Guess what I found out side this morning!!!
Okay since I doubt you can guess I will tell you.
I dont know how many read that I have a rat outside under the wood pile. But I do.
I went outside this morning and was talking to the girls (hens) and I saw movement.
I ran out of the chicken run and waited. All of a sudden I saw a long brown animal come out!
It was my neighbors ferret!!! It was Maddy. I was shocked. The next door folk never told me they lost their ferrett! Boy, that could have been a mess. I believe (but am not sure) that she could have really done a number on my girls. I grabbed her up and brought her home. She may have killed the rat though. She slept in the place that I saw that thing in. RIGHT NEXT TO THE COOP!
Can you believe it?
Guess what I found...
The mind BOGGLES...did they let the ferret out to catch the rat or were you merely VERY well looked after?! Yikes!
No they did not let her out to catch the rat. At least I would hope not. It is cold here and they are very sensitive to extreme heat and cold. So , I guess they were just VERY well looked after. I guess they have holes in the house that can lead to the outside. I am just thankful I found her be for she decided to PLAY with the chickens. Double Yikes! :/
This message was edited Dec 4, 2008 3:29 PM
Whew! Thank goodness you found her. Both for your girls and the ferret. Fingers crossed the rat is now gone.
Ferrets are illegal in California--there is a whole Ferret Underground, with clandestine vets and everything.
It is really amazing you were able to catch it so easily--it must be a nice animal.
Years ago my oldest sister had a couple of ferrets living with her. You'd have to sit with your feet curled up under you so they couldn't bite your ankles! My sister thought this was cute(me not so much!). They had free reign throughout the house. No offense to anyone but they're not my cup of tea!!
She is a pet ferret. Her name is Maddy. I have two of my own, but they do not go outside unless on a leash.
I do love them. I have one that is a resue ferret. She was never socialized and severely under weight. Her teeth were bad do to poor nutrition. It took a long time to break her of biting. She bit everyone. She would hiss because she was so afraid of people.
Now she comes when I call her. Milo is my other. He loves Dolly. They are both very nice.
I just dont know how Maddy would act around the chickens and I really dont want to find out.
I did not know they were illegal in Cal! WOW! Does Cal. have wild ferrets? (Black footed) They are becoming endangered.
Oh I am not offended at all. They do not have free range in my house! They have a big cage. I do let them out to play (supervised) because they hide all my stuff. I do not find biting funny or cute. I break them of that. It is possible. And if you do not bath them they STINK! they are from the skunk family (cousins i think) hehehe
I was about 10 when she had them so their behavior really used to scare the dickens out of me!
How are they when it comes time for baths? I didn't go over my sister's very often so I don't remember any of the particulars for taking care of them. I hope they are more tolererant than my dogs when it's bathtime!!
Well, they are smaller at least. (than dogs) It depends on the ferret though. Some love bath time and swim in the tub. Then you have my two. Not loving it so much. I always clip nails first. ;) I put meat flavored belly paste on them and clip away before they are done licking it off! Then tubby time. My daughter is 12. We have had them since she was about your age of experience. She loves them though because ours did not bite. She takes them for walks too. I had a bad experience with gerbils! If you can believe that. I am afraid of them. LOL I know it sounds silly but a bad experience can ruin it for you.
Not silly at all!
I love how you take care of them and how you are showing your daughter this also. She'll carry this through life when taking care of any animals that she will have in her home or farm. :-)
When i was a little girl we had all kinds of animals and thats where i got my love of them.
We had chickens when I was very small(around 3!) and we had a shetland pony that was as mean as they come. After you were bucked off a few times she would let you ride her for abit! Plus we always had a dog and a cat.
When my DH and I were married we got a couple of goats and some sheep which was great! Then we started geting a couple of piglets every year-they helped clean off some of the land and helped with the feed bills. It has been great raising my kids around all the different kinds of animals. Showing them even if an animal is being raised for meat it is to be treated with love and given the best life possible. They've been there when animals have been sick(some brought into the house to stay close by!- what's wrong with a goat staying w/ you for abit!!), through the miracle of births and the sorrow when you sell a favorite. I wouldn't trade even one memory!
ha ha ha I love my ferrets but sometimes its scary
because there nails get stuck on their beds and they
just hang there by their nail and dolly almost broke
her leg two times before when that hapened! :/ But
Really over all they are great! :]
Dominique
Oh how this makesme miss the 2 Ferrits that I had about 7 years ago. Frosty and Shadow had a huge cage. I had to break Shadow of nipping. Frosty loved to collect crinkly plastic (like chips bags, etc), she would get them from all over the house and carry them to this very small dwarewin one of those old dressers with the big round mirror....well anyway, she would stuff it full (the little drawer~~it had a piece of wood missing from the back), and then when she was done playing, thts where she would always be culed up asleep.
