So, I met some Irish ferrets.  I really wanted to meet some ferrets
from Great Britain or Ireland because the people there (except for
FML'ers there, perhaps) all seem consistently to claim that ferrets
are quite vicious.  I met them in a pet store in Dublin (perhaps the
only pet store to sell ferrets in Dublin?) called Paddy's.  I noticed
many cages built into the wall, and maybe half of them contained birds
(the other half empty).  It didn't look like the cages were cleaned
out too often.  There were some aquarium supplies about, and some
tanks with freshwater fish in the back of the store.  I was referred
to the ferret specialist (only 2-3 employees in the store), and he
went down into the basement to get the ferrets.  He emerged wearing
light gloves and holding a cardboard box containing two young and
active ferrets.  They were about 10-12 weeks old, and honey colored,
with fairly distinct masks.  I think they were a bit lighter in color
than most of the babies I see here.  I don't think they were polecats,
but I don't know how to tell them apart except maybe by looking at the
skull.  I put on one of the gloves (well, after the stories I'd heard
. . .), and took a kit out.  I held her and petted her with my other
(bare) hand maybe 10 minutes, and she bit the glove about 4 times
during that time, convincingly hard, but not nearly as hard as my
companion Dors bites a 2 liter coke bottle (so this yound ferret
didn't really lay into the glove).  I should have handled them without
gloves, because they might behave differently.  They smelled strongly
of pee and hay, as the shopkeepers keep them in hay or shavings (ugh).
I mentioned that they might try old towels or blankets for bedding.
The guy said they feed them "mince" (presumably bits of meat).  Guess
how much they sell them for?  12 pounds, which is about $18-20.
Apparently only hunters buy them.  Most pet stores in Dublin that I
called said they would not keep ferrets because if they got out they
would kill all the other animals in the store, and because of the
limited audience.  I don't know how older ferrets would be to handle.
 
Overall, from my brief encounter, I would say that the claims of
vicious, aggressive behaviour in Great British or Irish ferrets are
somewhat exaggerated, but I would admit that these ferrets seem
slightly more prone to bite than mine.  I feel confident that I could
train these not to bite.  Every British (etc) person thought I was a
bit odd for keeping ferrets as house pets, as if I was keeping some
cougars or cobras as house pets.  I should have gotten some FML'ers
addresses so I could see some other ones.
 
> ALSO: suggestions for how to get them not to destroy the carpet
> around a doorway?  I heard chicken wire....  Hmmm.
 
Indeed.  Some friends turned me on to this -- I've had great success
with chicken wire and its use in prevention of doorway carpet
destruction.  Cut a strip about 4 inches wide (give or take) and a
little longer than the doorway, bend over the sharp ends, and nail it
to the carpet with U-shaped nails.  I decorated a few doorways like
this, and Dors and Seldon don't even try to dig at the carpet any
more.  Ferrets might test the chicken wire to see what it's like
digging at it, and might try to see if it's attached well, but that's
it, I think.
 
> and acting like it's a sandbox.  2) Are collars best used only when
> outside or always? I think I would rather use the harnesses mentioned in
 
Dors and Seldon wear collars all of the time, so they can carry a very
small bell and an ID tag.  I favor the large ball chain (such as
toilet ball chain) for the big ferret and the small ball chain (such
as lamp pull chain) for the small ferret.  The only worries are 1)
they don't expand or break easily if caught (but I cut them only as
tight as will come off accidentally every 2-3 weeks, so they could
hopefully slip out if absolutely necessary, and 2) if the bell has
irregular openings they can get a claw stuck in it (but I sand the
bell slot to a rectangular shape with a nail file).
 
> I was struck by the idea that people can keep collars on their
> fuzzies.  My Sunshine laughed at this (really, I heard her!), ;_).  I
 
With ball chain, you just eliminate one ball at a time until they slip
out only every 2-3 weeks (make sure you can get a finger or two under
the collar).
 
> imagine Shades putting up with a collar.
 
I like the comment from the FML FAQ:
 
Neither of our slinkies seems to mind wearing a collar, although the
first time we put it on our older pet she spent 15 minutes trying to
convince us she was dying and then the next hour playing with the
jingly toy that followed her wherever she went.
 
Todd Cromwell
Dors (Ms. Assertive) and Seldon (Mr. Serious)
 
[Posted in FML issue 0912]