Ratting With Ferrets

[d.nelson 9]

do people still do this i was reading a few books (old ones) they all mentioned ratting and that feeding rats helps with there immune system also whats needed to go ferreting i have a cocker lab cross who goes mad for rats is one dog enough?

[huntingladjohn 14]

i feed my ferrets rats from time to time have done some ratting with ferrets before but only if iv had rats under shed, if your dogs keen enough to do rats let it do em

[carp man 1 219]

i feed my ferrets rats from time to time have done some ratting with ferrets before but only if iv had rats under shed, if your dogs keen enough to do rats let it do em

[Fat-Ferret 857]

Good summer sport...

[ryhope toma 42]

done ratting many times with ferrets , but lost a lot of ferrets to rats and dogs , stihl saw alot better , atb ryhope toma

[ftm 3,357]

its what we were brought up to do as kids the piggerys and surrounding areas were great places to go along with local tips heaving with the buggers and smokers hadnt been heard of so ferrets were used they took a battering & we lost a fair few to injuries etc but wish i had them days to do it again ps any dog that follwed from the housing estate was the ratter for that day ! its funny to think that most dogs turned out great ratters labs westies you name it we worked it even tho none belonged to us lol -billy

[fitchet 788]

Ive seen ferrets get some worse kickings of rabbits far worse than any rat. I ferret rats with mine regurly. Hardest bit is finding good sensible terriers. Atb

[huntingladjohn 14]

like i said iv only done abit with mine just if had them under shed or if they have taken over a rabbit warren i dont go out looking for rats with my ferrets id much rather shot them or let the dogs have em,i love a days ratting me and my brothers always try to get as many days out with the dogs and smokers as we can, and i think a good days ratting can be better than a good days rabbiting,

[ferret100 47]

Did these books say how and/or why it helps a ferts immune system? Probably the reasoning behind that is exposure to disease (and, hopefully, subsequent survival) permits a resistance to the same disease if re-infected, basically how vaccines work. However vaccines are completely different to consuming rats that may be diseased. Old wifes tale imo, safer to feed healthy, disease/infection free meat.

 

Wouldn't deliberately put ferts near a rat, not worth the risk and why deprive the terriers of their fun. Atb.

[pip1968 2,490]

its what we were brought up to do as kids the piggerys and surrounding areas were great places to go along with local tips heaving with the buggers and smokers hadnt been heard of so ferrets were used they took a battering & we lost a fair few to injuries etc but wish i had them days to do it again ps any dog that follwed from the housing estate was the ratter for that day ! its funny to think that most dogs turned out great ratters labs westies you name it we worked it even tho none belonged to us lol -billy

as kids we used to walk around the estate and whistle a few dogs to take ratting or rabbiting most were just mutts but the pleasure we got from them was something else and they would put a few dogs to shame for the graft they done

[sambo123 594]

Ratting with ferrets is good fun but if you've got a prized rabbiting ferret i'd keep it well clear of rats as they can get nippy after constantly battling rats and thry can be badly wounded/killed by rats.

 

Sam

[d.nelson 9]

cheers and yea said it was similar to a vaxine only with live germs rather than dead 1s and that any wounds his rats got from rats didnt need as much/if any as result of him feeding rats compared to his friend who diddnt feed rats the book was modern ferreting .david pulmer 1977 books near twice as old as me lol so much for modern

[ferret100 47]

Suppose it was modern once upon a time!

 

Vaccines can be 'live' or 'killed' nowadays. I can't make any sense that feeding rats has restorative value, if it had any effect it would likely be negative, particularly initially, in relation to a healing process. As with any vaccine administration, care should be taken to ensure the patient is healthy as the vaccine temporarily weakens the immune system, therefore if the immune system is compromised feeding infected rats would reduce the rate of wound healing compared to a ferret that has not been compromised.

 

There are intra-muscular and oral vaccines and there are both 'live' and 'killed' vaccines, so argueably there could be a grain of truth to this rats being a 'superfood', but I'd be leaving that idea back in the 1970's

[whippet 99 2,613]

i feed my ferrets rats from time to time have done some ratting with ferrets before but only if iv had rats under shed, if your dogs keen enough to do rats let it do em

nothing wrong with that ,...me mate years ago use to freeze them for the ferrets..............

[whippet 99 2,613]

Ive seen ferrets get some worse kickings of rabbits far worse than any rat. I ferret rats with mine regurly. Hardest bit is finding good sensible terriers. Atb

:laugh: ........your kidding right.............?