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Post by Steffi Loves Her Fuzzbuckets on May 3, 2009 17:08:01 GMT -5
Yesterday my friend bought a rat..Don't ask.. She's crazy. Anyway, I told her if she couldn't keep it she could give it to me and I'd give it to Stewart to eat. x3 Well, It turned out she couldn't have it..Surprise. But I needed to know how big it was, My mom said it had to be a minimum of 4inches (not counting the tail) if Stewart were to kill it. Turns out it was 7inches (not counting the tail) So, I was kind of afraid the rat would hurt Stewart, since he's only hunted and killed a little feeder mouse. I guess this brought up the question, Was the rat too big for him? I'm just not really sure what he is capable of at the moment.. x3 I'm sure he could have killed it. But would the rat have hurt Stewart first? I just wouldn't have been able to kill the poor rat myself. Hahh, x3
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Post by suds on May 3, 2009 19:26:20 GMT -5
I would never put live rats in with my ferts they can be very combative and can cause lots of damage to them fighting back. So its better to be safe even if the ferts are very experinced hunters its still not worth the risk IMO.
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Post by Steffi Loves Her Fuzzbuckets on May 3, 2009 21:26:36 GMT -5
Oh, Alright. Thanks for the confirmation, suds!
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Post by Heather on May 3, 2009 23:38:45 GMT -5
Suds is right, rats are very strong and very aggressive fighters, if your ferret is very young or inexperienced this is not the rodent to start him off on or even let him have a go at. My guys have hunted rats. They've done very well with young rats, the problem I ran into is when the rat is a larger adult. My guys hunt the rats as a pack (business ) Attila, who is my largest hunter (just under 5 lbs) usually grabs the back of the neck just below the skull and severs the spinal cord. The others, Loki, Ghenghis, Lady "B", Odin and Thor keep it occupied and then move in when Attila gets hold of it. It's fast. I discovered that with the larger rat, he wasn't able to get hold of the back of the neck, he couldn't get his mouth around the base of the skull at least not in a manner that allowed them to sever the spinal cord. They then proceeded to hunt the rat but tear it apart. It was horrible, messy and very much not what I wanted to deal with. So, I forgo the rat hunting....we stick with adult mice and everything in between (the guys don't consider hoppers and such much sport) but everyone's kept safe and their prey is quickly and humanely dispatched ciao
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Post by Steffi Loves Her Fuzzbuckets on May 4, 2009 0:10:25 GMT -5
Wow... Yes, I definetly want Stewart Colbert ..and the rat for that matter to be safe. What a horrible experience. x( That incident aside, Seeing them work as a business must be pretty fascinating.
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Post by Heather on May 4, 2009 11:40:20 GMT -5
It was fascinating to watch...ferrets are normally solo hunters but when the rats were involved these guys suddenly became a cohesive hunting pack. These guys when hunting mice are solo players and screaming, tug of wars and general mayhem is what occurs. The rat hunting was an interesting process to observe. There was no screaming or discention amoung the players. There was some soft dooking, but they hunted more like what I've seen with wolves than what I've observed with ferret types. Maybe, Lorrelie can possibly add to this as her guys actually hunt for real (not our canned hunts) but my understanding is they don't want their ferrets to kill so I don't know. ciao
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Post by luxuriousferret on May 4, 2009 14:10:34 GMT -5
I want to feed live mice, and maybe rats... but i have pet rats... so probably not. but I cant imagine what it would look likie to see ferrets (who normale scream if one trys to take a peice of their GIANT turkey wing) work together...
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Post by harrisi on May 4, 2009 14:17:19 GMT -5
Ferret never were, nor will the ever be, hunters. They are used purely for their flushing ability, small ferrets are bred so they aren't quick enough nor heavy enough to kill, only to flush a rabbit. With alot of ferreters/falconers/hunt men ferrets that kill adults or sub-adult are either passed on, or culled. They are classed as of no use to people if they do kill, as that is not what ferrets are for.
That aside, my big pudgy hobs will take down adult live rats but they were also very experienced with dragged carcasses and the like before they were given a live rat, being as this is the only way these guys will take any form of raw/whole prey, I always give the rat a "getaway" - usually a small box the ferrets cant get into just to make it fair game however the rat has always been dead before it has been able to run even a few feet from the ferrets (the rat is put within about 2 foot of the ferrets, never less then 1 foot in front and they always go straight for the kill.
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Post by goingpostal on May 4, 2009 18:29:41 GMT -5
I wouldn't trust mine to kill an adult rat without getting hurt, the only effective hunter I have is the smallest female as well. Four of mine can take out mice no problem but rats are much larger with more fighting ability and big ol teeth. Rat pups I wouldn't worry about but a full grown adult I don't even want to mess with. Rats kinda freak me out though.
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Post by whipple on May 6, 2009 2:41:04 GMT -5
This is why I now have a pet Rat. He was too big. lol
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Post by ferretmomoffour on Jul 30, 2009 23:18:34 GMT -5
I was thinking about getting some male rats so I could have babies when there ready to eat meat and all . I was wondering if you use the babies that would be fine or if they are little? What does everything about that. Or should I get mice ? Thanks, Kristi
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Post by Heather on Jul 30, 2009 23:50:35 GMT -5
My guys had no problems killing the younger rats, so if you wanted to feed rat pups or pinkies I can't see a problem with it. Now, that I've had some experience with this, I don't think I would start them with rats. I would start them with mice. They can give a nasty enough bite, rats even more so. It's more for the safety of your furbaby, and possibly saving you from having to manually destroy a rat that hasn't been cleanly killed because it was too aggressive. I serve frozen rats now and all my business hunts mice (except for Babushka who is over 10 yrs old and really can't be bothered chasing them and Captain Jack who thinks they're a type of stuffy and should be hugged ) ciao
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