joan
Gnawing on bones
Natural Ferret Breeder
Posts: 57
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Post by joan on Jan 15, 2011 15:33:56 GMT -5
s16.photobucket.com/albums/b38/fenezo/2010polecatsI imported these two from the UK in November. They're 1 1/2 years old and are supposed to be pure polecats, down from several generations of captive bred polecats. I love their intelligence and personalities...and they are unbelievably fast! Even though they certainly look like true polecats, I suspect they're actually hybrids with a high percentage of polecat. The breeder(s) of those behind them certainly did a fantastic job of maintaining polecat type while breeding in outstanding temperaments. They've never tried to nip or bite when handled and are very people oriented and responsive...they learned their names within a week and come when called. It took a couple weeks for them to learn to use litter pans, as they'd always lived outdoors, but are now 100% reliable, both in and out of their cage. Needless to say, I'm absolutely delighted with them and can't wait to see their kits next spring!
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sherik
Going Natural
Posts: 105
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Post by sherik on Jan 15, 2011 15:40:44 GMT -5
Cute.... is that box what they were sent over in? How do you get a polecat?
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Post by Heather on Jan 15, 2011 16:21:58 GMT -5
They are gorgeous, I'm green with envy. Congratulations. There is nothing like the deep gold undercoat of the polecats or polecat hybrids. You will keep us posted with pics and such of your kits, please. I've heard that the intelligence of these little ones are probably going to really test your ferret proofing skills ciao
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Post by katt on Jan 15, 2011 17:49:01 GMT -5
Wow! They are gorgeous! I love how huge they are and oh look at those coats!
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joan
Gnawing on bones
Natural Ferret Breeder
Posts: 57
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Post by joan on Jan 15, 2011 22:04:58 GMT -5
Sherik, yes, that's their shipping crate. The pics were taken the night they arrived...we put the crate in their pen, then opened it, and Kevin took the pics as they explored their new living quarters.
True polecats are clearly few and far between in the UK...more than 98% of the pics I've seen or been sent over the past two years purporting to be polecats looked like hybrids at best, and most looked like polecat colored ferrets. Most ferret owners couldn't live with polecats or even hybrids, which is why I'm very particular about placing my kits.
Heather, I learned all about the increased ferret proofing needed when I got a couple F1 hybrids in 2004. I thought I was prepared for them, but they quickly showed me just how much more an athletic and determined hybrid could accomplish than even the most intelligent ferrets I'd owned up to that point. <G> So far at least, Basil and Cybill haven't managed anything that the F2 and F3 offspring haven't already done. I thoroughly enjoy them, but they definitely aren't suitable pets for the majority of ferret owners.
Hurricanekatt, they aren't as big as they look in the pics. They are much smaller than any of my hybrids, which is typical...polecats are much smaller than the typical European ferret, although the hybrids can be much larger.
Basil is quite a bit smaller than my smallest hybrid hob (who weighs just over 4 lbs) even though he weighs the same, and Cybill is easily the smallest jill I have and is equal in weight to my largest jill, who weighs 2 3/4 lbs, and is half again as big as Cybill. The differences in size and weight are due to their extremely good muscling, as polecats have much better muscling than either ferrets or hybrids.
I was delighted when Basil and Cybill's onwer finally agreed to let me have them, as their smaller size and shorter backs are what I need to maintain polecat type as my hybrids have tended to mature much too large, especially the hobs. Most of them wound up to be well over 5 lbs and some are more than 6 lbs. It wasn't any great surprise, as their sire/grandsire (the F1 hob) was well over 6 lbs in winter weight.
Glad you all like them as much as I do!
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Post by Jackie on Jan 16, 2011 12:14:06 GMT -5
They are absolutely beautiful! I want one
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Post by maddiesmom on Jan 16, 2011 12:23:40 GMT -5
They certainly have beautiful coats! They're beautiful! They look just like ferrets to me, though, I don't think I would be able to tell the difference. Would you mind enlightening me? I love to learn about things like this!
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rahrah
Going Natural
Posts: 134
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Post by rahrah on Jan 16, 2011 12:37:20 GMT -5
Soo gorgous! Congrats on your new babies You'll have so much fun!
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Post by Heather on Jan 16, 2011 20:50:19 GMT -5
They are ferrets In Europe you can get access to "polecats" which are the original ancestors to our ferrets. My understanding (though could be mistaken)is that purebred polecats cannot be exported out of the country of origin as they're on the endangered species list. That being said hybrids or crosses can be imported. One of the problems you can encounter too, is that the word poley or polecat can also refer to the colour that we call sable. Europeans don't have a sable colour they have a poley colour making reference to the colour the same or similar to the polecat. ciao
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dookdook
Newbie
ferretless but hopeful
Posts: 32
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Post by dookdook on Jan 18, 2011 8:16:12 GMT -5
They are adorable, I want one
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joan
Gnawing on bones
Natural Ferret Breeder
Posts: 57
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Post by joan on Jan 20, 2011 23:49:58 GMT -5
There are a number of differences between polecats and ferrets. The most obvious ones are the skull structure and eye placement. Polecats are supposed to have a different eye structure and see more colors than ferrets, which may explain their excellent vision.
While I've never seen anything writtem about it except in the book by Fara Shimbo, polecats (and most hybrids I've had or seen pics of) also have a clearly defined hock joint, so have a completely different movement than do ferrets.
Supposedly a DNA test has been developed in the UK which can differentiate true polecats from hybrids and feral ferrets, but I'm very dubious about it after seeing pics of what are obviously ferrets or low content hybrids whose DNA tested out as polecats The most obvious one was an albino ferret with no polecat features at all.. It would be very interesting to compare DNA tested UK "polecats" with known polecats from countries where there are no feral ferrets.
I'm not aware of any countries which list polecats as an endangered species. IIRC, European mink (a polecat subspecies) are...or at least, should be, as they are increasingly rare in the wild.
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candiceboggs
Going Natural
Ferrets are nature's anti-depressant.
Posts: 187
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Post by candiceboggs on Jan 24, 2011 9:30:44 GMT -5
They are very lovely Joan, you can really see the difference, especially in the bridge of the nose and in the tail. Good lucking breeding them, they are lucky to be a part of an all-raw program.
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trippyferret
Gnawing on bones
The Weasels of Warcraft be goin' natural!
Posts: 78
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Post by trippyferret on Jan 29, 2011 18:11:02 GMT -5
They are so beautiful! They look very similar to my hob Bomber from GFX ferretry. Makes me wonder if her ferrets have any polecat in their backgrounds. Hmmm. They are certainly wilder than their mill counterparts. lol!
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