| dc.description.abstract | The Domestic or European ferret (Mustela putorius furo) is increasing in number as a laboratory animal and as a pet. Knowledge on the ferrets’ ethological needs is essential to guarantee a good welfare and health for those ferrets. Unfortunately, up until now only little is known about ferret behaviour in general. This study aims to determine whether different types of enrichment affects the exploratory behaviour of ferrets. Six groups of six female neutered ferrets (N=36) were used in this study. One cage was housed under standard conditions (SC, N=6), three cages were housed with preferred enrichment (EC: two hammocks, a foraging ball and a water bowl, N=18) and two cages were housed with non-preferred enrichment (npEC: two ferret balls, a golf ball and an extra food bowl, N=12). All three types of conditions contained a sawdust bedding, a bucket, a water nipple and a food bowl. Recordings of two full days of each cage were observed. The first day was the baseline measurement in which all ferrets were housed under standard conditions. The second day was a month later when the ferrets were housed with or without enrichment, according to their grouping. As regards the duration, the three different groups did not differ significantly in the mean time spent on exploratory behaviour in period 2 compared to period 1: npEC (0,42 min ± 4,97 min, P=0,777), EC (2,56 min ± 7,59 min, P=0,171) and SC (-1,91 min ±3,44 min, P=0,233), nor did the differences in the Δ values of the mean time spent on exploration significantly differ between the three groups (-1,24 min ±6,60 min , P=0,277). Only the ferrets in cage 2 (one cage of the EC group), showed a significant decrease in the mean time spent on exploratory behaviour from period 1 to period 2 (-6,59 min ±6,17 min, P=0,047). As regards the frequency, the EC group differed significantly in the mean frequency of exploration in period 2 from period 1 (-34,56 times/day ± 41,69 times/day, P= 0,003), whereas SC (-12,00 times/day ± 19,21 times/day, P= 0,187) and npEC (0,50 times/day ± 27,22 times/day, P= 0,95) did not. The differences in the Δ values of the mean frequency of exploratory behaviour did not differ significantly between the three groups, but there was a trend for a difference between the EC and SC group (P=0,022). The results show that it does not matter if you house female neutered ferrets with non-preferred enrichment or under standard housing conditions. Additionally, in this study some results indicate that preferred enrichments may have had an effect on the exploratory behaviour and welfare of female neutered ferrets. | |
