I just want to say that I am so happy I found the ferret mailing list.
I joined a little over a week ago, and finally, I have found people
who are just as interested in 'all things ferret' as I am. It is often
difficult to find other people who have experienced the joys of living
with a ferret, so I look forward to reading all of the postings on this
list every day.

I have some comments to a couple of the postings from #2009-24: [6223]

>My ferrets ARE naturally fed and I often allow them the opportunity to
>exercise their innate hunting skills." (From Kim's "Thrill of the Kill
>and feeding raw")

Kim, I truly admire the natural whole prey feeding system you have
implemented! You are doing exactly what I would LOVE to do - raise
my own mice so I know exactly what they were fed and where they came
from, and present them in whole form to my ferret(s) for consumption.
Unfortunately I live in a studio apartment and I have absolutely no
free space, inside or outside, to invest in such a venture. Maybe
someday, in the future...?

And in regards to the 'thrill of the kill' and the observation that a
ferret will "...kill and kill and kill and kill again. Never stopping
to eat their victim until they are assured there are NO more potential
victims", you mention in the next sentence the reason why they "kill
and kill and kill" - they "stash" the food for later. So, doesn't that
provide an explanation for their killing spree? I know my ferret,
Rascal, hides his kibble in several places around the apartment,
"stashing" it for later or in the event that his food bowl would be
empty (which, I may add, has never happened!). It is instinct for
ferrets to hide food for later, much like your ferret was stashing the
killed mice in a corner while she continued to kill more. I do concede
that I have never witnessed a ferret enjoying a dinner of mice or other
whole prey, so I may not know the whole story regarding the 'thrill of
the kill' you speak of. Perhaps you are right and domesticated ferrets
have evolved to engage in killing sprees?

In response to E. Lipinski's "Mother Nature Is As She Is" -

>Excuse me if I have caused you mental anguish, but the world is not
>all love and contentment when you get down to mother nature's level.

Mr. Lipinski, I could not agree with you more... and no, you did not
cause me mental anguish. 'Mother Nature' certainly is not mushy gushy
love and butterflies and rainbows. I wonder, what did your ferret do
with the birds after it killed them? Did it throw them around for
awhile and eventually lose interest? Eat them? Stash them? I admit that
I was surprised that your intact male killed a female it was caged
with. Was he trying to mate with her? I am not so surprised he ate
her remains. Several mammalian species engage in cannibalism for many
different reasons.

I am sorry you thought I was applying human ideology to ferret
behavior. I am a follower of Darwin ideology and I guess I came off a
little too 'gentle' in regards to the nature of certain behaviors. Most
of the time I like to think I make objective observations... at least
as objective as I can as a subjective human!

Melanie

[Posted in FML 6224]