Semen volume and sperm concentration in the ferret (Mustela putorius)

Semen was obtained from 40 of 62 attempted electro-ejaculations of nine anesthetized male ferrets. The ejaculations were performed using a bi-polar rectal electrode and an electrical stimulus of about 4 V and 0.35 mA applied for approximately 4 seconds and repeated at 10-second intervals. The mean number of stimuli required to obtain an ejaculation was 12.3. The spermatozoa concentration per mm3 ranged from 0.07 x 10(6) to 1.98 x 10(6) with a mean of 0.62 x 10(6). The mean number of spermatozoa per ejaculate was 16.35 x 10(6) and the mean volume of semen per ejaculate was 0.026 ml.