Jumpy polecat | Shooting times

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Why does my polecat try to bite?

To an immature ferret, the sport can be viewed as a big game, especially when resurfacing to an unfamiliar situation.

By Simon Whitehead

Sunday, 20 January 2008

When my polecat ferret emerges from a hole and I go to pick him up, he dances about as if trying to bite me. Can you explain this?

A: In ferreting, no two animals are the same and individual characteristics govern the way they grow and work.

To an immature ferret, the sport can be viewed as a big game, especially when resurfacing to an unfamiliar situation.

If it is only one ferret playing around, at home get the animal used to being picked up as you stand above it as it emerges from a pipe and offer a treat to coax it out.

The ferret bouncing about as if trying to bite you is merely its way of playing and what you must not do is make a lunge at it, for this will get it into the habit of diving down a hole to avoid your hands.

In a worst case scenario, tempt it out with a piece of rabbit until you can pick it up, and slowly, outing by outing, experience will calm it down and enable you to pick it up with confidence.

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