How far into season do people put jill to hob?

[Deleted]

And also how long do people leave the jill with the hob?

I had a number of false pregnancies and small litters last year, but with these I was putting the jill with the hob somewhere between 10 and 14 days, and she stayed with the hob for 2 days.

Just wondering, this year I am going to leave until 14-18 days but still probably stick with the 2 days with the hob. I feel mean leaving them in longer as I think it's pretty hard on both hob and jill.

Has anybody else experienced more falseys or smaller litters when putting the jill to the hob sooner than 2 weeks?

The jill that had several false pregnancies had previously had a litter of 9, and the hob was also proven (had 8 kits out of different jills last year) ... so I don't think it's a genetic thing. I remember the year before when this jill came into season, she stayed with the hob quite a long time as she still had a swollen vulva 4 weeks from the start of season. It was a big worry, and we were back and forth to the vets having scans ... and eventually I was so worried she had not been brought out by the hob (despite observing mating) ... I phoned MSD to ask about the implications of giving delvosterone to a possibly pregnant jill.

In the end, we picked up pregnancy on a scan. Delvo given to a pregnant jill will extend gestation and could cause untold problems so didn't do that.

Do people find the optimum time for mating varies between jills/lines?

[crazylady]

Hi Vicki Ann it really depends on the jill some are ready at around 12 days some 18 days you can tell by the neck and legs normally the jills neck really smells and in some cases can be sticky ( ferret channel number 5 lol) and they normally are so wet they dribble on there legs you can tell easily if the hob has been with her there will be a small opening () in the center of her vulva that looks odd in some cases the first mating with a hob can produce nothing if his testes have just descended the first mating produces a lot of blank sperm second time around there active also length of time in with hob can vary an experienced hob needs only 24 hours a novice four or five days but don't count day one as the first day count the following day as day one because he could of mated her early hours of the morning ( the day you put her in is his chance to clean out his pipes so to speak lol) and remember they can go 2 days early or two days over ( I had one who went four days over and gave birth to 3 whopping hobs lol ) and her stud was only with her for 3 hours lol you will soon learn to see the signs when your jills are ready hope this helps take care bye for now
Bev

[Deleted]

Thank you crazylady - that's really helpful.

I guess as I know there is such variation between some of my jills, I will try looking for the cues you have listed rather than going for a set day. Hopefully this year I will have more succesful matings.

It's interesting that the jill who had only 3 kits was only in with the hob for 3 hours ... I wonder if the amount of time with the hob can also affect litter size. I know in cats that queens can mate with several different toms over a period of time and their litter will have mixed paternity ... suggesting they ovulate all of their eggs over a period of time. I wonder if this might be the same for jills ... and if the earlier/later eggs to be ovulated get missed when only one or two matings take place. Resulting in a smaller than average litter.

I have no idea about the length of time ova and sperm are viable in ferrets. There's quite good information on this in dogs, but not come across anything in ferrets.

[Heather]

I've only got poleys at the moment and they take their time. If I pop them in during the specified time of 12 to 16 days, I will be putting my naughty wee jills back in with the v-hob for a second round of whoopee. They prefer to wait. Lady Lola is on day 18 today...she's still not indicating she's ready to go to hob. Taking in her usual preferences, she will probably be ready next weekend. Both Tico and Bacchus have a tendency to not bother with the jills if they're not ready. I put Lady Merida with Bacchus too early. They slept, snuggled and played but didn't do the deed. I left them 24 hrs and to my knowledge nothing happened. I waited for another week and she seemed to be ready. I put her with him and they were all over each other and were doing the deed before I left the hob room. As you're aware, timing is everything. It will be interesting to see if "binos are that much different from the poleys.
I usually leave them together for 2 days.
ciao