Part 1 (1/2)

All about Ferrets and Rats

by Adolph Isaacsen

INTRODUCTORY

In the following pages we have given a co subject, from a practical man's point of view The essay on the Ferret has been exhaustively treated, is a special feature of the work, and will be found of great value to the rat-ridden part of the community, as well as to the fancier and naturalist ”The Rat” has been handled from a universal point of view, and the book has been prepared fro his thirty years' study of Rats and Rat Extermination

THE FERRET

[Illustration]

I--WHAT A FERRET IS

Our dictionaries say that ”ferret” as a verb active means to search out carefully This is certainly an is to the Musteline or flesh-eating weasel faeness, though tempered and exercised in a very useful direction, i e, of killing off the most bothersome and numerous of our vermin for us It is rather a well-known fa such anihly-prized fur, the skunk, with its not as greatly valued perfume, the ermine, the color of which is likened to the driven snow and whose dress fore of royalty, the weasel, from which artists obtain their finest brushes, the er, and the otter The shape of these anily , slender, and serpentine (snake-like and winding), their teeth are very sharp, the e food is rats, rabbits, and birds

Members of this class are found in all climates and parts of the earth

It is necessary to state, pri as a wild ferret; it is do

The wild animal fro is originally of wolf extraction, and the cat of the saer or lion The ferret is also interbred with the different species of the musteline tribe, such as the mink, marten, polecat, and fitch These are nevertheless all weasels in the same way that terriers, black and tans, Newfoundlands, and poodles all belong to the fain has been traced by soain to the northwestern part of Africa, and by still different writers as far away fro and rabbiting in Great Britain, where it is hly prized, its merits understood, and where almost every one is as familiar with it as he is with the nature of his house cat The public here in America is yet but indifferently acquainted with the ferret At an exhibition of ferrets made by the writer at Madison Square Garden there was about one out of every fifteen persons that knew the name of the aninated as skunks, weasels, guinea-pigs, raccoons, monkeys, woodchucks, kittens, puppies, squirrels, rabbits, chipmunks, rats (an animal for which they are coaroos, muskrats, beavers, seals, and, ridiculous as it may seem, small bears The Aree of intelligence, as the proper medium of wildness in the hunt and docility to its keeper has been obtained principally through the efforts of the present writer This, however, has only been brought about after a great deal of close study and experireatly preferable to its lish brother

II--CHARACTER AND APPEARANCE

Every individual ferret has a character and distinct look of its own, although there are solass eyes, still the ferret, when in good condition, is a pretty little animal, with soft fur and kittenish ways, and can be handled and fondled after you have become mutually acquainted, the sa, because it does not possess as eneral colors are white, yellow, and a ray and white patches over and under the neck and body _The tint runs according to the predominance of either mink, marten, fitch, or polecat blood_ The ferret is essentially a _useful_ aniood looks, but the purely colored, pink-eyed, white ferret, with its plulossy coat of a creaainly appearance The dark ones are a sprightly co black eyes and social nature There is no standard size--there are large and s to do with its inches Soer than a size beyond a dock rat, while I have had others as large as a full grown cat There are ferrets more valuable as hunters than others on account of their wiry forence I have s ferret peculiarities would pick out as the most miserable and stupid of a lot, but which in reality are choice hunting stock There is no preference for sood for different purposes Ferrets are cleanly ani and cli about the ferret that reentle-te this also by bristling up the hair of its tail) it eland it has underneath the tail This only happens in extreh except toward its natural prey _Different lots of ferrets, strangers to each other, will not agree, and should not be put together, as there is a risk of a deadly battle_ It is a pleasant enough thing to watch a number of healthy ferrets at their antics On the writer's breeding grounds, where the pens are always kept neatly painted and the sawdust carefully leveled on the floor, enerally huddle up in a snug heap, presenting a confused juuishablethe daytime, after they have been fed Toward dusk, or when they are hungry again, they disentangle themselves from the bunch, one by one, and after they have properly yawned and stretched theaed appearance of the la up their backs like s over one another in a coalop, trot, and hop, and sit erect on their haunches This latter action they perform in expectation of a h but aover the pens above Upon the whole they see quite a study of animal contentment and happiness

