Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => Pets without Feathers => Topic started by: scabs on July 08, 2010, 22:26
-
Fred and Phoebe are soon to join the ranks: just over a year old neutered pair, cream, very placid.
Our local rescue centre were shut but as I enquired about opening times and they asked why I was there, they virtually dragged me in!
-
Did you take them home in your trousers? :D :D
-
Hi, I have had ferrets for about 11 years now. I've bred quite a few, and I love them all to bits!
-
John: Not got them yet. Just got to convert the old coop and make it as escape-proof as possible, then pick up a few bits for them... may pick up at the weekend or possibly next week.
hlaw...etc: It's been a while (about 20 years) since I kept them, any advice? Whereabouts are you, could you update your profile matey? :)
-
Lovely creatures. Will they be pets or will you hunt with them?
-
Hi Mosslane,
They'll just be pets. A few free rabbits would be most welcome, but I've never hunted with them before and wouldn't have the first clue! :lol:
-
We had ferreters visit us earlier this year and I was amazed to see how they work and not lose the ferrets.
-
Had a polecat ferret when I was a teenager (long ago). Lovely animals and they will play all day with a bit of string if you've got the time. Just like a playful kitten and just as tame if you handle them regularly.
Good luck - lucky you!
-
My memories are of just laughing watching them play, I'd be terrified of letting one down a burrow and never seeing it again! I guess these guys do some serious training with them...?
Very excited!
-
By the look of your list of pets I am sure they will have a great life.
-
Currently have 9 girls did have a hob as well but he was pimped out and the idiot left the door open to the cage! Shame because he was naturally impotent! luckily for use he had already done the business this year.
Nothing better than watching the girls work through warrens. Husabands business keeps the girls busy all year round.
As someone else said they are natural at it, you just need some purse nets and a ferret locator enabling you to find them when they find young have a quick snack and fall asleep!!! :mad:
-
By the look of your list of pets I am sure they will have a great life.
They'll be kept well away from most of them! All the chickens are on the allotment, thank goodness. ;)
you dont train them scabs, you just tame them so they come to you and you also fit them with a ferret finder collar, which enables you to track them underground.
Ah... a lightbulb goes on. :lol:
Currently have 9 girls did have a hob as well but he was pimped out and the idiot left the door open to the cage! Shame because he was naturally impotent! luckily for use he had already done the business this year.
I hope you're talking about the ferret? :ohmy:
you just need some purse nets and a ferret locator enabling you to find them when they find young have a quick snack and fall asleep!!! :mad:
:lol: :lol: :lol:
-
Ferrets are amazing little beasts- and are very clever and playful. And like dogs can be trained to come to a whistle or their name in exchange for food!
Ignore any old style people telling you to feed brad and milk, instead use a dry ferret food. Dont use cat food as its too salty for them and can cause kidney problems!
They are best to have a water bottle all the time, but most love to have a dish of water to wash in, and will make a wonderful mess!
They will nominate a 'toilet corner'- you can either put a 'litter tray' there to change daily or very old fashioned cages had a wire mess area where 'things' fell straight out through the floor.
Most like toys and you can spend a fortune on the ones pets shops sell, but a rubber ball and a few things to climb on are always fun in most ferrets book (and a drain pipe is heaven on earth!)
I wish I was allowed to have them again, as had them throughout my child/teenage years, but due to a minor teeth and hand incident (Grandad forgot to mention her name was Pyscho) my OH has drawn the line at me having a ferret as he would have to look after it when I am away :(
Good luck, and we all look forward to lots of photos!
-
we have 3 ferrets 1 gill 2 hobs. All white with black eyes. Lovely pets, very playful. Downfall is they smell any ferret owner will tell u. And they need cleaning out daily. We feed ours dry food, james wellbeloved its a bit pricier than some but you get what you pay for. About once a month they get raw liver and heart. They love it. We just freeze it in individual bags and defrost when needed. They are so friendly if they are well socialized from young.
-
Yes, the centre mentioned Wellbeloved; turns out our local pet superstore stocks it!
Very excited about getting them now!
Kate, are yours near the chickens? If so, does it not make the girls nervous? I only ask because I had planned on keeping a trio of bantams at home and had assumed that it was one or the other.
