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Post by Deleted on Apr 24, 2016 7:49:01 GMT -5
Mostly that is associated with the 'high white' colour variations, so the irish spotting gene and extreme white markings. The same thing happens in many species, as you say, high white in rats causes megacolon most commonly, in double merle dogs it will cause deafness most commonly. In none of these species does a roaning gene cause the same problem to my knowledge, husky/roan rats do not have the same risk of problems as high white rats, even though they may end up BEW quite quickly. Petal was born very dark, in fact you could mistake her for a sable in her first year of life. As such, she has roaned out to what you see today, and her white toes are not the result of the irish spotting gene. It's all personal preference, but I personally haven't come across a problem with this particular gene as it is a roaning rather than extreme white gene. If I was to flag up a problem or if I had evidence to say the silver in my lines was associated with certain health problems, they would not be bred.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 24, 2016 14:57:45 GMT -5
I keep quite meticulous health records on all of my ferrets (down to the date they develop signs of something and the date they recover) and always keep in touch with new owners of any I home, so time will tell whether they have a reduced lifespan. Anecdotally they don't seem to be any different to sables but anecdotes aren't always the full story! I think ferrets in the US are quite different from UK ferrets in some ways. The difficulty comes in actual records to document these things. So few breeders over here actually write anything down or have reliable information so it does make it difficult. What I know myself is that I have had 10 silvers born to date here and none of them have had impaired hearing, widened flattened heads or any other signs of neural crest abnormalities, nor have they appeared to have compromised health in comparison to their sable counterparts. When I'm 10 years down the line I will update
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Post by crazylady on May 3, 2016 12:53:12 GMT -5
LoL Vicki anne I am 48 years down the line ( first ferret when I was 7 ) and I am still trying to figure ferrets out lol I do keep records as did my dad and grandfather I think the main reason there are so few records is the ferret is classed as a working animal and a lot of hunters who work ferrets simply use a good working hob from so and so to go to there jill so it wont die ( a lot still believe its a case of they must be bred or die ) those kits go far and wide ask what there parentage is and your told oh its from freds good worker ! both albinos I think ! either that or there records are in there brain and that often makes big mistakes ( Mine does too I often think oh she is three wrong look in the book she is 7 lol) take care bye for now Bev
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Post by Deleted on May 3, 2016 14:35:42 GMT -5
Bev, that is the trouble I'm up against all the time especially with the small ferrets. There is only me and one other breeder who keep good records and write everything down!
In a lot of ways I feel like I'm starting from scratch with my ferrets as I only have people's word for health, age, parentage etc. But everybody has to start somewhere I guess.
I often feel my brain is fried with all the information and I only have two generations so far to think about so I'm glad I write everything down! Got a long way to go yet though!
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