A couple comments here....I used to raise pet rats. At that time, I didn't yet have a cage that could hold Rosa once she got *really* determined. I had to tie and *knot* that door shut:P And, as critters do, the rats would get out from time to time as well. I found that the quickest way to get the rats, especially the young ones back to their cage was to let the ferrets out. Rosa and Taz definately did *not* want to play with them. They did get one from time to time. Would usually take them a while to kill it (I was *not* going to stick my hand under furnature with two ferrets in full predatory mode *and* a severely frightened and hurt rat!). BUT, the adults would be able to hold them off...fairly easily. In fact, Rosa one day got out of her cage and *into* a rat's cage with two pregnant females. I came home, saw the ferts gone, saw the blood on the inside of the rats' cage, AND the fact that the rats were *completely unharmed*, and started calling. Poor Rosa, all bitten:( None of the bites were serious, didn't even need to take her to get stitched up, but she lost that fight. And these were rats that had been raised and bred and handled by me. Not wild rats or other wild rodents. I agree that any hunting that is done needs to be done and learned from an experienced hunter who also knows how to assess hunting capability in ferrets. Yes, they are meant mostly to chase "prey" out into the open, but if they manage to corner something, there can be serious problems very quickly for the ferret. And how many of us can be sure our ferrets would have the sense to leave off when excited about something :P The point about exposure to disease is a very good one, and along with the dangers of being an untrained ferret hunter with an untrained hunting ferret, are all the reasons in the world to not use our furkids as hunting companions or rodent control without professional training. Sue "hey, it's cold:(" Rocky "it's cold, I'm going to sleep zzzzzzzz" Brit "whine, cry, c'mon Rosa, play with me" Rosa "leave me be" Sue M. [log in to unmask] [Posted in FML issue 2244]