What killed our Guinea Pig?

[Duke of York]

Being a bit concerned that we hadn't seen our pet guinea pig, who lives in his hutch in our garden, since yesterday and that he hadn't eaten any of his fresh veg, we looked in his home to find him dead and this creature in with him.





It was obvious this thing had killed him and it also looked like he had started eating him given the top of the guinea pig's head was missing

We think it is probably a ferret, but whatever it is it certainly didn't look well so we didn't want to be bitten so we didn't want to go anywhere near it.

Eventually we managed to remove the dead guinea pig and we left whatever it was to leave which it looks like it has now done.

Can anyone confirm that it is a ferret and is it usual for them to attack guinea pigs?

DoY

[demicav]

I'm pretty sure this is an albino ferret. Ferrets are the domasticated form of Polecat and can be trained to hunt Rabbits. They will eat rodents. However this could be an escaped hungry pet that got hungry and followed it's instinct.
I'm very sorry about your Guinea pig. We have two ourselves and they're the sweetest things.

[Cazzie]

OMG! What a nightmare - poor guinea piggy

I'd take bets that it's a pet that's escaped. Put the word around and I'm sure you'll get some answers. Won't help your cavie much now *cries* but at least maybe the owner will take it back and lock it up properly!

[Wild-Woman]

Very sad but mustelids are voracious predators that are doing only what their instincts tell them to do.
I watched a Stoat kill a Rabbit yesterday-if it's any comfort, it was quick.
Sorry about your guineas, I have 2 myself, so would be very upset if the like happened to them. The only way to truly stop Rabbits and guineas falling victim to preds are a VERY substantial hutch, very tough, small guage chicken wire or to have the hutch in a shed or conservatory. Runs from shops can be very weak and dug under by foxes so they need extra strengthening and an eye kept out for daytime opportunist predators.

[Duke of York]

To be honest when we first looked in I was expecting to see a dead guinea pig but to see an extra set of eyes peering back was a complete shock.

We have always had problems with cats since we moved in this house (we lost a guinea pig to a cat 2 days after moving in!!) and so we had secured both the guinea pigs runs with chicken wire. We also placed a tube between the two runs but had to make a hole in the wire to allow the tube in. Unfortunately over time a slight gap had occured between the tube and the wire with moving one of the runs, but since it was no where big enough for a cat to get in we didn't worry but it must have been big enough for the ferret

[Garden Carpet]

I am really sorry to hear about your guinea pig...I am fostering one at the moment and she is the most deligtful creature. She is now eating out of my hand.. and it didnt take her long to work out where the door is in her new cage either!
jaki

[m1.carson]

Hi,

I'm not too sure that chicken wire is a small enough mesh if you include Stoats as predators, I've seen a family of them fly through it, almost as if it didn't exist.

As to whose ferret it is, you should be able to sniff him out fairly quickly, they stink , hope he doesn't keep one down his trousers !

Max.

[jdurbo]

Thats just awful!
Im sorry you lost your pet guinea pig.

jen xxx

[mrs fish]

That must of been a shock


Perhaps this will be a more common sight in the future, ferrets are a popular pet now. It is a surprise to me though to see a domesticated pet doing what comes naturally

Personally I like ferrets and two of them were my first pets after leaving home.


Animals always heads first

I found my hamster headless one morning, it was the cat

[clover green]

OH poor little guinea pig. I bet it must have been a big shock seeing that albino ferret? I wonder whether it was an escapee or an abandoned animal?
I went to a car boot sale a few years ago and as we drove across a huge field towards the parking attendant, we saw him bend down and grapple with something. As we got along side we could see he had picked up a ferret! Goodness knows where it had come from, as it was in a very rural area, with lots of fields, farm land, forest, etc. We gave him a box to put it in, thinking he could take it to the rspca later. Some folk thought it had been deliberately dumped!
What's happening with the ferret?

[Duke of York]

Originally Posted by clover green

What's happening with the ferret?

To be honest we had no idea what to do. I wasn't sure about handling it incase it bit me plus even if I could pick it up what would I do with a ferret???

So all we did was leave it a way out of the hutch and hoped it would leave which it has appeared to do.

I suppose we could have captured it and either taken it to the RSPCA or tried to find its owner, but we that shocked at what had happened we just wanted it leave our garden pronto

[demicav]

I've heard they have a good chance of returning to an area where they know there is food. Do you have other Cavies ? If so you will need to secure them. Also if it does come back I would definately try to catch it with a humane trap of some sort and get the RSPCA to take it as it could become a familiar pattern.

