Minkenry
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Everything posted by Minkenry
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I get the impression that starting with ferrets sometimes makes it harder for people to transition to mink. They expect the mink to act like a ferret, and they just don't. They act like a mink. The people I see who have the most success are falconers. Unlike ferret people, falconers expect the mink to act like a wild animal, instead of a domestic one. By no means am I saying ferret people COULDN'T do good with a mink, that's not my point. My point is that you have to think of a mink like a wild animal, and treat it accordingly.
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What methods did he use to try to tame/train it? How old was it when he got it? How long did he work with it before he gave up? If you use the right method most mink are surprisingly easy to tame and train. Not ferret easy, but easier than you would expect. Also, you do have to realize my background and what I consider "easy" I've trained wild caught horses (we call them mustangs) and a late seasoned passage cooper's hawks. Cooper's hawks are well know for their difficult temperaments. So my idea of easy isn't most people's idea of easy, but like I said it isn't as hard as people thin
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Sounds fair enough to me.
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I find it funny that you guys all know more about mink than I do. After a 15 minute internet search, and killing two or three with your dogs, you're all of a sudden an expert! Good for you, keep thinking that. I've researched mink for years, both reading the studies done by others, and performing my own personal studies. I have an open mind and a willingness to learn. I was corrected on my understand about mink and their interactions with water voles by someone (sorry don't remember who) who showed me studies that conflicted with the ones I'd read earlier. I then openly admitted that I didn't
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It seems I'm no longer welcome here. Can't say I blame you. I just told you your anti mink religion isn't true. No one takes that well, regardless of the evidence behind it. So fare well for now. I might post more someday in the future when you all calm down. Have fun chasing rabbits. I plan to try a little of that with my mink this year. Take care.
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It's been a little cold lately, and my mink's been getting more cuddly because of it. She likes to play in my shirt, and my buddy took some pics of her the other day. Here they are....
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LOL I don't know if it means the same thing in British English or not, but where I'm from if something get's "knocked up" it was impregnated LOL In America if you say, "I knocked this up..." you would then expect to see a picture of your now pregnant girlfriend lol
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Oh yeah, I have no doubt that mink can and will eat eggs...... they also can and will eat crackers. My point is that based on my observations, eggs are not a natural part of a mink's diet, and I doubt it's very common for mink to eat eggs. When my mink are hungry they are more likely to eat a piece of bread they find on the ground then they are a whole egg they find. Not saying it doesn't happen, just saying it must not be common or natural, because mink don't automatically recognize eggs as food the way a crow, rat, or raccoon would. Your mink is fed a stable and regular diet by you, that's
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you know I don't believe I have been rude once to you, why do you feel you need to use crude insulting language with me? Are you feeling threatened by my knowledge and feel like you need to somehow compensate? You know very well that I have just as much field knowledge as I do book knowledge. And I never once said that mink don't eat eggs. You freak out like I said it never happens. I'm just saying it must not be a natural activity as I've never seen a mink take to eating eggs as naturally as other nest predators like my pet crows and raccoons have done. I understand you not agreeing with my v
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Oh yeah, I have no doubt that mink can and will eat eggs...... they also can and will eat crackers. My point is that based on my observations, eggs are not a natural part of a mink's diet, and I doubt it's very common for mink to eat eggs. When my mink are hungry they are more likely to eat a piece of bread they find on the ground then they are a whole egg they find. Not saying it doesn't happen, just saying it must not be common or natural, because mink don't automatically recognize eggs as food the way a crow, rat, or raccoon would.
