pet ferrets or proper working ferrets

[andyrose 8]

here's a question for you, if i bought a ferret from pet stock and worked it all it's life, would that improve the abilities of it's offspring as a posed to if i'd not worked it ?

[para1 11]

Whin on some folk your wasting your breath.Some folk have never owned a real working ferret,they can't have because they think that if a rabbit bolts from the smell of their pet ferret they have a worker.

They don't know any different and never will.If they can't see what is wrong with breeding for color or hair length and is damaging the ferret you will never change their minds.You and I know that a few years ago before they were in the pet fashion no mater where you got a ferret it was a worker but not now.I'm to old in the tooth now to worry about people destroying my workers it wont happen.

In my opinion a GOOD worker will work weather it is kept in a small cage a mansion or a court fed on dry food bread & milk or meat.Working ability is inherited and passed on from real worker to real worker.

By the way I only have time and energy to work mine once a week.P1

[Guest lavyheed]

A ferret is a ferret , there dietry & husbandry needs are the same

 

That's what i was about to say Kay

[runforyourlife 361]

poacher youre losing the question mate , ie if ferrets are only bred for show and not workd do we lose the good working qaulities like terreirs and lurchers , so in the end we have pets and show ferrets and we have workers , great getting some good answers and good constructive critisism , shame you hurt your back RUN FOR YOUR LIFE could had done with ahandy chap about as the current younger members are not cut out fore the great game lol and run for your life if your fit for a day out your welcome like people with abit knowledge getting harder to find

 

Oh i am fit, its just dragging boats about i no longer do, lol. I cover up to 5miles of moorland and fields aday while hunting. Go ferreting laying 100plus nets. I still fish, i just dont guide people anymore, cant exspect people to pay good money, then lie around like a cripple, lol....

 

So your offering to take me out. That would be a first. It would be nice to be waited on for once, where you planning?

[runforyourlife 361]

A ferret is a ferret , there dietry & husbandry needs are the same

 

That's what i was about to say Kay

 

 

Well dont say t before you do! Its rubbish, i've read it all, and the topic has changed through out. Still stayed a good topic, and no one has threatened anyone but a home ferret is totally different to a working ferret. I have both, simple...............

 

I will invite anybody out with me who has a home ferret. We will take yours and one of my workers.......

[Downunder_Sthn_Ferreter 16]

A ferret is a ferret , there dietry & husbandry needs are the same

 

That's what i was about to say Kay

 

 

Well dont say t before you do! Its rubbish, i've read it all, and the topic has changed through out. Still stayed a good topic, and no one has threatened anyone but a home ferret is totally different to a working ferret. I have both, simple...............

 

I will invite anybody out with me who has a home ferret. We will take yours and one of my workers.......

 

Sorry mate but i disagree VERY strongly...

 

They are a Ferret, they always will be whether there

treated as pets or used as workers or both.

Makes little difference..

 

They enjoy the outings regardless.

I am still trying to understand just what makes a good working ferret..

Is it a cage pacer that has food offered quickly when the lid is lifted daily on cage ?

 

Or is it a ferret handled a lot and fussed over that develops a great trust

without being savage or holding mouth agape when fingers are placed nearby ?

 

Good husbandry and a greater public awarness has seen a definate swing to Ferrets as pets.

However, although they may seem a little dull the first time out.

Plenty of fine working ferrets were once silly little bouncy net wreckers when they first

started...

They soon learn, yes some make the class better than others.

But again they all work fine..

 

They soon understand the goings on down there after a few short hours...of work...

 

 

Cheers,

 

Shaun

 

P.S Have owned ferrets as working pets if thats applicable for over 20 years.

Edited November 10, 2009 by Downunder_Sthn_Ferreter

[jacrabbit 0]

i see it like cats. how long have we kept cats as pets? yet any cat will go out and kill. like i said in another post, i used to have a cat that took rabbits. dont matter how you treat a cat it is still a hunter. same with ferrets. I think any ferret can make a good worker no matter how many cuddles they get at home.

[Malt 379]

Turned into a good thread, nice to see folks presenting their opinions as opinions and not trying to state them as fact for a change.