[Duke of York]

For most of the time we have had two guinea pigs but one died (of natural causes) a while back so we were just left with the one. But as they were both kept together the ferret would have probably got both anyway

We were actually discussing what we would have to do to make the run more secure if we did decide to get anymore, but I suppose for now we will just have to keep an eye out to see if ferret returns.

[wyevilla]

Originally Posted by Duke of York

...We also placed a tube between the two runs but had to make a hole in the wire to allow the tube in. Unfortunately over time a slight gap had occured between the tube and the wire with moving one of the runs, but since it was no where big enough for a cat to get in we didn't worry but it must have been big enough for the ferret

What was the size of the gap?

[Duke of York]

Originally Posted by wyevilla

What was the size of the gap?

I would say the gap would not have been more than 25mm but I wasn't too worried about a gap this size as we were trying to stop cats getting in. We didn't suspect anything else would be in our garden to kill our guinea pigs

DoY

[Wyla]

Oh dear, how terrible!

I'm a ferret owner myself, though I do love guineas too. (Mine are firm family pets though, none of that Rabbit working/hunting thank you!) Judging from the photos that ferret looks quite small so is most likely a female, a rather rugged one at that! (Her eyes look quite inflamed though it may just be the photo) Females are usually a lot more bitey than males, my guess is that she may be an escaped working one. So sorry for your loss, I hope wherever it came from it doesn't come back again.

[wyevilla]

Originally Posted by Duke of York

I would say the gap would not have been more than 25mm but I wasn't too worried about a gap this size as we were trying to stop cats getting in. We didn't suspect anything else would be in our garden to kill our guinea pigs

DoY

Gosh thats not much is it? I don't blame you for not worrying about a gap this size. So sorry.

[Duke of York]

Originally Posted by Wyla

Oh dear, how terrible!

I'm a ferret owner myself, though I do love guineas too. (Mine are firm family pets though, none of that Rabbit working/hunting thank you!) Judging from the photos that ferret looks quite small so is most likely a female, a rather rugged one at that! (Her eyes look quite inflamed though it may just be the photo) Females are usually a lot more bitey than males, my guess is that she may be an escaped working one. So sorry for your loss, I hope wherever it came from it doesn't come back again.

To be honest when we first saw it we did think it looked a bit on the rough side and the eyes did look a bit strange (although with it being an albino we were not sure if the red eyes made us think that) which is why we didn't want to pick it up

[Duke of York]

Originally Posted by wyevilla

Gosh thats not much is it? I don't blame you for not worrying about a gap this size. So sorry.

Thank you and everyone else for their messages.

We had been worried about something getting into the run, as when we first moved into this house we let the two guinea pigs we had at this time have some freedom to roam and straight away one was killed by a cat

We then tried to make sure we protected them the best we could, but we always anticipated that we were trying to stop cats from getting in, so even if there was a smallish gap we tried to make sure it didn't ever get big enough for a cat to crawl in.

I have to say that we never ever thought that it would be a ferret that would get in but I suppose you sometimes learn these things the hard way

[candy]

I am so sorry for what happened but i guess you are right in saying that

you sometimes learn these things the hard way

[Vixen]

I sorry I did'nt catch this earlyer.

I exspect it someones exscapt beloved pet, a ferret does'nt have to be worked to have that killer instint exspeshaly if it is hungry. I know someone who's ferret exscapt and killed 2 guinea pigs, this ferret is'nt worked.

Please don't phone the local RSPCA as some iver tell you to leave it alone, or they will take it and have it PTS. Where abouts are you I see if I can find your local Ferret rescue, they can give you adivce, on what to do with him/her.

on the biting thing it does'nt matter what sex the ferret is, if it been bralt up properly it won't bite but any animal if scare will bite.

Ferrets are very determind little things and if they want something not much stops them. So I exspect it will be back. I know this is upsetting for you, but ferrets can be wonderful little animals, I exspect this one is just scared and hungry.

[Coley]

Does anyone know if a ferret or the likes can climb over a 6' fence? You got me worried about my bunny now.
Thanx

[Vixen]

Originally Posted by Coley

Does anyone know if a ferret or the likes can climb over a 6' fence? You got me worried about my bunny now.
Thanx

I known a ferret to climb a 12ft, pebble dashed wall. If there are foot hold there climb it.

But I would'nt worry to much, most ferret owners would hate for there beloved darling to get out. So although acsedents happen, they don't happen often.

and just to put your mind at reast My ferret house is right on the other side of the fence to next doors Rabbit and non of mine have even thought to go over and say hello.

[Coley]

Thanx vixen, I feel better now