Warning: Graphic detail about ferrets munching small animals
 
Even the most domestic ferret still has a keen hunting sense.  I had a
couple of ferrets who raided a fishbowl - one of them would dive in and grab
a (luckily inexpensive) fish, chomp it up, and drop it outside..  and one of
the others would happily eat the carcass.
 
Another incident occured when a mouse (food for another pet) made a
desperate attempt at escape and landed on the floor near a couple of the
ferrets.  It literally lasted less than a second.  One grabbed one end of
the mouse, another grabbed the other end, and they quickly tore it apart.
It was a gruesome mess.
 
As they already had the mouse, I tossed the three ferrets (and both halves
of the mouse) into the bathtub to minimize mess.  They chomped and chewed on
the carcass, splattered a mess about, but did not eat it.  After they had
lost interest, I passed the larger half on to Fluffy (the snake the mouse
was originally intended for), who ate it without much complaint.
 
The ferrets will also chase and devour assorted insects they can find.
 
Needless to say, my house is free of any cockroaches, beetles, mice, or
other pests - other than the ferrets themselves.
[Posted in FML issue 1447]