Dear Linda,
 
>WOW  That post had too much detail for me.  These are domesticated
>ferrets we are talking about?
 
Sorry about the detail, I DID preface it with a warning!  And yes,
domesticated ferrets.  MF's mostly, a few from other sources.  Every single
one of them will kiss you on the lips until you get tired of it!
 
>I will not get in an argument over this
 
Thank you.
 
>My first ferret 11 years ago went into heat and had to be bred before
>getting her spayed.  The male was a ferret kept in a cage fed live food.
>My daughter , then 5, who carried our ferret around for a year had sat on
>the couch.  This male was not let loose like ours, but managed to get out
>and saw my daughter's hand move and attacked it.  We had to knock him off
>of her.  He would not let go.  She is now 14 and has scars from this on
>her hand.  The taste of blood made him wilder.  Very scary!
 
Whoa. Let's take a tally here:
1 whole hob, kept in a cage, in full rut and ALSO in the presence of:
1 whole jill, fully in season and about to be bred
1 5yo girl, who gets in the way of said hob, who is in the presence
  said jill.
 
I have no idea whether the hob's diet has anything to do with what
happened.  And I'm VERY sorry to hear about what happened to your daughter.
It does, however, sound to me like other factors were at work in this
incident than just what the hob was fed.
 
Chicken wing tips:
Sounds great to me, though I'd want to be sure to feed them cooked.  I'm
still working on convincing my ferrets to accept chicken meat, though.  So
far they are still turning up their noses, but I have my hopes.  Of course,
that does bring up the humaneness of chicken slaughter, but I won't go
there ;-) Re: "carnivorous tastes"--even their basic kibble contains a
great deal of meat (or meat byproducts).  It's what kind of meat and from
what sources that concerns me.
 
Also, fwiw, I did experiment briefly, first, with crickets before I tried
mice.  This actually had some success, but I seemed to be allergic to their
smell.  And my own personal "squeamish" level kicks in when I think about
mealworms, though that might be an option, too.
 
MustyMus
[can be reached at] [log in to unmask]
(flames will be promptly deleted)
 
p.s. I replied to one inquiry tonight; I'll try to get to the other one
tomorrow.
[Posted in FML issue 2543]