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OH and just so all of you people going off on the egg subject know, I have had MULTIPLE HUNGRY MINK walk on top of a nest of fresh, warm duck eggs, and they totally ignored them like they were rocks. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, I'm just saying I've been out hunting with a mink. How many of you can say that? The most I've ever seen a mink do with an egg is play with it like a ball. How many of you have watched a mink play with an egg like a ball? How many of you have seen a mink eat an egg??? Just saying...... P.S. My mink have eaten eggs that I've broken open for them, but I've never
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Funny thing is, scientists have shown that the mink never has had any real long term effect on the water vole population. It's human destruction of habitat that has reduced the water voles numbers. It has been shown that areas void of mink have just as many water voles as in areas with high numbers of mink. Like almost all rodents, water voles are very prolific and have no trouble keeping up with the pressure placed on them by predators. Habitat is what determines if they can survive in an area, not the predators in it. This fact has been proven time an time again my multiple studies done by
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I stand corrected sir. I retract my comment on the water voles on the grounds that there are now conflicting results. I have read the works of several so called experts on the subject who claim the mink's effect on the water vole is negligible. This is the first study I've read that says otherwise. I choose to remain neutral since it now appears to me there are conflicting results. By the way, I never once said that having mink in your country is a good thing, or that they don't cause damage. This has never been my believe and has never been my point. My point has always been that the mink
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Sorry to hear about the pigeons. That sucks bad! I've had several falconer buddies loose thousands and thousands of dollars worth of falcons in one night when a mink got in their mews Here's anther example though where every time an animal disappears (The ducks take a real hammering off them when they got ducklings here, the Dippers are almost gone too and ain't seen a Kingfisher in a while.) the mink is automatically blamed with out any real proof. It's quite funny how every thing is the mink's fault. I'll tell you guys, mink really aren't very good at killing birds. Except for maybe sea
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Funny thing is, scientists have shown that the mink never has had any real long term effect on the water vole population. It's human destruction of habitat that has reduced the water voles numbers. It has been shown that areas void of mink have just as many water voles as in areas with high numbers of mink. Like almost all rodents, water voles are very prolific and have no trouble keeping up with the pressure placed on them by predators. Habitat is what determines if they can survive in an area, not the predators in it. This fact has been proven time an time again my multiple studies done by
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Show me one study that confirms this. I've never read one. Not one. If what you say is true, it should be easy enough to prove with a study that confirms your views
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Hey, I'm not the one who said the mink don't really damage the vole population, it was multiple scientists who have done multiple studies on the subject. All I did was read their studies Also I never said the mink didn't do damage, all I said was they don't have a significant effect on water vole populations LOL
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Funny thing is, scientists have shown that the mink never has had any real long term effect on the water vole population. It's human destruction of habitat that has reduced the water voles numbers. It has been shown that areas void of mink have just as many water voles as in areas with high numbers of mink. Like almost all rodents, water voles are very prolific and have no trouble keeping up with the pressure placed on them by predators. Habitat is what determines if they can survive in an area, not the predators in it. This fact has been proven time an time again my multiple studies done by
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I find it very interesting that most of you guys have never once run into mink! From the studies I've read, mink in your country live almost exclusively in rabbit warrens, and feed very heavily on rabbits. In England, some male mink will even travel quite far from water and live in rabbit warrens, even though they rarely do that in other places that they live in. So much for the big freak out about the alien mink taking over! No one can even find one! LOL
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Then Males do, but the females can go through most holes. My females are usually right around 800 grams
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I was curious if you guys ever accidentally run in to mink while you are ferreting. What usually happens when you do? Do you guys ever loose ferrets to a mink, or do the ferrets run away in time? I've had friends that have tried to keep ferrets and mink as pets at the same time, and sometimes they end up loosing a ferret or two to the mink. What about other wild mustelids? I just read the topic about stoats, and apparently they run when they encounter a ferret. What about wild polecats, what happens when you run into one of those?
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Wow! did you see the cat/mink encounter happen? must have been a weak little feral cat It looked pretty average to me. Not too big, not too small. Sure put up a fight! At first the cat was looking at the mink like "ooo what do we have here? A nice overgrown mouse?" My mink was locked in her cage and going crazy running back and forth, wanting to get at the cat. I laughed and said, "So you think you can handle her do you? Well go ahead and try but don't come crying to me when she kicks your butt." I let the mink have at her, and she ran straight up to the cat who showed no fear un
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Wow! did you see the cat/mink encounter happen? must have been a weak little feral cat It looked pretty average to me. Not too big, not too small. Sure put up a fight! At first the cat was looking at the mink like "ooo what do we have here? A nice overgrown mouse?" My mink was locked in her cage and going crazy running back and forth, wanting to get at the cat. I laughed and said, "So you think you can handle her do you? Well go ahead and try but don't come crying to me when she kicks your butt." I let the mink have at her, and she ran straight up to the cat who showed no fear un
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I doubt you need to worry about feral cats. They are complete cowards. It takes a special cat to hunt full grown rats or squirrels, let alone a ferret. If your ferret isn't tough enough to fight off a wussy cat then you didn't have a ferret worth keeping anyway! LOL Last winter one of my tiny little 700 gram female mink killed a full grown feral cat, so no need to worry about cats. I think your ferret would kill a cat long before a cat would kill him, but of course I'm far from a ferret expert as I've only had a couple, and now I work with mink, not ferrets. I have a mink that I've l
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I've found farmed mink to be the meanest actually. Wild mink have little to no experience with people, where as ranch mink have been grabbed by their tails and had negative things done to them like being given shots, or held in squeeze shoots so they can have their fur graded. The wild mink have had no experience with people, positive or negative, so you have a clean slate to work with. I didn't start out training them like hawks, I just did a trial and error until I figured out what worked. It turns out that many falconry methods work great with mink, and others work HORRIBLY. For example
