If a person (of any age) has picked up the scent of a jill in heat and then
puts that appendage near a male in rut a holding bite is NOT unlikely.  Had
one friend with a bad one because she cleaned the cage of the jill before
she cleaned the male's cage.  Remember that male ferrets identify the
receptivity of the female by smell and that they hold the female in a very
strong bite grip while mating.  This is a common sense thing -- most ferret
actions are more smell related than sight or hearing related.
 
>From:    jdmonroe <[log in to unmask]>
>Does anyone know of any dangers to ferrets with the little toy mice that
>are sold as cat toys?
 
Make sure that you have removed any eyes, noses or other pieces which may
come off and be ingested or cause a piercing hazard.  Do NOT give squeekers
which the ferrets can reach.  If the ferret tends to eat the things instead
of playing and just ripping them up remove them since some parts may then
pose a danger.  If a jingle bell is present make sure the openings in it
are narrow enough that a claw won't get ripped.  Have read of one ferret
which had an intolerance or allergy to catnip, but we've never encountered
that ourselves or heard of another case so suspect it's quite rare.  Hope
this helps.
 
I've read of ferrets which have hunted and killed mice just as a cat or a
terrier would do, but have also read of a number which showed no desire
to do so.  Many of those just ignored the mice and visa versa (which is
exactly what happened with our guys over a dozen years ago when we lived in
an apartment) but one darling story I read here long ago involved a ferret
which adopted a wild mouse and treated it as a kit.  The person telling the
story walked into the kitchen one day to see the ferret carefully removing
crunchies one-by-one from the bowl and placing them to the side.  When the
owner changed vantage points the mouse was seen snuggled up against the
ferret accepting each tasty treasure offered.
 
Steve and I think that Jumpstart and Glueball might be inclined to hunt
mice if any ever got in but we doubt our others would.  Still, that's
only guessing.
 
Sukie
[Posted in FML issue 2544]