In over 11 years of sheltering ferrets I have only seen two actually kill
a mouse.  One was a big albino boy who surprised me so that I didn't
think I had really seen him do it.  I took it away from him, shame on me.
The shelter area was in the basement at the time and the ferrets and
rodents were still deciding who was in charge of the territory.
 
The second incident involved a tiny little, very dark, sable female.  She
was very much the shelter alpha.  One morning, like lightening she darted
across the floor and disappeared under a cage.  The other ferrets
followed but backed off as she stood over her kill, hissing and shrieking
at them.  She ate the whole mouse, not a drop of blood or whiskers left.
She had no negative after affects although I worried for several days.
 
The rest of our foundlings have never evidenced any hunting instinct or
skill.  I have, on occasion, seen a mouse drinking from a water bottle
while the ferrets slept nearby.
 
Please know that we no longer seem have a mouse problem.  A couple of
years ago a feral cat decided to have kittens under the shelter and she
has lived here since.  The ferrets don't seem to miss the mice at all.
 
Bobbi McC., Shelter Directress and Benign Despot
Kansas City Ferret Hotline and Shelter
[Posted in FML issue 4209]