Author Topic: Did you know that a 2 lb ferret can fit through a 1 & 3/8 inch space? (Read 2145 times)

Stand_watie · « **on:** November 03, 2005, 03:45:12 PM »

I found this interesting and amazing. Actually it was a little creepy too. I am done with a dog kennel that I got for our recent puppy, and decided to use it as an auxiliary cage for the ferrets. I put Francis in there to see what she'd do. First she jammed her head between the bars (tight fit, took a little pushing), I thought since her head is the smallest part of her trunk, no way the rest of her would fit...her shoulders brought up hard - she backed off a little bit, turned sideways and the shoulders came through - still no problem as her belly is easily 3X as big around as her shoulders - now comes the creepy part - she oozed that's the only word I can think of for it - the rest of the way out - one long ripple down her body and it looked like she was flowing like the bad guy in Terminator 2.

A picture of her in my hand for size comparison, compared to a picture of the dog kennel

Azrael256 · « **Reply #1 on:** November 03, 2005, 06:23:25 PM »

Is her face obscured to protect her identity? Tongue

I read about a guy who trained a ferret to run cable. Tie the cable to his tail, and he follows the sound of you thumping on the wall. Now that is a service animal.

Sindawe · « **Reply #2 on:** November 03, 2005, 06:28:48 PM »

I'm not surprised, given the nature of the beast and their body structure. A few times I've toyed with the idea of adding some ferrets to my horde, but then I realize that "While I can cat proof the house with little difficulty, ferret proofing the house a task several orders of magnitude up the scale of difficulty."

Cute puppy, but it would be cuter if it were a kitten. Tongue

jefnvk · « **Reply #3 on:** November 03, 2005, 07:06:52 PM »

I'm told that once my great-grandma found a mouse in an Elmer's glue bottle.

This doesn't really suprise me, just amazed everyttime I hear of something like it though. Guess they are called rodents for a reason.

Stand_watie · « **Reply #4 on:** November 03, 2005, 07:12:32 PM »

Azrael, just washed out from the flash/

Sindawe, I think ferrets can probaby squeeze through spaces 1/3 the size of cats, even though they are, when fully grown, 2/3rds the size of cats by weight.

I'm a semi-cat person myself. I was thinking about getting a kitten and a ferret together instead of two ferrets. That cute little puppy is now (just a few weeks later) a 35 or 40 lb beast that eats like a horse.

DrAmazon · « **Reply #5 on:** November 04, 2005, 05:01:01 AM »

As a kid I had a very pudgy hamster that managed to work into (and out of) the 1"x1" grids of the register in the living room. Not only did she get clear of the register, she did it fast enough to get away from the cat who watched the whole process. Our vet said these feats are very common to rodents.

Sindawe · « **Reply #6 on:** November 04, 2005, 07:09:07 AM »

Just to nip in the bud what looks to be the start of an erroneous trend. Ferrets are not rodents, they are members of the Order Carnivora (http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/classification/Carnivora.html#Carnivora), which included ferrets, dogs, cats, seals and bears, as well as other aniamals.

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That cute little puppy is now (just a few weeks later) a 35 or 40 lb beast that eats like a horse.

LOL, I believe it after seeing the size of those paws in that pic. Just be glad the pup does not eat like a bird, you'd soon be in the poor house.

Harold Tuttle · « **Reply #7 on:** November 04, 2005, 11:58:19 AM »

ferrets iz weasels

Don: Hey, Napoleon. What did you do last summer again?
Napoleon Dynamite: I told you! I spent it with my uncle in Alaska hunting wolverines!
Don: Did you shoot any?
Napoleon Dynamite: Yes, like 50 of 'em! They kept trying to attack my cousins, what the heck would you do in a situation like that?
Don: What kind of gun did you use?
Napoleon Dynamite: A freakin' 12-gauge, what do you think?

Justin · « **Reply #8 on:** November 04, 2005, 12:51:43 PM »

Gosh...

Stand_watie · « **Reply #9 on:** November 04, 2005, 05:12:34 PM »

Ferrets are member of themustelidae family - aka members of the "weasel" or the "mink" family. According to my little ferret book there is some dispute whether domesticated ferrets like Francis were originally bred from European or Asiatic polecats (fishers BTW are also minks, as well as badgers, ermines, american black footed ferrets, otters, martins and wolverines). As best as I can tell all members of this family have an attitude that is well out of proportion to their size.

Frances is named after Frances

DrAmazon · « **Reply #10 on:** November 04, 2005, 05:28:33 PM »

I stand very corrected. Hope I can weasel out of this one.

Guest · « **Reply #11 on:** November 04, 2005, 05:40:34 PM »

Years ago I had Charlie the cat and Felix the ferret.

Felix, at age 8 weeks, was able to cross a 3ft vertical plywood barrier that was keeping him in the back rooms.

He did it like so:

First, understand that Charlie was raised by my brother's two female ferrets. So when they moved out, Charlie was moping around the house bored with no weasels to play with.

So I went to a Reno pet shop (by way of a "gambler's special" tour bus!) and smuggled Felix's small furry butt back to California.

