Dear Dave,
 
I hope you will read everything before passing judgement, but we handle our
small, farm raised and closely bred, early spayed/neutered and descented
ferrets a little bit differently, and yet somewhat the same, over here in the
United States.  If anyone screams at you, understand that they do not have a
good idea of the history or sport of ferreting, because that is ALL illegal
over here.  We can only keep them as pets or lab animals.
 
>>Step 1.  Wait till you get your ferret home and introuduce them to there
new cub(hutch/kennel/run/court.) Wait 2 to 3 hours and then feed them.>>
     We keep our ferrets indoors and in cages here.  Ferrets are free fed (a
bowl of dry cat/ferret food is always available).
 
>>Step 2.  Make a tight fist of your hand and drop a spot of milk onto
your foremost knuckles<<
     We don't use milk over here because it will cause the runs in these
smaller ferrets.  We use a liquid called Ferretone or Linatone which will
work just as well...
 
>>Step 3.  You can now try a little mince meat instead of milk/spit,<<
     As I said earlier, we use dry foods - most ferrets over here won't
touch meat scraps.
 
>>Avoid adult ferrets like the plague,...  Because nine time out of ten
there's something wrong with it,anyway a good working (pet) ferret is
worth a gold mine and nobody in his right mind would won't sell it.  <<
 
     #1 - your adult ferrets are usually unaltered.  The agression level is
higher and they are not really handled constantly as a family pet, but as a
working animal.
     #2 - Here in the States, most adult ferrets are spayed/neutered and
adults are BETTER to adopt than kits because they have already been trained
not to bite and to use the litter box.  Kits have to be trained and some
people just don't do a very good job of it, but most times ferrets are given
up inthe US beacuse people don't feel they have enough TIME.
 
I posted this on the FML because all of our readers need to realize that what
Dave has said may work for ferrets in Britian because that is how they are
handled.  Ask me how to approach a biting ferret and I use the fist/knuckle
method myself.  We can all learn cultural differences and the FML is a great
learning tool.
 
On the same note, when asking for advise (or offering it), don't be shocked
if what you hear or say is way off base from what the person you are
communicating with is thinking.  Many considerations to climate, attitude,
housing, food sources, laws, etc. can come to play.
 
For example, like it or not, feral ferrets are at large in New Zealand.  But
that statement can not be allowed to stand by itself.  THOUSANDS of ferrets
were specifically bred and released to start "wild" colonies and the food
source was right, polecats were released with the ferrets, and no one was
allowed to hunt or kill a ferret for years after the release and there were
no predators.  Ferrets WON'T start feral colonies in the US because 90% are
altered before sale, very few get loose and survive because we have too many
predators (just look at the BFF releases...), and man won't tolerate another
species running amok here.
 
Anyway - Dave, welcome to the FML and you might get bored with us after
awhile because we do handle our ferrets so much more differently than you all
do overseas, but we can all learn from each other, just remember backgrounds
and experiences vary, but that makes the world so much more interesting.
 
Pam Grant, Director
 
*Shelters That Adopt & Rescue Ferrets
STAR* Ferrets
PO Box 1714
Springfield, VA 22151-0714
[Posted in FML issue 1234]