III--RAT HUNTING

When the word rat is mentioned in connection with the ferret, our pacific scene is changed to one of war and bloodshed The savage instincts of the animal are then aroused, and the rat itself knohen it has caught the ferret's scent, that its time has come There are no two ani constructed in such a way that it is best adapted to hunt the rat in the rat's own haunts Wherever a rat can go a ferret can go, because the latter's body is as flexible as rubber, and it can squeeze itself up, draw itself out, and flatten its liland buckwheat cake, as if there wasn't a bone in its body The weasels, and nearly all wild ani the prey suck the blood, eat the brain, leave the rest of the body untouched, and then proceed to annihilate the next victi the operation Here is where the difference between the ferret and the other animals of its tribe comes in, for it does not content itself with brain food and such ethereal substances, but devours the whole carcass with a fine relish, not even leaving the tail or the skin It bolts the bones and everything else thereto appertaining It is rather an appalling experience for the first tio crunch, crunch, as they meet in the neck of some fat rodent This sound bears a resery ferret would cohlyferrets to clear a house of rats, they should be allowed to nose through the building during the night with the sa the day they are kept in the pen The reason a ferret should be hunted with in the night is that it sees better then, and that it is instinctively better fitted for hunting The rats also become more venturesome at this tihtly, as feeding blunts their hunting capabilities and ood feed a ferret will sleep harder than any other domestic animal Sometimes you will find a ferret so hard asleep that you can take hi him If you are inexperienced in the ways of the ferret, you will iine you have a corpse on your hands But the corpse will in a short ti its tail, and then trot around with the others When a ferret sleeps he will let his co himself to be disturbed in the least When they have been fed too well they will sleep and be of no further use If these over-fed ferrets are in a pen and you put rats in for them to kill, they will not wake up even if the rats crawl all over the to get aith all their o scenting around as hunting dogs do, to discover any trace or hiding-place of his natural prey This in itself is enough to drive all the rats to Jericho andas the ferrets are kept around, for the rodents have an acute bodily fear of these prowling detectives A ferret's being bitten by a rat happens only in extreme cases, but so with rats, ferrets that have first been put in have to contend with great odds, and coood, old hunting ferret should be bitten by a rat, he should not be used until the wound is perfectly healed again, even if it should take two or three weeks_ The ferret is very peculiar in this respect, and if this rule is not observed he may be spoiled as a hunter forever afterwards The ferrets hunt doard, and if put on the upper or top floors in the evening they will turn up in thethe rats before theet to know their pens, returning to the With a moderate amount of attention they will thrive and prosper in their work of extermination

IV--FOOD

Ferrets should always be anxious for their ood ferret food; but never feed dead rats, as you run the risk of the rats having been previously poisoned, this also trans itself to the ferrets

If there are plenty of rats in the place the ferrets will be able to do their own choice , feed them either crackers and milk or bread and milk, with a pan of water always at hand in eather Raw iven them two or three times a week, but never feed liver or salt meat When milk is not handy use water instead For a pair of ferrets use a shallow pan for their food, the pan to be as large as an ordinary saucer Once a day is enough to feed theht feed the condition when night comes Particular relishes are chicken heads, duck heads, rabbit heads, and sparrows Dilute the e off with the bread or crackers soaked in water instead of milk Besides this you can feed your ferrets the same as you do your cat, with the exception above runt and smack their lips withoff a rat, as there is nothing they enjoythe rodent inside out and ploughing out the interior with great exactness

V--FERRET HOUSES

Ferretsboxed up closely for a great length of ti diseased I have, since the first edition of this book was printed, invented a e, in which I keep my stock in perfect health and in pri this contrivance, and have dubbed it ”The Sure Pop Ferret Cage” It is of a solid build, but of a convenient size for expressage to any point It is divided into two sections: (A) for sleeping and (B) for exercise and feeding; connected by an aperture just big enough for a ferret to get through A (sleeping-room) is one-fourth the size of B and is kept dark, except that it has two small s at each side which furnish perfect ventilation B (for exercise and feeding) is constructed of wire on the top and the sides around a solid fra the two aparter section and also one on the roof of the smaller, so that the ferrets can be conveniently taken out or handled and the cage cleaned at any time In winter it is best to keep the smaller division full of hay; it keeps the ferrets warer part you can use sawdust or earth; and another big advantage I wish to call attention to is the peculiaraperture is placed, so that the ferrets cannot carry out the hay, but can conveniently get from one apart of these cages (500) is merely nominal, but I prefer to have my stock housed in a comfortable and correct et attached to their new lected The above cage is, as I have said, of a very convenient size, and can be stored in the cellar of a house--if the cellar is dry--or can be placed in a barn or stable, or, if needs be, can be put into service as an independent out-of-door house For the latter use the larger apartment should be boarded up, so that the ferrets are not coh weather; it should also be kept three or four inches above the ground If sawdust is used, it should be cleaned out at least every other day and replaced with a fresh supply The hay need not be changed for one week

VI--DISEASES