#the ferret groups try to murder each other through the bars of their cages all the time

[robotslenderman]

You know, ferrets are such fucking goobers that sometimes I forget they're actual predators.

Sydney's had a rat and mouse problem the last few weeks because of the cold snap. We've had a couple come in as well. First one was gone last week (there's a smell in the garage where my parents put down baits) but the second one has been having parties in the ceiling above my room. My brother is right above me and has had to chase it out of his room at night a few times.

Well, we have a few cages full of ferrets who take turns getting the run of the ferret room. The first group of two are up first, mum lets them out and leaves.

Then hears a rat screaming bloody murder.

Usually when there's screaming in there it's because one ferret has grabbed another through the bars of a cage and won't let go but ferret screaming is distinctly different. Mum goes back. Picks up the boy, who's big and confused and has no idea WTF is going on. The girl, Bambi, is hiding in the corner of the room. Shaken up, upset, won't let anyone pick her up. Bambi is one of our "pocket rockets", who's tiny but feisty and is very protective of her boy.

Mum finally manages to calm her down enough to pick her up and check her for wounds. She's fine, puts her and her boy back in the cage bc, well, there's a rat about and it's not safe and they need to calm down. Mum spends the next few minutes emptying tubes to try to find the rat but can't find it.

She and Dad leave the house for a bit but leave the ferrets in their cages in case the rat is about still.

Come home, figure it's safe to let out the second cage, a group of four (a mum, two of her daughters and a random boy who's more of a son than a dad). They make a beeline under the cage near the corner where Bambi had been hiding in and quickly find the body.

Not hard to put the pieces together there. I've seen a video of a tiny stoat take down a rabbit multiple times its size... easy to forget ferrets are bigger. Rat didn't stand a chance.