Brenda,
 
If anything, ferret scat should discourage rats from spending time in your
home.  Mustilids in the wild will regularly prey on rodents and ferret poop
is an awful lot like weasle poop.  In fact, a friend of mine asked for me
to collect a baggie of dried scat which he used around the perimeter of his
veggie garden to keep rabbits out.  It worked a charm.
 
>My roommates are convinced that we have rats as a result of the ferrets
>and the ferrets food.  I have tried telling them that this really isn't
>the case, and i'd like somebody else's opinion on the matter.  They think
>that the food attracts them, yet the bags of food do not look like there
>have been rats in it.
 
Try purchasing a sealable plastic tub from K-mart or Target--someplace that
will have them cheap--and keep the food sealed.
 
Rats can carry all sorts of diseases.  (To those rat owners out there, I'm
NOT refering to pets.)   I'd have a heart to heart with the land lord or
apartment manager asap.  If your fur-kids end up having a scuffle with one,
it could lead to injury--rats are tough critters.
 
Cheers!
Matthew.
 
===========================================================
The Arts in Technology--Creative Consulting and Contracting
 
J. Matthew Saunders (540)951-3090
[log in to unmask]   http://www.dogstar.org
 
"We have to work in the theatre of our own time,
with the tools of our own time" --Robert Edmond Jones
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[Posted in FML issue 2526]