Hob is really starting to grow now.

Just got back from a weeks holiday and the ferrets seem to have doubled in size. The Hob, Cornelius is now huge and is really starting to look like a nice big hob.

The others were so pleased to see us, it was mayhem in there with them all trying to play and climb up our trousers. Our neighbour who had been looking after them in our absence said he spent many an hour sitting in the Court with them running around him. He was really taken with them.

Ferret Finder - Mk1

Managed to pick up another collar for my Ferret Finder so I have two now. I am using a Deben Mk1, 15ft Finder rather than the newer Mk3.

A lot of people recommend the Mk3, although there are just as many that prefer the old Mk1 because of it's simplicity. Nobody it seems likes the Mk2 as it had awful battery life and didn't work very well.

The Mk1 is a nice piece of kit. It is a rectangular grey box with a wheel and that is it. There is no difference between the 8ft and 15ft boxes apart from the wheel calibration sticker. The difference is in the transmitter collar. So, you can buy an 8ft box, get a new sticker for the wheel (free from Deben) and use it with 15ft collars. The collars are leather rather than the newer Mk3 ones which a lot of people don't like as they have to be done up so tightly to stay on that their ferrets turn blue :-) A trick is to take the transmitter off and put it onto an old leather collar.

Finally thought of a name for the last Jill

We have finally decided on a name for the 3rd Jill. We are calling her Chloe.

It took us a while as we just couldn't think of a name that suited her. So now we have Suzie, Ophelia, Cornelius and Chloe. Time to like them into shape and get them ready to start working.

Frozen Ready Meals

Over the last couple of weeks I have been trying to work out the best size portion of rabbit to feed the ferrets without too much wastage. I started off by just putting in a gutted rabbit but found that even with four of them, there was still too much left over in the morning. (I feed in the evening to reduce the flies, and then remove what is left in the morning).

Tonight I shot two rabbits, and after gutting and checking the carcase for any disease, worms etc, I cut them into three sections. The back legs, the saddle and the front legs. The head I removed, some people feed the heads but I don't think there is enough meat on it for them and don't bother for now.

This means that two rabbits gives me six days of food, not bad for 32p if I'm shooting well, more when I miss.

Come winter when I can start ferreting properly, I should be able to stock up with quite a lot of 'frozen ready meals'. Just need to defrost one every night and they can feed on proper healthy natural food.

I do keep some James Wellbeloved complete feed as an emergency backup but try not to use it. Some people swear by it and it is supposed to have everything that a ferret needs, but I feel the natural way is better. Watching them tucking into a rabbit and crunching on the bones, or fighting over half a leg is completely different to them nibbling on some crunchy biscuits out of a bag.

Ferret Furniture

Ferrets love sleeping, and to this end it is a good idea to supply them with various places to have a nap when the urge arises.

You can make them from old pillow cases or hessian sacks, in fact anything that can be attached to produce a hammock style bed will suffice. We bought them some new ones to start with as I had enough to do building the Court.

This one is lovely and well used. It zips apart to form a normal hammock or do it up to give them somewhere warm to sleep.

It is a good idea to provide enough for them to sleep apart if they are feeling a bit cranky. Not fair if they have to sleep together, but nine times out of ten they can be found all sleeping on top of each other in a huge warm pile of ferrets.

Here you can see Ophelia arising from a good sleep and about to come out for some more nutty ferret mayhem.

When I first got them I knew that they sometimes shiver when just waking up, this is to raise their body temperature after being asleep, but what I didn't know about was the deformed drag their back legs along crawl they do and this gave me a shock!

What they do is climb out of bed, then with their back legs trailing behind them, drag themselves along the floor as though they have lost all power to their back limbs. I was panicking and about to craft them a miniture wheelchair, when they just got up and caried on as normal. Suppose this is just a big waking up stretch.

Ferret Skyway

I managed to get hold of some more pipe yesterday. This is the flexible agricultural drainage pipe used to drain fields. It is the perfect ferret toy as it is bendy and ribbed so that they can move through it and climb in it. Also easy to cut to length due to the perforations, although I did manage to cut my hand while doing this, luckily the floor of the Court is painted dark red so the blood wasn't too obvious.

I have now connected up the three top shelves with various sections of pipe and another section leading down to the lower level shelves. Now they have four different levels to play on, ground level, then up to their nesting box and first shelf, then up a ramp to the next two shelves, and part way up this ramp is the first section of pipe leading to what I call the Ferret Skyway (TM). We can now stand in the middle of the Court and watch them race round chasing each other through the pipes and over the shelves.

Ferrets can climb

Don't let anyone tell you ferrets don't or can't climb, they are liers! This lot spend every waking moment when they are not either eating, leaping about or destroying things, climbing.

They climb up the mesh at the front of the court, right to the top and then decide they can't go down. They climb up your trousers, then your shirt and try to sit on your head. If keeping ferts, make sure you have lots of things for them to climb up and over. Shelves with ramps are good. I tried ladders but so far they are yet to get the hang of them. Maybe as they get older they will get the hang of ladders, but for now I am covering ramps with chicken wire to give them grip.