# stoat/weasel orphan.



## Lori

This little dude got brought into my work a few days ago, not sure if its a stoat or a weasel but hes settling in well, very cute, and got a little nasty temper on him:')




























pictures aren't great the wee mans far too fast haha!:flrt:


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## feorag

Yes, very hard to tell the difference until the black tail tip comes in. Do you know what weight it is? i could possibly tell you what it is if you have an idea of age and weight. Obviously weaned as the eyes are open.

This is the baby stoat I handreared a few years ago.

When she came to me at approx 4-5 weeks old










When her eyes opened a couple of weeks later










And 3-4 weeks after she came


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## Lori

feorag said:


> Yes, very hard to tell the difference until the black tail tip comes in. Do you know what weight it is? i could possibly tell you what it is if you have an idea of age and weight. Obviously weaned as the eyes are open.
> 
> This is the baby stoat I handreared a few years ago.
> 
> When she came to me at approx 4-5 weeks old
> 
> image
> 
> When her eyes opened a couple of weeks later
> 
> image
> 
> And 3-4 weeks after she came
> image


 
He/she has been weighed but i cant remember what it was as it was a couple of days ago, we dont know what age it is as the people who brought it in to us said they found it on the road, had taken it home 'for a few days' then brought it to us. Dont believe that they had it for a few days as it was very very tame when we got it, other than that we know nothing else about it! but hes very happy away munching on rabbit, pinkies and chicks.

ill try and get him weighed tomorrow when im back in work


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## henry415

Amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can anyone tell me what milk type they raised them on, if milk was given at all. Thanks for sharing this post, its awesome!: victory:


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## feorag

Stoats and weasel's eyes don't open until they are about 5-6 weeks old and the stoat's tail tip turns black about a week or so later, so you should be able to tell soon what it is. Apart from size of course. I have the weights my stoat was stored on my main computer so can give you an idea of what weights she was at her 'guessed' age.

They start weaning before their eyes are open, so he'll be eating meat very happily although may still want milk. So he's probably at least 5 weeks old and will be fully weaned at 6-8 weeks old.


henry415 said:


> Amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can anyone tell me what milk type they raised them on, if milk was given at all. Thanks for sharing this post, its awesome!: victory:


I raised mine on full fat goats milk, double cream, ABIDEC baby vitamins and pro-biotic yoghurt. She weighed 28g when she came to me and was tiny as you can see from the photograph - in fact she was no fatter than my thumb. If you google "handreared stoat" on You tube you will see films of her development including feeding from a syring (although it's a bit blurred - filming is not my husband's forte) :lol2:


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## feorag

Are you giving any of the chicks whole and is he managing to chew his way through them, because if he is, then he's likely to be a reasonable bit over the 6 weeks stage and therefore if his tail hasn't started to blacken, then it's most likely he's a weasel. When mine was 6 weeks old I was feeding whole defrosted mice (as well as heart and chicks) but I still had to slit them open to give her a start?


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