Hi All,

I've been reading about Ed training ferrets for mine disarming. Ferrets
can be trained to do a number of things especially if it is something
that comes naturally to them. A few yrs back (some of you that have
been around for awhile may remember the posts) I had a ferret named
Stretch, sometimes referred to as "Stretch the Electrician". He had a
special knack for running wires & cable through conduit. I would put a
little ferret harness on him, and hook high test deep sea fishing line
to his harness. Then smear a little FerreTone where we wanted him to
come out and set up a little fan in front of the opening blowing the
smell into the conduit. We would then hold him up to the conduit and in
a flash he was gone. He would follow the smell through the maze of pipe
and in no time he would appear at the opening with his little ferret
grin! We would then unhook him, give him a little "tone" as a reward
then pull the fishing line which was attached to a much stronger "Fish
Tape" which is finally used to pull the cable through.

Stretch actually HAD A JOB! He has earned $20 to $120 an hour depending
on the job and and time involved. He has run conduits over 300' before,
that boy had an addiction to the "tone". He became quite famous and
well in demand, even traveling and doing nationwide "special" jobs. He
even appeared on local television news shows a couple of times. Travel
expense for the both of us was extra of coarse! He could only work an
hour at a time though without a nap. We found this out early in his
career when he decided to take a nap half way through a 100' conduit!
We finally determined how much line he had pulled in by measuring how
much was left on the roll (300' of line marked every 10'). We then
measured that far along the conduit, gently cutting it and extracting
one drowsy yawning ferret! Needles to say that came out of his pay!
Since that day we planned our work schedule around HIS sleep schedule.
Sadly, Stretch is no longer with us. He lived to 6 1/2 yrs. and died
within 30 days of loosing his life-long cage mate and travel companion
Morgan. They are still remembered by many.

So ferrets CAN be trained to do certain tasks. I believe it comes much
easier if it is something the ferret does naturally. Though I've never
had another ferret that had such an obsession with exploring holes that
smelled like FerreTone as Stretch did.

Mike w/Manny, Preston, Levi, Heidi, Shelby, & Ellie

[Posted in FML 6468]