Ferret Care Guide

It’s important to know how to breed ferrets responsibly because a large number of young ferrets are given away to ferret rescue shelters every year. Most ferret owners who haphazardly decide to have their ferrets bred end up giving the kits away because the cost of raising a new generation of ferrets. This means having to spend on vaccination, food, housing, and toys. This also means allotting a huge portion of your own living space just to accommodate the fuzz balls.

There is no business in breeding ferrets

Before thinking about how to breed ferrets, you should consider the huge responsibility of raising multiple ferrets inside the household. Baby ferrets are incredibly adorable, and the mere sight of newly born kits could melt any ferret owner’s resolve not to have his/her ferret bred anymore. However, breeding ferrets for the sake of “cuteness” is simply foolish. You need to be financially, emotionally, and physically prepared when you’re breeding ferrets.

Because of the influx of ferret population through the years, people can no longer hope to earn any income by learning how to breed ferrets. Compared to cats and dogs, a ferret is a high maintenance pet, which means it’s doubly hard to find new homes for kits compared to pups and kittens.

Having your Jill mated may be risky, health-wise

The courtship and mating process of ferrets is far from the Disney rendition of animal romance. The truth is, hobs (male ferrets) are very violent when it comes to mating with jills (female ferrets). If you’re a jill owner, you won’t want to watch the mating process between a hob and a jill. To get a jill pregnant, she will have to stay with the hob under these violent circumstances for several hours. There’s also a huge possibility that your jill can contract a vaginal infection after mating. Books on how to breed ferrets will advise ferret owners to check for deep punctures on their jill’s skin as a result of these violent mating procedures.

Giving birth is extremely risky for the jill

As if the mating process isn’t enough, jills have to endure long hours giving long, laborious birth to about a dozen kits—half of which can be stillborn, depending on the mother’s health. Keeping a pregnant jill healthy is extremely pricy, as you will have to feed her only the highest quality meat. Frequent but regulated servings of minced liver is also important for pregnant and/or breastfeeding jills to maintain their iron intakes. Once the jill gives birth, owners need to watch out for post-pregnancy illnesses like mastitis. It’s best to be under the supervision of an experienced veterinarian when you’re helping a jill give birth to its kits. Numerous birthing complications can kill kits, the mother, or all of them, if you’re not careful.

Consider your capacity as a ferret owner

An unwritten skill requirement in how to breed ferrets properly is raising them well. There’s a thin chance that the kits you’re breeding will be taken care of efficiently by new families. The process of screening adoptive parents for young ferrets is long, tedious, and emotionally taxing. Unless you believe you will be able to take care of another dozen adult ferrets in your household, it’s best to have your pets spayed or neutered.
When screening for adoptive parents, you need to ensure that you’re giving away your kits to responsible families who will devote their time and love to these creatures. Numerous ferret abuse and neglect have been recorded by ferret rescue programs around the world that it’s probably kinder to regulate the species’ population, than breed them and fail to take care of them later on.