General Exotic Animal Facts
- A hedgehog’s heart beats 300 times a minute.
- All hamsters are descended from a single female (and her mates) found in a Syrian tomb in 1930.
- The poison-arrow frog has enough poison to kill about 2,200 people.
- Armadillos can walk under water.
- A single pig gave birth to 34 piglets in Denmark in 1961.
- Pigs will eat any Ben and Jerry’s ice cream flavor but for one, Mint Oreo.
- The ferret (Musteia putorius furo) is a domestic pet. It is not a wild animal, though ferrets are descendants of the European polecat (weasel) and are, therefore, close relatives of skunks, mink, otters, and badgers.
- There are several varieties of ferrets, based on coloration. Fitch ferrets (the most popular) are buff-colored, with black masks, feet and tails. Albino ferrets are white, with pink eyes. There is also the Siamese ferret. The female ferret is called a “jill”, while the male is called a “hob”. Babies are “kits”.
- The gestation period of ferrets is 42-44 days (average, 42 days). The average litter size is 8 (range, 2-17). Kits are born deaf, with their eyes closed. Their eyes open and they begin to hear between 3 and 5 weeks of age. Their deciduous (“temporary”) teeth begin to erupt at 2 weeks of age, at which time they begin to eat solid food. Kits generally are weaned onto commercial kitten chow at 4-8 weeks of age. Kits reach their adult weight at 4 months of age. Males are typically twice the size of females, but both sexes undergo periodic weight fluctuations. it is not uncommon for the average ferret to add 30-40% of its body weight in fat deposited beneath the skin in the fall, and lose this fat the following spring. The average life span of ferrets is 9-10 years.