Angora Ferrets
Our Angora Lines
So far we have 4 lines of angora:
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Our original dragon line Deriving from Angelic Ferrets Samael Dragon, a sable mitt full angora from a silver import mother and sandy UK line father
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Elliotts line Deriving from RAFs Elliott at Whimkis, a lilac panda/marked DEW semi from a lilac UK line mother and a chocolate import father
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Our dark line deriving from Manzai de la Cote Ouest par Whimkis, a black self, bordering on solid semi import from sable and black self lines
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Hectors line Deriving from Denver de la Cote Ouest par Whimkis our albino carrier import from albino and mainly sandy lines
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Matteis line Deriving from Radwan des Urban's Ferret par Whimkis, a full angora near perfect nose chocolate roan imported from French lines
All these lines are unrelated to each other so we can work on lowering inbreeding co-efficients in our own kits and breed healthy, happy kits.
Our goals in breeding our angoras is to firstly improve on genetic diversity, health and breed to even noses with little fur and fewer clefts. We like the angora nose however we do not want to see it extreme, and preferably it will at first glance look the same as a standard nose, only looking angora upon closer inspection. As always I love long coats so we are also looking to improve length and have the correct texture (that is the one that makes their coats a little messy looking) but is not as important to us as our primary goals.
At present we have a good genetic base of angora carrier jills and hobs, part angora hobs and part angora jills to work towards our goals with. As well as the lines above we have gained a jill of another line for a specific litter. Some of these lines we are out crossing with standard lines to further increase diversity, others we plan to put together to hopefully produce fantastic full angoras in time.
Terms defined at the bottom of the page
Angora Health
This is the first angora I ever saw, isn't he cute? I don't know who bred him for certain because he was a rescue or who he belongs to because I met him at a show. I'll be honest I wasn't too sure if I liked angoras or not. Beautiful as he was his nose was an extreme angora nose and I was worried how this would affect his respiratory system. He was snuffly which is what really got my attention. I was also just concerned; we all know dog breeds with extreme physical characteristics have inherited problems; this can happen in any animal if bred poorly.
I did some research and found yes, I was justified to be concerned BUT like with any animal good, hardworking breeders are careful not to cause any ill health to the babies they breed, in fact it is part of the angora breed standard that the fur on the nose and extra creases must not interfere with the breathing of the animal. Some breeders are even producing full angoras with normal noses. It is important to make sure if you’re after an angora you go to a good reputable breeder, so you can be sure that they are bred healthily, ask to see pedigrees if you can and both parents so that you can be sure of a healthy baby.
From the first examples of the breed the angora has been plagued by bad publicity on health however most breeders agree that this stems for when Sorren Thinggard neutered his kits at 6 weeks old causing a dramatic effect on health (see page ferret 101) and the original small gene pool was inbred to get full angoras with no regard to anything else. These days there is no issue of inbreeding by good breeders (you can check by looking at the pedigree) in fact most angoras have a better inbreeding co-ef than pedigree dogs, the only real problem these days are those associated with breeding which is being improved by dedicated breeders strengthening their lines all by different methods.
That said I would highly advise anyone looking to buy an angora or angora line ferret to inquire about deformities, deafness, insulinoma and juvenile lymphoma in particular as large concerns in all ferrets, especially those that may have been bred primarily for looks. Cryptorchidism is a well-known problem in UK angora lines as a few breeders unknowingly imported carriers. Good breeders can be quite strict about weeding out these genes but for a pet owner this particular condition will make little to no difference as long as you ensure the boy is neutered or implanted. These health conditions can all be found in standard ferrets as well.
What makes angoras special?
They have much longer coats than a standard. The coat is also a different texture because it is made up only of the upper coat, no undercoat. This coat can be up to 6 inches long in a full angora male and takes approximately 18 months, or their second winter, to come to full length. A full angora also usually has an unusual nose, the nostrils have extra folds onto the nasal cavity and there is fur on the front of the nose and inside the nostrils. It reminds me in some ways of the nose on bull terriers, the way it seems to blend into the top of the nose, not the clefts. This is Ice my first angora, you can really see her odd nose in this pic, she was still very young in this.
The Angoras also have a different smell; they're not as musky, I keep showing them off to people saying, "and look they don't smell see-" and pushing a ferret towards their nose. I get rather over excited about my little dragons. They smell so different that my old rabbit didn’t even seem to recognise her scent as a ferret . This really makes them ideal as indoor ferrets since even intact their scent is more pleasant to many people; we believe it is because they have no undercoat they don't trap the oils as much, much like a neutered ferret smells less than an intact one and clean bedding makes a huge difference to the ferret smell in all ferrets.
Down sides of an angora are that they have no undercoat, so they are more vulnerable to the cold than a standard or angora carrier. Although they can be fine outside in winter for the most part you may want to invest in some padded bedding for the winter weather and have an option to bring them under cover if the weather gets extreme. They cannot be used for working due to the funny nose making it easy for them to breathe in dust and dirt on the ground, and the coat collecting the damp and dirt. They have the same personality as other breeds and are very capable at working but for health reasons shouldn’t be used. I had also noticed my little Ice had a fabulous sense of smell, better than any other ferret and she became fascinated by scents though whether this is just her or angoras in general I have no idea.
