Here's the scoop on ferrets in the Bible.  After speaking to a professor of
Old Hebrew, two local Rabbis, and reading 18 drool-inducing references, the
term referred to in Leviticus 11:29-30 is more than likely "Gecko" or
"Barking Crawler (lizard)" than ferret.  According to these sources, only
relatively modern Hebrew has symbols used to represent vowel sounds, and are
lacking in the ancient version.  Thus, some words are difficult to
translate, which seems to be the problem in this instance.
 
Regarding hedgehogs and snakes.  I have several references which indicate
hedgehogs have been found in the stomachs or in the scat of British and
European polecats and fitch.  Snakes are readily taken, and must have been
for a long time because here is evidence that polecats are at least partally
immune to the poison of the common adder.  The smell of the ferret is
probably enough to make most hedgehogs quite nervous; as for snakes--I don't
know.  IMHO, I would be very reluctant to introduce potiential predator/prey
species.  While many domestic ferrets seem to have lost varying portions of
their hunting instinct, not all have.  Several in my business will readily
kill small running animals, but none understand they are something
edible--unless they are beetles, worms, grasshoppers or cockroaches, which
they love.  At the beginning of last summer, a friend stopped by for a
visit, and brought in some mice and rats destined to be a snack for his pet
snakes.  During the visit, a hole was chewed in the side of the cardborad
box containing them, and they excaped.  At that time, I only had four
fuzzies, and they all participated in the slaughter of every excaped rodent.
We came in after about ten minutes absence, and found 12 dead rats and mice,
and the ferrets war-dancing with creatures in their mouths.  As we entered
the room, we saw Moose kill a rat that nearly matched him in size and
weight, and the attack was fast--maybe about two seconds, tops.  Each rodent
was killed by a bite to the base of the skull.
 
I'm not so sure about insectivore or snakes, but would assume most of their
instincts are intact.  I have a friend whose boa got out and ate her cat,
and another who caught her boyfriend's snake attacking her one-year-old
(snake died, little girl OK-only bites and bruses).  Ferrets would be
fair-game if the snake was large enough.
 
As for mice; only very occassionally do they come into my house--every one
I've seen was a deer mouse.  However, my duplex-neighbor has trouble with
mice.  She brought some over (after killing them) and they were mostly the
house mouse (old world import) and one deer mouse (new world species).  A
quick (but not infalible) way of telling these two species apart is by the
belly; the deer mouse has a white belly and in the house mouse the belly is
about the same color as the back.  References indicate ferret poop from
fuzzies retaining anal sacs act as an effective house mouse and brown rat
deterrent.  I have found no such study testing new world species reactions
to ferret poopie.
 
Bob (via Elizabeth) and the 13 Wee Sals
[Posted in FML issue 1419]