 

Life would be boring if we all agreed, it's a shame that all debates on here aren't like this one.

[Kay 3,709]

I dont see anything wrong in keeping a dog cat ferret or whatever as a companion animal , infact theres loads of people who consider there ferrets as both family pets & a working animal also

 

I get a tad annoyed when people who assume working ferrets wont make good all round pets because they have been previously worked , see it all to often on pet ferret forums

 

What i do object to is people killing there ferrets with kindness & treating them like baby substitutes , dogs also sadly get this treatment , grossly overweight ferrets & dogs being one bug bare of mine

[whin 463]

ive read all your scripts and ill say one thing as some of use are not at it enough to no a ferret aint a ferret and if you are out on well stocked land and doing the place regulary you soon fined out what ferretsare what, and once after christmas when the easy ones are caught the start getting atad more difficult to bolt in some places you soon find whats aworker and whats a bolter ,had lots of ferets and had some good ones some just average but they stick out amile and its not about feed handling its there aproach to rabbiting in awarren and what rabbits are left cause if there good workers they clean aarren out full stop and kill whats left , and run for your life bring aferret or two ille take you out to some land and weel get afew rabbs

[Downunder_Sthn_Ferreter 16]

ive read all your scripts and ill say one thing as some of use are not at it enough to no a ferret aint a ferret and if you are out on well stocked land and doing the place regulary you soon fined out what ferretsare what, and once after christmas when the easy ones are caught the start getting atad more difficult to bolt in some places you soon find whats aworker and whats a bolter ,had lots of ferets and had some good ones some just average but they stick out amile and its not about feed handling its there aproach to rabbiting in awarren and what rabbits are left cause if there good workers they clean aarren out full stop and kill whats left , and run for your life bring aferret or two ille take you out to some land and weel get afew rabbs

 

 

Not everyone here can dedicate the time, illegal or legal

to try to speak with such authority...

Infact it's a given we are here to post about what we like and do often.

Again what some do, will always be seen as incorrect by some.

 

At the end of the day it's all about having fun as life is short.

 

If their not handled or fed correctly,

then what use are they to anyone ?

 

Cheers,

 

Shaun

[whin 463]

shaun would you bred of non workerds to non workers and would you breed of ferrets that cant kill arabbit if he gets the chance mate or would you likea ferret that pulls away when he has had amouthfull of rabbit paw in his face , tell me mate how you get your good worker to vreed true

[stealthy1 3,964]

So are we saying that if ferrets dont hunt well they are for the shovel? And does a very good worker have to hunt to prove its a good worker?

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/582123.stm

[droid 11]

A ferret is a ferret , there dietry & husbandry needs are the same

 

That's what i was about to say Kay

 

 

Well dont say t before you do! Its rubbish, i've read it all, and the topic has changed through out. Still stayed a good topic, and no one has threatened anyone but a home ferret is totally different to a working ferret. I have both, simple...............

 

I will invite anybody out with me who has a home ferret. We will take yours and one of my workers.......

 

This is the old 'nature vs. nurture conundrum. Is a decent worker born or does it learn as it goes along?

 

Here's my take:

 

I firmly believe that the only thing that line breeding achieves is to produce ferrets with the physical attributes to make a decent worker. In other words they have the potential to be good workers. I do not believe that complex behaviours like totally clearing a bury (as I think whin was allouding to) are inherited.

In any population of ferrets you are going to get differing levels of ability. Whether you see that ability depends on whether the ferret is worked. So clearly, ferrets belonging to the likes of RFYL and whin are going to show prowess, because they get the chance to prove themselves. Those that don't won't get used. They'll get sold off to some unsuspecting starter or as pets or 'chapped on the heed'. No one is going to say that say, 60% of the 'good worker line' they are breeding are bloody useless.....

 

Only way of telling if breeding for working ability is a reality (in which case I'm wrong, but hey, shit happens ) or a myth is a blind test using a 'good working line'....but all of them, alongside a random selection of 'pet' ferrets.

[stealthy1 3,964]

Cue a mammal scientist to do the research on Droids theory, there must be hundreds on here, as there are hundreds of genealogists