That was before I got the big cage. After moving into different quarters, she would love to collect and stuff that little drawer during playtime. I still have a terrycloth sack that was for baathtime. It has a mesh window in it, and a dwarstring top. You lest the Ferret get in it , then close the top, then you can wash them in the bath, without getting bit (or at least have tht terrycloth between their nails or teeth and your skin). Don't even know why I still have kept that sack, but nobody at the Goodwill or anyplace like that would know what it was....and i hate to throw things away!
I had to give many beloved pets away when I got sick with Fibro a few years ago.
I sent snuggles to all the ferrits out there...I sure to love em!
Sheri
Oh I'm sure your neighbors were thrilled! I just love ferrets, although I stopped appreciating their stink and have not gotten more after my first two passed away. I just love their antics and crazy warrior prance! They are lovely pets!
Oh my goodness, Ihad forgotten that crazy warier prance! I wonder if there is a site that shows some of them in action? That would be fun to see! I am so glad you found the lost Ferret!! Mine washed all the time and I did not notice any Strong smell, just their unique selves. there are some people whose choices of fragrance that they wear has been much more objectionable to me
Mine smell! We give them baths 3 times a month but they still smell. I think its because when their cage get stinky they smell too. (their cage gets stinky like every other day and we only have two ferrets) Mine do the warrior prance pretty much the whole time they are out of their cage. ha ha ha You got to love them!
Dominique
Never liked ferrets. When I was younger my sis's ferret, Slinky, killed my Quacker, and shoved her dead body into one of her hidey holes in the bathroom cabinet. She also bit people randomly.
If I had that experience with them I wouldnt like them either. But ours havent killed anything so far
The worst my ferrets ever drug off to their hidey holes were the squeakers out of toys. Katinka (Stinker Bell was her nickname) HATED them! Trubl would always steal shiny stuff. One time she robbed an out of town guest. He always put his watch and his class ring in his shoe when he went to bed. She found them both and drug them off. She was pretty mad when we found her stash and got it back.
Actually I did have one bratty one - Selkie was her name - she used to hide under the couch and nip at your heal when you sat down. MAN did that smart!
Ah, ferrets, hilarious, but too stinky. Once the kids were born. I was done with them. I'd consider having them again if I could build a really nice home for them in the garage or outside and they only came in to play.
Pictures, Pictures...I want to see a warrior dance...it's been so long since I saw one.
hehe...LOL...The theif of the class ring and watch is a funny story. I didn't know that they all had a thing about "stashing away goodies". Oh if I still had that 3 story cage, I'd get me one, but don't have the money to get one of those huge cages at todays prices.
I will try to get a picture next time we let the ferrets out. Lazy ladies I wish I had a warm outdoor cage but I dont. Because they smell really really bad!!!
Dominique
I know chickens4ever! Its their poop that smelled so bad. I bathed them every couple of weeks so they didn't smell bad themselves, just their cage. You couldn't change that thing often enough to keep down on the smell...
sorry but i have to post them one by one
this is dolly
this is millo looking at me getting ready to attack
This message was edited Jan 1, 2009 2:14 PM
this is millo hiding
this is millo sneeking into my dads tool holder
this is millo prancing or, doing the war prance :D
its hard to get pictures of dolly! ha ha ha
I hope everyone enjoys the pictures!
Dominique
Almost cute enough for me to forget the smell!! I love playing with other people's ferrets....
Yes, then you can leave them AND the cage behind! hehehe
They really are fascinating creatures!! If only I didn't have a sense of smell...
Ya, there in lies the problem! I do love them but man, its a lot of work to keep the cage clean.
They are fun. They hide EVERYTHING! They got out one day and 13 stuffed toys were drug from the bedrooms and piled behind the couch. It was quite a sight. Everytime I rearrange the furniture I find new things! Well not new but things I thought I lost. I do keep the keys up!
ha ha ha. I love how they hide stuff but not when its stuff that I like.
Every now and then I give them one or two stuffed animals that
they can hide and play with. The smell sort of ruins it sometimes though.
Dominique
Are you sure it's their poo. I always thought it was the scent of the oil in their skin?
They definately have scent glands. They are related to skunks and badgers.
There poo does smell. Their diet is all protien (well a lot of it)
But the males smell more than the females. (NOPE, I am refraining from funny comment!)
The glands can be removed. My DN had one and he told me if you feed them the right food they did not smell-and no I do not know what the "right food" is. But his never smelled when I was around. Nor did his travel cage.
Huh? There are a lot of people feeding their ferrets the wrong stuff then!!!! LOL ; P