Felix, unlike the ferts Charlie the cat was used to, was albino. So when Charlie first saw this little white thing, he ran up to him and was about to make a quick kill, when he stopped dead still, smelled him, and realized it was one of those weaselly things that were SO much fun to play with. So he retracted his claws and gently played with this tiny baby fert as it gleefully bounced around him.

Now, ferretproofing for a BABY ferret is the hardest trick of all. The front rooms were a disaster so I didn't even try, I just put up the barrier.

But somehow, and I had NO idea how, he was getting over.

One day I watched him. He ran up to the barrier, hopped a few times, it was dead obvious he had no chance of clearing 3ft of fairly slick wood.

So he goes bouncing over to the cat, hops a few times, goes back to the barrier, hops some more, goes back to the cat, stops and just looks at kitty.

Charlie gets up, casually stretches, picks Felix up by the scruff and carries him over the barrier in one bound. Lets him down, he happily scampers off.

Me, I'm in open-mouth shock

.

The little booger was begging rides from an adult cat at least 20x his size...

Silver Bullet · « **Reply #12 on:** November 04, 2005, 06:16:23 PM »

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Did you know that a 2 lb ferret can fit through a 1 & 3/8 inch space?

I've always used a rubber mallet. I guess the little fakers didn't need my help.

Justin · « **Reply #13 on:** November 04, 2005, 08:23:27 PM »

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I stand very corrected. Hope I can weasel out of this one.

AAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Guest · « **Reply #14 on:** November 05, 2005, 12:03:38 PM »

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Most. Charming. Story. Ever.

Come on... I know what you really meant was: "How cuuuuuuuuute!"

Guest · « **Reply #15 on:** November 05, 2005, 08:49:30 PM »

Ferrets in general are cool but for some reason Felix was special. Ridiculously friendly yet smart as hell.

I could tell stories about him for days. Some of the stuff...b'gawd if I'd only had video...

One time down at the tourist area of Fisherman's Warf (San Francisco) there was this tourist-trap shop with a table outside with raised edges, maybe 3ft x 6ft. On it were about 20 battery-powered moving toy animals of various types. Just to see what he'd do, I put Felix in among 'em. He wandered around checking out these "fake friends" when this yuppie couple walks up, the guy goes "hey look honey, this one's cute!" and picks up...do I have to spell it out?

So Felix wiggles around in the guy's hand trying to turn around and lick his face Cheesy

. The guy screams, drops him back on the table and yells "OH MY GOD THAT ONE'S REAL!" as I pick him up and cuddle him...

-------------------

Now in San Francisco, the key thing about laundrymats is "watch your stuff or some bum will have a new wardrobe". So I'm sitting watching my stuff roll around in the dryer with Felix asleep on my lap. This little kid walks up and says "Mister, is that a WEASEL!?"

"Yeah, he's basically a weasel..." as Felix licks the kid's hand and gets petted.

The kid gets all excited, runs over to the other side of the dryers and I hear him say:

"Daddy daddy there's a WEASEL over there!"

"No son, there's no weasel in the laundrymat."

"But daddy, there IS a WEASEL!"

"No, son, it's your imagination, there's no weasels in laundrymats, now lemme fold these socks."

Kid comes back all dejected, says "he didn't beweeeve me".

What to do?

"OK, here kid, sling him over your shoulder like so..."

He rushes back over:

"Daddy, daddy, it's a WEASEL!!!"

"AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

-------------------------

On an SF bus after a play session with him in the park, as usual he was very tired and was laying on his back in my lap getting a belly rub...looking extra cute.

This lady sits down across from me wearing a silver mink jacket, doesn't notice him at first, then DOES, and loudly exclaims "WHAT is THAT!?"

"Oh, it's a close relative of your jacket."

Half the bus broke out laughing, the other half looked like they were gonna puke, the lady turned green...

-------------------------

The best though:

Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. Felix goes happily bounding up to the biggest dog in the park, a 60lb German Shep not quite full grown. Felix bounces around at the dog's feet, the dog is nervous at first but soon realizes Felix is playful, the dog crouches down and does a freindly "woof!" and it's ON - they end up chasing each other up and down the grass for about half an hour. This huge crowd gathers, not at all used to seeing an illegal animal Cheesy

...about 70 people or so, including two SF cops

.

Well after about half an hour, Felix's little legs give out and he collapses on the grass. Ferrets will do that, run and play until they drop from exhaustion. The dog goes over to Felix, whimpers and nudges him with his nose, Felix looks up and then drops back down. The dog lays down and Felix slowly crawls into the space between the dog's legs and just under his chin, gives the dog a couple of licks and then curls up to sleep.

The guy who owns the dog gets the leash out and says "OK boy, time to go home".

The dog looks up at his master, looks down at Felix, scoops Felix up gently in his jaws and happily trots off towards home...with me following along saying things like "no dog, leggo the weasel, you can't take that home with you..." as the whole crowd bust a gut laughing. Even the cops came up to meet Felix up close.

Armed Polite Society

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