Full Revelations of a Professional Rat-catcher | Page 8

keep life in it, for in feeding the ferret you also feed the disease. When you have kept the food from it is the time to start curing if possible. Now, from experience the first thing I recommend is to sweat the disease out of it, and I find the best way to do this is as follows:--Get an old bucket with a few one-inch holes bored in the bottom, and almost fill it with good new straw horse-droppings; put a little hay on the top of the droppings, and then put the ferret on the hay. Place or hang the bucket over a boiler or on the mantelpiece, and let the kettle steam under the bucket, say for 30 minutes, and you will find the steam and the ammonia from the droppings will together sweat the disease out of the ferret; then you can start feeding it again. Feed it with something substantial, such as the jelly from stewed cowheels; give them the jelly only, not the meat; and you will have a good result. Also give them a teaspoonful of cream. This is the one and only cure for distemper.
Another disease in ferrets, especially young ones, is what I call "red mange." This starts always under the belly, and you will find that the skin becomes very red and speckled. This is easily remedied by the simple process of washing in lukewarm water and rubbing with sweet oil and black sulphur. The same mixture will answer for "foot rot" if rubbed well into the paws. The general cause of this latter disease is neglect of the ferrets and the hutches not being cleaned out regularly.
I think the best bedding for ferrets is good oat straw, fresh every fortnight. Throw the straw in carelessly, and the ferrets will make their own beds. When breeding ferrets, never go near them more than you can help, as they are of a wild nature and liable to destroy their young. When you know a Jill or bitch ferret has young, give her a little extra good food, but don't interfere with the young ones on any account, and if you want to give her a little extra bedding put the straw in the same place as the food, and she will take it into the sleeping place herself. It is advisable not to touch the young ones for five weeks, or better still leave them until they come out to feed themselves; and when running about, if there be a good number, say nine or ten, in the lot, it is a good plan to remove them into a larger place for sleeping, as young ferrets are very liable to catch the red mange, which arises from too many being together and sweating very much.

WHEN WORKING FERRETS FOR RAT-CATCHING
always work them unmuzzled. Make as little noise as possible, as Rats are very bad to bolt sometimes. Never grab at the ferret as it leaves the hole, nor tempt it out of the hole with a dead Rat. The best way is to let the ferret come out of its own choice, and then pick it up very quietly, for if you grab at it, it is likely to become what we call a "stopper;" and never on any account force a ferret to go into a hole.

WHEN WORKING FERRETS FOR RABBIT-SHOOTING
always muzzle them. The old-fashioned style of muzzle is, I think, the best, that is, made with string. I don't approve of wire muzzles, as they are liable to catch against tree roots and bits of sharp stones, and from experience I find the ferret works much better with the string muzzle.
There is one way of working ferrets when rabbit-shooting which, if followed, I think would lead to a better day's shooting. You will often see the ferrets stick up with the rabbits. Now, in most cases the gamekeeper or his man working the ferrets will often cut open a dead rabbit and put the paunch to the burrow. I quite agree as to the desirability of this to get the ferrets out, but I say that the man using the ferrets ought never to touch the paunch, as the ferrets will not work half so well after he has the smell of the paunch on his hands.
Another bad plan is that of throwing a dead rabbit into the burrow so that the ferret will follow it out. The best plan is to let the ferret get clear of the hole, and then pick it up quietly. If you will break your ferrets in in this manner you will never have any trouble with them afterwards.
When ferrets are conveyed about for the purpose of rabbiting, boxes are much better to use than bags, as the ferrets then get a better chance of