September 10, 2012

  • Ferrets

    The book i read to research this post is Ferrets for Dummies 2nd Edition by Kim Schilling which is an excellent book which I bought from my local petshop. I don't have ferrets and only got this book because I thought it would make an interesting blog. In Britain where I live ferrets are a fairly popular pet and they have been for a long time. However and I am a bit shocked by this in some states of America they are classed as wild animals and if you do keep them as pets you risk a fine and the pet being put down. A ferret is a domesticated version of the polecat and by that I mean they have them in beautiful colours and also they are far easier to tame than something like a mink. I think a ferret would struggle in the wild. In Britain in the countryside I have heard of some people who knot the ends of their trousers and transport a ferret by putting it down their trousers which sounds a bit dangerous. Apparently poachers used to do that in the old days. I don't know if it's still legal in Britain but some people used to do ferretting where they put a ferret down a rabbit hole and it would chase the rabbit out so they could either net it or shoot it. They would have a bell on the ferrets collar so they could find it. Also sometimes the ferret would find something interesting and not want to come out so they would send a female ferret down on a piece of string to work out where it was and then have to dig it out. Ferrets can be trained to get on with other animals. Ferrets eat alot of meat and surprisingly some insects in their diet. Often their owners like to give them a bone to chew much like a dog and this should be boilled to sterilize it and also soften the bone so it doesn't splinter. Finally you also need to keep them in a good cage as they are good at escaping and are quite able to burrow or chew their way out.

oldscratbag

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