Ferrets

Cats don't kill chickens. Mine free range at the bottom of the garden and neighbouring cats don't bother them. Foxes are a different matter and they are shut away very security every night.

In this instance I'd let them out before going to work and this b****y ferret, which had escaped the previous night ran rampage while I was away. Dead chickens everywhere, others with bites to the back of their necks, heads almost off, blood and feathers all around. It was heartbreaking.

Happily the lad who owned the ferret was equally upset and got rid of the blasted thing. Yes, they can appear cuddly and sweet with humans when properly reared and handled but they are vicious killers of chickens, rabbits, etc.

Cats kill birds and chickens are birds, one of the farm cats got into chickens when I was a kid and it got a few.

Anyway you have your reasons for hating the critters, I have mine for loving them.

I can't wait till weekend to get ours, they are gonna love their new home. Lots of ladders and platforms for them as well as plenty snuggly places for them to curl up in.

I will bow to your superior knowledge of cats smiter as I can't be arsed to argue with you any more.

smiter1955 I hope you enjoy your ferrets.

Ferrets have been pets for a long time I think. One of my favourite paintings is Lady with Ermine by da Vinci (painted around 1490) but it is thought the ermine is actually a ferret.

Aka I can understand how upsetting it was when a ferret killed your chickens. A fox has started coming into my garden and I think it must be after my elderly pet rabbit. So now Basil can't run around the garden like he used to and is often confined to his hutch.

I don't blame the fox though which is only behaving as its maker intended.

This has made me think of the problems caused by the well meaning but misguided people who set free all those mink from mink farms years ago, and the impact it has had on indigenous wildlife since . I can totally understand Aka's dislike of ferrets after what must have been an incredibly upsetting experience. At the same time I was entranced one day watching either a stoat or a pine marten in our garden one day, dragging some roadkill back to it's home; it's probably their likeness to otters that makes them so entrancing. However, having had an 'experience' with a weasel once I'm well aware of how savage creatures of the genre can be. Then again, I'm terrified of rabbits .

AKA I was unaware we were arguing, I presumed we were having an adult conversation/debate about our differing opinions on ferrets. I apologise if you felt it was an argument.

Totally agree Tegan re the Minks, the hearts of their rescuers were in the right place but they really didn't process their thoughts very well or they would have known what the outcome would be. The same goes for those who freed the boars a few years ago. Full of good intentions but not properly assessing the outcomes.

I'm interested in your "experience" of weasel. I have only ever saw one, which was when I worked in an animal rescue centre and was shocked as to how tiny they were. I always thought they were same size as stoats/pine martens/ferrets until then.

The cat brought one into the house [I knew it was a weasel cause I could smell it]. It was inside a roll of carpet that was in the living room [not sure why it was there but there was probably yet another bit of decorating being done]. I tipped it into a bucket and trudged across a nearby field to release it. Instead of scamering away into the undergrowth [as I expected] it ran straight at me and all but ran up inside my trouser leg . It was a very angry little creature, it's anger making it look ten times bigger than it was. Would hate to be anything that it predates on. Scary! All creatures of that ilk appear to be incredibly well designed predators.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2CTVqt2wxU
......although there are exceptions....

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1A07gDVLe14
..and the pet I'd love to have one day...

Oh Tegan those lovely rats! I haven't had a rat for years now, DS had two that lived in a drawer in his bedroom (Not the sort of thing the girlfriend would allow now!) And Ozzy the weasel is just gorgeous - I'm going to waste so much time watching the videos!
Our cats managed to bring a live weasel in once. It didn't seem to be injured, but died after about half an hour. It was a beautiful little animal

I did keep counting how many fingers Ozzy's owner had and was surprised that he still seemed to have 5.

Well he's only a baby

Oh dear, DD is now hooked on Ozzy

...I'm trying not to watch the utube of 'how to bathe pet rats'...how long do weasels live for I wonder? Crikey; just read that they can live for 10 years. Lots more 'adventures of Ozzy' to look forward to, then!

I used to get my rats to swim sometimes - but I'm not sure if they enjoyed it