Ferrets on the line

I seem to remember reading one of your articles where you said it’s possible to train a ferret to come back to the surface on hearing a mobile phone call signal. Was this an April Fool’s joke or what? If not, how do you go about teaching your ferrets the trick?

Training is a very loose term where ferrets are concerned, but you could try, if you so wished, and have lots of patience.

Yes, I do use my mobile ringtone to encourage a ferret to leave a kill underground if I can’t dig down to it because of tree roots or large stones.

I will also use the phone if the locator collar has failed, or the ferret hasn’t yet come to a dead rabbit in the hole.

Ferrets are inquisitive creatures and the sound of something like a phone can draw them out. I’m not saying it will work for you, but it’s worth a try. You can start by playing a tone when you feed them, or when they are in their play area. It might just get them out of a burrow when all else fails.

That said, a ferret that’s geared up for hunting and is fed correctly is unlikely to come away from the hunt when it’s working rabbits that remain in their burrow.

Edward says: