Just call me the ferret wrangler!

Picture this. It's 6.45am on a Saturday morning. You're planning on having a bit of a sleep in. Hubby has already left the house for a PT session, and you have the bed all to yourself. Bliss, yes?

No. That's when the dog starts barking incessantly! I dragged my tired butt out to the back door to yell at Marley, when all of a sudden I spied something move out of the corner of my eye...it was trapped between the dog house and our house. Marley is a lover, not a fighter. He was obviously trying to tell me that he had an unwanted visitor. Being half asleep, I thought it was a mouse, but it was way too big. Then I thought it might be a rat, but it's nose wasn't pointy. In fact, it was really cute!

I pushed the dog house out of the way, but there was nothing there! I moved it again, and noticed it hide back underneath the dog house. A ferret!! I figured, it must have been someone's pet, because there isn't a ferret infestation in these parts.  Don't ask me why, but in my sleep deprived state, it made sense that I should pick up the ferret and bring it inside. Someone must be missing him!

Tip no. 1: Do not place a ferret underneath an overturned washing basket...they can fit through the holes.

"Get up kids and put some shoes on...there's a ferret in the house!!". Okay, so I don't normally wake the kids up like this, but as I said, I really had no idea what was going on.  Seth and Eme were seriously excited, and scared, and happy, and jumping up on furniture. I needed to find a box. The ferret was walking around the house like he owned the place, climbing inside Andrew's boots, and crawling under the furniture.  By this time 20 minutes had passed. The ferret seemed to like me...or more like he wanted to bite my ankles...ouch!!  A few minutes later, and I had that furry sucker cornered, scooped up in the box and out the door. Now to find his owner...

A few weeks earlier, I had noticed a snake enclosure out the front of the neighbour's house a couple of doors down. We'd never met them, but I figured if they were into snakes, they might be into ferrets as well!  My hunch was correct. Met Spaz the ferret! His owner was very happy to see him again...

Back home, and with the adrenaline still pumping, I lay back down to catch up with facebook...when Marley starts barking like a dog possessed again!  Would you believe...there was another ferret running through our garden!! This one wasn't as easy to catch...he was bundled up by Marley, hiding underneath the edge of the fence. This time, it was Marley's turn to go inside, while Seth fetched the ferret's owner.

Tip no. 2: Ferrets love the sound of baby toys and the taste of meat (at least, Spaz loved the taste of my hands and ankles)

A knob of devon, and a gentle jingling of Eme's baby tambourine, coaxed him out of his hiddy hole and into his owner's arms. Let me introduce...Ratbag the ferret (ratbag in name and nature).

So, with both ferrets present and accounted for, and the Warren backyard declared ferret free...we went about our day...left wondering...did that really happen? lol.