Also, they're _big_ : we have a kind of Weasel (Ermine) in Montana and I've seen then drag an adult rabbit carcas over long distances. Ferrets look to be around twice their size.
They only have two modes: sleep and play/hunt. Ours learned to play with us without puncturing our skin, but its play still involving biting and tugging incessantly.
Once a squirrel had gotten into a wall cavity. The ferret knew and paced outside of the wall for days, every waking hour, just obsessed.
It smelled pretty bad. The scent gland had been removed but it still had a musky odor that got through the whole house.
One day it escaped the confines of the house and got over to one of the neighbours. It got into their garage and killed an entire litter of little kittens.
We think an owl caught it not long after.
Their status as pets is a bit dubious IMHO. They'd also be a real problem anywhere near where people keep poultry or rabbits. They're notorious serial killers. Weasels get into chicken coops and slaughter whole flocks seemingly for fun, killing like crazy but actually eating very little.
For a domesticated species it sounds like that is the main function.
That is, it would make sense that humans domesticated multiple species (cats, dogs, ferrets, minks, etc..)[1] to be adept at killing just for killing sake, probably with different niches. Dogs for defense, and all of them able to offer pest control for various sizes of pests.
This is pure speculation on my part however. Any experts care to weigh in?
1 - (dogs and minks killing lots of rats) https://youtu.be/SM4C3_nMN_g
Yes, cats are a bit like this, too, but not to this scale. And cats are remarkably more parsimonious with their energy usage. They'll beat up a mouse for an hour, and then just sleep like crazy. Or stalk a single bird, and be satisfied with that.
I read up on this after our community's chickens were massacred by a fox -- it's called Surplus Killing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surplus_killing and here's what's believed the key motivations:
... researchers say animals surplus-kill whenever they can, in order to procure food for offspring and others, to gain valuable killing experience, and to create the opportunity to eat the carcass later when they are hungry again
A fox got after our chickens two years ago. Our rooster, a beautiful and gentle Barred Rock tussled with the fox for about 300 feet down to the road (there was a trail of feathers) and then dashed under a passing car which was forced to stop while the fox brazenly circled. All the hens scattered and hid and were fine.
We rescued him from under there and chased the fox away and cleaned him up and gave him antibiotics but the poor guy had wounds we didn't see that festered, he got a fever, and died about 3-4 weeks later despite us doing our best for him.
(Turns out foxes long teeth and mouth bacteria/biome are also engineered to create a situation where prey may die later even if they can't be taken right away. Then the fox can come back later when it's weakened or dead)
I'd never been so close to an eastern red fox. They're usually super skittish but this one must have been extremely hungry and indignant that I took his kill from him. Beautiful creature but I don't look at them the same way anymore.
We planted a lovely native flowering Eastern Redbud tree over the grave of the rooster ("Jacques")
I've seen a domestic cat play with a mouse until it's dead, then act like it doesn't know what to do with it. An old stray cat (that had rejoined domestic life but didn't have the energy to catch and play with the mouse) would then get up and eat it in two chomps.
The barn cat knows humans, but is also not let inside the house. It is also rarely fed, unless sick, but has the comfort of the barn.
Such cats are often highly efficient, and eat all their prey for food.
I've seen barn cats, when old, fed and kept in nicer surroundings.
This is what cats are primarily for! To keep mice populations down in barns, feedlots, groceries, etc.
The cats in turn avoid any bites when they go to actually eat it. They could theoretically do something else to kill and eat faster, but its more akin to their long range attack ensuring they take no damage, avoiding any skin piercing infection.
Anyway for months he would leave a dead mouse on the house mat.
I felt sorry for him, and let him stay in the utility room, and showed him how to use a dog door. (I would have kept him, but he ended up having a home. He lived in a 8 million dollar mansion, and was feed fresh Salmon, he hated the dog.)
I found all that out later. I couldn't let him in the house 24/7 because of allergies.
He would sneak in and bring on mice. The mice were so quiet, I didn't even notice them until he arrived.
I found out later he was going to multiple houses daily, and we all spoiled him.
He did want to live with me, but finally gave up.
I think some wild animal got him though. The wealthy family that owned him was devistated. People on that Neighborhood social site condemned the family for not keeping him indoors, but they didn't know he liked his freedom.
He lived a full life, but killed a lot of rodents. Which didn't bother me at the time. Well it kinda did, but rats I just can't live with.
I used to believe all cats should be kept indoors, but once certain cats are used to freedom it's painful to watch them suffer mentally by being inside. I learned where the Tom Cat phrase came from by knowing him.
That could easily apply to humans.
I should mention that I haven't killed any yet, apart from unlucky insects, but if I were to shoot a deer I'll eat it too.
Most pet ferrets come from one inbred line produced by one monopolist who breeds ferrets for research (testing drugs and chemicals on animals) and for sale in pet stores. Those ferrets are pretty small (2-4 lbs), in part because they're virtually all pediatric neuters, and never go through puberty.
There are also very small numbers of ferrets available from small breeders in some states. They tend to be a bit larger, and additionally those breeders also sometimes sell hybrids (ferrets crossed with wild polecats), who are quite a bit bigger.
Anyway I think of domesticated ferrets as pretty small! And I guess they're much smaller than whatever wild/feral relatives they're sometimes crossed with in the hopes of improving health or genetic diversity.
Although I did once see two stoats coursing a brushtail possum to death, it was nasty AF.
But yeah, apparently stoats and weasels can't be domesticated like ferrets.
They have a different sense of time and are just too much energetic to be bearable.
Would be like having a children with the most severe case of ADHD jumping over you each five seconds non-stop after drinking ten coffes and doing cocaine. Just watching a stoat to play is exhausting.