Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-08-24
BREEDING MINK.
Demonstrating the Animal for Speculative
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Purposes.
My father had at one time thirty mink,
mostly of his own raising and they were
as tame and easily handled as so maSy
kittens but the decline in furs and conse-
quently somewhat of our enthusiasm in
the enterprise, and our subsequent removal
to Tennessee put an end to the experiment.
We lost a number, | remember, toward
the last by feeding them too much beefs
liver as we threw into the yard one day
whole beefs liver, on which they gorged
themselves for several days. This brought
on kind Of dysentery, of which good
many died. We also lost number from
no cause that we could ascertain, but
which now believe was from keeping too
many confined in too small space. The
mink is solitary animal by nature, and
when too many are by force congregated it
brings on contagious diseases among them.
Our Enclosure was at first about four or
five rods square and surrounded clump
of small spruce trees, and had stream Of
water constantly running through it in a
box about foot wide and the same depth.
Later we found that the animals had to
be separated most of the year, for they are
vicious fighters especially the old ones,
and thus the Enclosure was divided up into
small compartments. The outside was an
upright tight board fence six feet high,
resting on a stone wall one foot below the
surface, with fiat stones at the bottom pro-
iecting in, also with board foot wide
projecting inward from the top, and the
corners lined with tin. Then to insure
their not climbing out we used to clip the
two front nails of the forepaws. If this is
done when the animal is young, and the
nail clipped close up-that is, taking off
the end of the toe with tit will not be
likely to grow out again, and this quite
effectually spoils the animals ability as
climber or digger.
As boy, it was my part of the farm
chores to look after the "minkery," and an
agreeable duty it was to me in many re-
spects. The feed consisted almost entirely
Of woodchucks, in which our section of
Western New York abounded, and many
an afternoon the excuse of being out of
"mink bait' was sufficient to let me off
about milking time, and many poor
woodchuck fell a victim to my little
smooth-bore at short range. The young
ones were fed mostly on milk, tapping it
up greedily like young puppies.
A young mink is easily tanned, and they
are the most cute and playful little crea-
lures in the world. They will play to-
gether for hours at a time, rolling and
tumbling over each other in the water
and out in the most amusing manner
They were sociable and friendly and
seemed delighted when l came into the
yard to see them. They would crawl all
over me and up my coat sleeve and panta-
loon legs, and let me feel of their sharp,
needle-like teeth without offering to bite.
have seen them rolling and tumbling in
the water, when one would stretch out
and appear to be dead, and the other
seize him by the nape of the neck and
drag him out of the water and several
feet on the ground, when the "dead'
mink would suddenly jump up and they
would both scramble into the water and
reverse the performance.
Like all meat-eating animals the mink
would gorge themselves with enough at
one time to last them two or three days,
and during such periods they are stupid
and quiet, spending most of the time
asleep, and when handled will lazily open
their eyes and stretch out and go to sleep
again. But let them once get fairly hun
CRY, and they are about as lively var
mint as | ever saw. At such times it is
best to be careful about feeding them bits
of meat from your hand, for they are
liable to grab hold of your finger instead,
and then, mink will beat any bull-ter-
rier that ever lived in the matter OF hang
ing on, and dozen tomcats cannot do as
lively snarling and scratching. You may
swing them around, rap them against the
fence or duck them under the water, they
will still hold their grip, and nothing but
a good strong choking until the breath is
fairly gone will induce them to let go. 1t
has been long time since the war, but
my finger still bears the marks of such a
contest. -F0rest and Stream