Breeding is made very difficult due to slow growth rates of full angoras, low genetic diversity in the country and problems with breeding full angora jills. The jills often also have issues of poor contractions and not going into labour and then usually cannot nurse their kits due to poor quality milk. Thanks to this surrogates and C-sections are almost always needed when breeding full angora jills. Rather than putting their jills and kits at risk breeders generally choose to breed towards high angora % with carrier to full pairings and therefore higher likelihood of angoras in a litter rather than breeding full angora jills. These hardships mean that angora and angora line kits are very expensive comparatively. The prices also reflect the general costs of ferrets as a whole in other countries. Most countries you are looking at around £100 for a standard ferrets.
These breeding issues (aside from the slow growth which is seen in all long-haired breeds of animals, including cats and dogs) do not seem to be linked to the angora gene. Instead it is believed to be a side effect of breeding purely for one recessive gene at the development of the breed.
Although carriers do not have the single long coat of the full angora they do tend to have a longer fluffier coat. This cannot be relied on when trying to tell if a ferret is a standard ferret or a angora carrier though. Some there does seem to be long haired genes unrelated to angora which can result in some standards having longer coats than carriers and carriers ranging from undistinguishable from a standard to very angora in appearance.
Angora lines Vs Standards
The angora gene is a simple recessive gene, though there is a lot of other associated genes not as well understood like the angora nose and the genes for milk production. Angora carriers have longer coats than non-carriers ferrets (standards) but not as long as a full angora. They do not share the same characteristics as full angoras such as no under coat and the angora nose. There is no way to tell for sure if a kit carries the gene or not unless they are either a full angora or the parent or offspring of a full angora so believed or confirmed carriers are bred to other believed or confirmed carriers to produce full angora kits. This has resulted in the part/semi/full classification in the UK where we class a ferrets likelihood of carrying the gene based on its phenotype and the genotype of their relatives. Part angoras have a lower % of direct angora relatives making them less likely to be carriers and semis with both parents being carriers have a higher %.
You do get some standard lines that have a naturally longer or fluffier coat than other standards. You see this in angora and angora carriers too. I have some standards with longer coats than my carriers and my trio of Theo, Tawny and Noire, all carrier sisters, all had different lengths and looks. Part and semi angoras are sold at higher prices than standards due to the reasons outline in What makes an Angora special? so please be aware if you are buying a part angora that you see a pedigree. This is the only way to check that you are really getting what you are paying for, many angora carriers look very like a standard, particularly when young, and people have been claiming that a standard is angora or part angora and selling the kits for high prices to anyone who doesn’t know better. Also, they are susceptible to the usual inherited problems so make sure they’re not in bred or badly bred by checking out pedigrees and parents’ health. For an idea of how easy it is to trick someone see the photos below. None of these ferrets are fully grown and are still young kits at rehoming age.
Angelic Ferrets Eglantine
Domino Moon Ferrets Lunar Eclipse
Angelic Ferrets Astra Unicorn
Angelic Ferrets Samael Dragon
All the colours and markings that you see angoras in you can also find standards in though you may have to look for a breeder specifically for some of the rarer colours. Please note that no matter the breeding a ferret bred purely for colour will make health an after thought if it is even considered so ask your breeder lots of questions.
Angora terms
Angora lines are priced by their likelihood of carrying angora. Most people use a scale;
standard, part angora, half angora, semi angora, full angora
There is a bit of argument as to these terms because the main angora gene is a simple recessive. The terms used thus have been accused of misrepresenting or mis-selling ferrets to gain more money. In reality there is only non carrier (standard), carrier (half) and affected (angora), any other genes carried only being important when looking at them from the point of view of improoving the lines. We don't want to mislead anyone so instead we decided to use these terms but talk about them in terms of chances of carrying the gene
Unknown angora gene status:
part angora is <1/2; part angoras have one half or part angora parent and one standard or part angora parent. They have a lower (than a semi) chance of being carriers. Any ferret descended from an angora can be considered a part as the gene can hide through many out crosses as such part angora prices can be the same as a standard ferret, but the higher the angora % the more likely to be a carrier the ferret is and the more you might expect to pay.
carrier to carrier is semi; (semi to semi or half to half pairings) these ferrets have a higher (than part) chance of being carriers because they can inherit the gene from both parents. Such kits usually have full angora litter mates. Semi litters can have higher costs associated with them due to the costs of parents and transport. Given they are not of known carrier status we do not price them as high as a ferret of known carrier status
Known angora gene status:
1/2 angoras or carriers have one angora parent and one standard or carrier parent. They generally have longer coats and are definitely carriers. Many use the term "semi" to describe higher percentage half angoras because before it was known that angora is a simple recessive gene angoras were priced by angora %, though these days some see that as false advertising now that the genes are better understood, others simply find they can keep track of their ferrets carrier status better by going by percentage and using the term semi for anything higher than 50% angora. They're just being old school
Full angoras/angoras; have single long coats and may have other associated features i.e. the angora nose. Angoras coat type and length differs line to line, ferret to ferret, but they do keep growing longer until approximately their 2nd winter
As well as their phenotype status higher percentage of angora generally have higher prices associated due to the costs of importing, prices being higher abroad, the costs of buying full angoras on breeding contracts in the UK, and the problems raising as in What makes an Angora special? Cheap angoras should be avoided because it suggests effort to ensure a healthy litter has not been put in. Better quality coats, longer, thicker, fluffier, may also incur higher prices, as may noses closer to those on a standard ferret, normal, near normal and symmetrical being preferred for breeding.
In other countries angoras are often classed as only Angora, semi angora/long haired (>1/2) and short haired (<1/2) and is based only on hair length which can lead to some confusion when we add in the variety of coat lengths between individuals naturally. I personally prefer our way since it aligns better with my mathematically inclined brain, hence why we altered our thinking on the semi/part definitions