As soon as they are settled, I'll put a couple of photos up. :)
-
the ferrets are in a big rabbit hutch in the garage and my girls are outside in the garden. So cant say if it would make them nervous or not. I take it u plan on putting them in seperae cages just close together. I cant see that being a bad thing if thats what you want to do. They will get used to each other and wont bother.
-
We've not much space, so if I did get bantams they'd be in close proximity to the ferrets, not well separated like yours. Don't think I'll risk it.
-
I have a ferret too and have kept them for 9 years now (wow that long)
My Girl I have at the moment is 6 but doesn't look a day over two. She is still as healthy and bright as she was then *has a proud of self moment*
I keep her in a run near my chickens pen (as ferrets overheat easily and that is an area of relitive coolness). It doesn't bother the chickens but you cannot let the ferrets have any chance of getting in with the chickens. A ferret will take down a brown shaver (believe me - luckily I caught her before any real damage was done) and she had a go at the big white geese we have.
My dog weighs around 12st, and when my little 2 pound ferret comes into the room, he runs very swiftly in the other direction
Fearless little things <3
-
:lol:
Got them! :)
-
We all had a lovely play, the kids got a bit freaked out as Fred and Phoebe got more and more excitable, and I got nipped and bitten a fair few times! :lol:
What a joy.
-
Fred
-
Phoebe
-
awww. Gorgeous! They are lovely looking they just smell awful. Clever creatures 2.
-
Really nice Scabs, hope they settle well for you.
-
Cheers. They seem nicely settled and we have really noticed too much smell yet - of course, they do have that unmistakeable pong about them! :D
-
Fred has escaped. God knows how but they have managed to pop out one of the little windows. Phoebe was on top of the coop looking confused and Fred was gone.... Gutted.
Done a sweep of the neighbours and the undergrowth but let's face it, he could be curled up feet away, he could be a mile away.
The window's are now boarded and I've baited and set a mink trap, but I imagine that's the last we've seen of him.
Can't believe it.
-
Oh no that's awful scabs :( :( :( How upsetting for you all :( :( :( :(
Keep searching for Fred, don't give up!!
-
Big sigh of relief; I was just off to the shop for a couple of bad-mood-need-fizz beers (rare for me!) and I caught a twitch in the hedge. There's Fred, happy as anything.
Took him into the house and Mrs Scabs actually had a tear in her eye... Never thought I'd see the day that my wife shed a tear over a ferret!
-
Bet you still went for the beers, though!
-
Well, you know... I had the idea in my head by then.
Now they're a celebratory sup!
-
Oh thats great, so easy to get attached to our pets.
-
Thank goodness you found him :). Well done :D
-
They are now both curled up on an old t-shirt behind the sofa. ::)
-
I do like a happy ending. :)
-
Glad you got him back safe and sound.
Ferrets being so clever easily learn to come when called (or whistled)- anything for a treat!
We look forward to seeing more photos of the 'fun' they get up to!
-
Lovely ferrets Scabs. :) We kept a pair of gills when we lived darn sarth and OH used to shoot. I'm glad you got Fred back :) and I'm very glad you're keeping them away from the chickens! :D
-
We haven't had ferrets for a few years now and still miss them :( might get some more though :D Tom liked to swim in the pond and Damson would scratch on the front door to come inside :D
-
Im thinking about getting some ferrets, thing is im not allowed to keep them at home(terms of tennacy), but i keep my chickens and a rabbit at my allotment at the moment, how do ferrets deal with living a bit more outdoorsish, outdoors meaning i have a shed with a rabbit hutch+possibly a house for ferrets. the rabbit is going soon as i understand it is a ferrets favorite food. has anyone got a guide like i had for chickens about keeping ferrets.
Best regards
-
Hi lightyears, I don't want to put you off but the allotment is not the place for ferrets. They're very easy to keep, need company human and ferret and they love to play. So please don't get any unless you can give them the love and company they need.
Grace
-
Thanks for the reply, exacly what I thought, I shall hold off and get more chickens instead :-)
-
I also wouldn't advise keeping them anywhere near rabbits - sheer terror for the rabbits and torture for the ferrets! :ohmy:
Chickens would fit in your setup far better, I feel.
:)
-
yes go for the chickens and wait 'till the times right to get ferrets, you wont be disappointed :D