New Baby In Town - Paw Talk

CMorrow · #1 04-09-2002, 02:14 AM

Okay, I'm a ferret addict...so #4 came home today! My boyfriend actually called me a Ferret S***.

Orion is a happy boy of about 8 weeks. As of right now, he a rich chocolate, not too dark or light...just about that medium color. He might get darker with age of course (all three of my others have...Ezra and Vin started out cream in their body until their guard hairs grew in...) A quick question for everyone though. Orion seems to be pretty chunky...much more so than my other 3 were when they came home around the same age. I'm assuming it's just baby fat cause I know they all start out with a bit of belly (it's what makes 'em so cute!)

There aren't any problems where they seem fat is there? For now, I still have him in his own cage, but I just wanted to ask before he starts interacting with the other kids. I'm sure I'll get some pictures of him soon that I can share.

CMorrow · #2 04-09-2002, 04:31 AM

Heh...he also moves a lot in his sleep. Kicks and wags his tail and makes little noises...It reminds me a lot of dogs when they're dreaming and start chasing things. I've never seen my others dream!

Sassy · #3 04-09-2002, 06:59 AM

Congratulations on your new fuzzy, looking forward to seeing pics.

Nancy · #4 04-09-2002, 08:58 AM

I see ferret math is at work in your house, LOL! Congrats on the new baby!

Can't wait to see pics

buggirl19 · #5 04-09-2002, 05:13 PM

That's great. I can't have anymore pets. Boyfriend's rules. He doesn't like all the problems they come with, but I still have them. Ferret math rules in my heart though!!

Runt · #6 04-10-2002, 12:11 AM

Congrats on your new ferrett.I used to own one when my children were younger.They are sweet and can do some very funny things

CMorrow · #7 04-19-2002, 04:01 AM

I'm starting to think Orion might be deaf.

He has a small white blaze on the top of his head, but it's barely more than a dot so I was hoping he might get lucky. But I've been trying to test him lately and so far I've had not very promising results. I can clap almost as loud as I can right behind him and he doesn't even look at me. Same goes for jingling one of their balls behind him. The part that gives me some hope though is that the toys he tends to play with most of the time make noise: jingle bell, a rattling one, and a crackling bug. We're crossing our fingers and hoping he is just occupied and ignoring us. Does anyone know if there's a certain age where it's easier to tell about deafness? He's about 8 weeks old...but that's a big about. His age is really hard to guess cause he's a real big boy (about as big as Starkes who is 12-13 weeks) but he definitely still has his baby face, stubby baby legs, and his fang/front teeth have just started coming in over the past week.

Nancy · #8 04-19-2002, 09:41 PM

Well, if he's only around 8 weeks of age, it will be kind of hard to tell if he's deaf for sure. Baby kits(just like human kids) sometimes will be easily distracted or focused on what they're doing to the point where it will seem like they are deaf--when in all actuality they're probably just ignoring you. However, many ferrets who have blaze and panda coat patterns and dark eyed white ferrets are carriers of a gene that causes Waardenburg Syndrome. This syndrome causes deafness in ferrets and can cause birth defects in newborn kits such as neural tube defects, still births, twisted/contorted faces/noses, misaligned jaws, and many other problems. It is honestly hard to tell if even an adult ferret is deaf, because they act like a normal ferret. The deafness doesn't seem to impede them in any way. Anytime you are testing for deafness, make sure whatever noise you are making is out of his view and isn't causing any vibrations on the floor, his cage or anything else he may be standing on. If you bang or shake something and it's visible to him or their is a vibration, he'll turn his head to look which will make you think he heard it, when he didn't. Sometimes people think a ferret can hear if they shake a treat bag or can and *all* the ferrets come running including the possibly deaf one. He's just running after the bunch to find out where they're all going.
I would keep trying...or maybe stop for now and wait til he's a month or two older to test him again. Some ferrets aren't totally deaf--some have partial hearing, which is even more difficult to test for--you can test whether or not a ferret is deaf, but you can't test to see what level of hearing he has, tho you can get a general idea.
The only difference between a deaf and hearing ferret is the deaf one may be more easily startled. When you go to pick him up, make sure he sees or *feels* you coming--if you just grab him, he may get startled and possibly bite you. Many ferrets that have been turned over to shelters due to being "bad biters" actually turned out to be stone deaf. The owners were not aware of this, so the proper training could not be used to fix the biting problem. Unlike hearing ferrets, a deaf ferret who bites you is not going to respond to yelling "no", so other methods need to be used. And they will also not hear the squealing/shreiking of their playmates if they are playing too rough and hurting them, so they don't know when to stop. You may also notice a deaf ferret will do the "dead ferret" sleep more often than the others. This is where the ferret is sleeping so soundly and still, you can pick them up...they won't wake up and they're as limp as a dishrag.
You said his fangs/canines are just starting to come in at 8 weeks? Their canines come in at a pretty early age(way before 8 weeks) and they will usually have what's referred to as "double canines" or "milk teeth"--it looks like there is two of each top canine. The milk teeth generally fall out between 9-12 weeks of age. His milk teeth probably just fell out and what you're seeing is the permanent canines growing longer.
I know of a really wonderful site that deals with deaf ferrets and their care/training.
Here's the link:
Deaf Ferrets