. 15m and the average weight is 1kg. Domesticated ferrets (Mustela Pulourius Furo) have wild or albino fur, yellowish body hair, black face, feet and tail, all of which are considered to come from chickens and ferrets, and are the most common experimental species seen in North America. Albino ferrets have pink eyes and white eyes. Ferrets turn yellow with age due to the secretion of sebaceous glands.
Living habits and feeding habits of ferrets
Ferrets are carnivores. Their ancestors' original food was a whole living animal. They usually ate the whole animal, including its meat, internal organs, bones, skin, feathers and fur. Ferrets have short digestive system and fast metabolism, so they need to be supplemented with food constantly. It is best to prepare dry meat feed with high protein and nutrition for them.
behaviour
Ferrets are nocturnal animals. They sleep in hammocks in cages almost during the day and get up at night to feed.
pole
Unlike wild ferrets, ferrets need neither an outdoor house nor running. They are gregarious animals who love to play. When you are young, you can keep it in a cage. When you grow up, you can keep it alone or separately.
sound
laugh
Sometimes it sends out a kind of similar? Giggle? Or? Cough? This is the sound it makes when playing or exploring new activity space. Being a mink? Giggle? When you scream and dance, it sounds like it is laughing, which is a sign of its happiness. ? Buzzing? Sometimes, your voice also means happiness, but more is excitement. Young ferrets often make this sound.
Get love through affectation.
Sometimes it sounds like a baby? Yeah. The voice is a coquetry voice, soft, indicating that it is very comfortable.
be afraid
What if it is? Huh? The voice is usually out of fear or bravado.
The breeding mode of ferrets is seasonal for both male and female ferrets, and sexual activity lasts for 5-6 months from spring. Female ferrets stimulate ovulation, ovarian activity depends on reflection, and vulva increases and degenerates through estrogen stimulation; If the female mink does not reproduce, it can stay in estrus for 4 months or longer; Abnormal prolonged estrus (1.5 ~ 9 months) can lead to fatal aplastic anemia in female ferrets without laboratory feeding conditions. This is due to high blood estrogen. The gestation period is 4 1 ~ 43 days, and the fake pregnancy can last for so many days, and two cubs can be obtained every season, with an average of 8 (2 ~ 65438+). The average life expectancy is 8 years.
Feeding temperature of ferrets The suitable temperature for feeding ferrets is 18 ~ 22℃ and the humidity is 40 ~ 60%. When the temperature is higher than 30℃, adult ferrets will show nervousness.
The important contribution of ferrets As the introduction of experimental animals, ferrets still exist in this century. Although it has not been widely used, its contribution to human health is undoubtedly very important. Ferrets are used to study the spread of early viral diseases, such as canine distemper and human influenza. Ferrets also provide a unique and suitable model for other viral diseases, such as measles, herpetic stomatitis, Aleutian disease and bovine rhinotracheitis.
Ferrets have been used in virology, reproductive physiology, pharmacology and other research, and special toxicological tests have been reported. It can also be used as an animal model of cerebellar hypoplasia and influenza to study the corresponding diseases of human beings.
Mustela Pulourius Furo, a ferret's pet, has been domesticated for more than 2,000 years, initially by farmers for catching rats and hunting. Because of its fierce carnivorous nature, ferrets have been domesticated as hunting assistants rather than domestic pets for a long time.
According to records, ferrets were domesticated as domestic pets by nobles in Renaissance Europe, but they were very rare. Because it takes a lot of time to tame a lovely but fierce animal, ordinary people don't have such energy. In Leonardo da Vinci's famous painting "Woman Holding Ferret", the lover of Duke Moreau of Milan is holding a beautiful ferret, which shows that the history of keeping ferrets as domestic pets began in Europe more than 500 years ago. Domesticating ferrets as pets and entering ordinary families on a large scale began in the 1930s. The Marshall family in new york, USA, has been raising minks on their farm since 1939. At that time, most farmers kept minks as hunting assistants. Out of his love for ferrets, Mr. Machel began to domesticate them as his little pets.
Slowly, ferrets became more and more popular as domestic pets. Then, the Machel family turned their interest into the business of managing, raising and selling high-quality pet mink, and has been developing as a family business. Today, Michelle owns the largest pet ferret farm in the world. At the same time, there are more and more professional pet ferret farms in Europe and America. In addition to Michelle, the famous ones are Path vally in the United States and Angola in Denmark.
In Europe and America, ferrets have become the third largest pet after cats and dogs. At present, there are more than 8.5 million ferrets living in American families, and the number is increasing year by year, far exceeding that of cats.
Because of its unique physiological characteristics, ferrets brought into the family as pets must undergo two operations, namely gland deodorization and birth control. Deodorizing glands can prevent it from emitting odor as a defensive instinct, and birth control is to avoid serious health problems and even death that may result from its failure to reproduce normally during the breeding period. Therefore, it is very important for pet ferrets to carry out these two operations before going out, as well as the safety and thoroughness of the operations. Laser surgery is widely used abroad, which can ensure the thoroughness of surgery and avoid postoperative symptoms such as infection.
As a pet ferret, after decades of genetic selection, in addition to stable temperament, it has also formed a series of stable coat colors, such as eye mask, panda, flame, lightning, chocolate, pure white and so on. This makes ferrets, as pets, have diversified personalities for people to choose from, satisfying different people's aesthetics, which is one of the important reasons why ferrets can become domestic pets for the public.
Preventive measures for ferrets