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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2017 18:54:55 GMT -5
So would it be cruel or Inhumane to buy a feeder fish, put it in the tub, and have a ferret hunt it? My friend had his cat do it and it sounded interesting.
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Post by Heather on Feb 4, 2017 22:53:44 GMT -5
I use a kids swimming pool and let my mink hunt. My ferrets were more interested in hunting fish in my fish tanks (wasn't impressed). Minks hunt by sight, ferrets not so much. Again as always it's up to the individual ferret as to whether they want to hunt fish in the tub. Many will be so freaked out about the tub and the water they won't notice the fish.
If you decide to buy fish for tub hunting, please buy from your local bait shop and not from the feeder tanks at your local pet store. Those fish are often drugged up with antibiotics and other "interesting" chemicals so they will live long enough to find their way into some bigger fish's gullet. Fish at bait shops have to be from the local lakes and have to be antibiotic free so if they get free they will not contaminate the local watershed.
ciao
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Post by LindaM on Feb 5, 2017 0:32:07 GMT -5
What an interesting idea.. I might give this a shot myself once I am able to get it over my heart. I'd love for my furkids to have some good hunting enrichment, but I often feel too bad for the other poor animal involved.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 5, 2017 5:30:16 GMT -5
I felt the same way at first but I figured that a feeder fish is going to be used as food for another fish anyways so why not a ferret?
And thank you for the tip! I'll have to search around for some bait shops in my area
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Post by abbeytheferret6 on Feb 5, 2017 5:51:39 GMT -5
Heather, do u have to keep mink away from ferrets and any pics?
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Post by LindaM on Feb 5, 2017 6:44:22 GMT -5
@kcal357 I think in my case I'm just still carrying some emotional damage from my childhood when I was like 8yrs old and in a petshop with my grandad, and I watched a poor little mouse trapped inside a snake's enclosure with the snake advancing.. you could see the fear in the tiny eyes of that poor trembling mouse, and it knew there was nowhere to escape and that death was coming for it. The feeling was practically tangible in the air.
I think that was probably the event that broke me in that way. I've also owned all sorts of small animals, including a bunch of hamsters and such (even needing to pay pricey vet bills for tumor removals and such just to keep them alive), so even the smallest lives have mattered a lot to me. So when I think of giving my ferrets a mouse or so, I go back to that moment in the petshop or seeing that little mouse with the same love I saw my hamsters.
Though I can't say the thought of watching them in a natural element hunting a mouse or a fish hasn't occurred to my mind. I just fear the repercussion it might have on me afterwards, lol.
Do let me know how it goes if you decide to try it out with yours though. ^^
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Post by Heather on Feb 5, 2017 12:06:30 GMT -5
Live feeding should only be done if you can finish the job if your ferret falls short or takes too long. It should never be an issue for the prey, with death coming very fast. Any of my hunters do not even allow a squeak from the rodent. As I mentioned my ferrets refuse to hunt the fish in the swimming pool. After watching Khaleesi hunt I realise why, they're just not well equipped. If they accidentally kill while playing they will eat but even my most stringent hunters can't be bothered fishing. I have some very deadly live prey hunters but fishing is a casual pastime and they're just not interested. The mink on the other hand is deadly and very proficient. As I've not been able to upload videos for quite awhile to the forum, if you want to see her www.facebook.com/Khaleesimink/ There are a couple of videos of her hunting fish on her site as well as her history. Mink and ferrets have to be kept entirely separate. Farm mink are much larger than their wild counterparts and even though she's a small female she's larger than my largest hob. She's also a deadly killer and an escapee from a mink farm (not a purchased baby). Some allow their minks to roam with their ferrets (these minks usually are taken as very young kits) most are not interested in breaking up a fight between the two as it is not only dangerous for the ferret, it's dangerous for the handler. Minks unlike ferrets are meant to be wild, their attitude and their care for their human handlers is not the same devotion that you get from your ferrets who've been working for man for thousands of years. Mink's association with man is to have their fur stripped off them and worn by callous humans ciao |
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Post by LindaM on Feb 5, 2017 16:34:59 GMT -5
Aww, Heather, she's simply gorgeous. And she is most certainly very fast at her killing. While I think my ferrets could probably hunt in water.. since they loving snorkeling things, especially moving things out of water, I doubt they'd be nearly as speedy with a kill, or even kill the creature fully before trying something else. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2017 2:15:06 GMT -5
gave it a shot and it went better than I expected!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 11, 2017 19:44:38 GMT -5
As soon as I get time to call some bait shops I'm doing this for Mizore. I've got a turtle that will probably eat it is Miz doesn't lol
What type of fish is okay? I know goldfish are garbage but like minnows?
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Post by Heather on Feb 12, 2017 17:30:49 GMT -5
If you're using a bait shop it will depend entirely what is fished in your area. They're restricted by what bait are allowed to be used in a given area
ciao
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2017 15:53:29 GMT -5
I was so proud of my boy for how he did (: even if he didn't finish the fish off.
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