Hi! I've not posted here before but I am a third year student studying for an animal management degree and as I'm basing my dissertation around ferrets I thought ferret forums would be a good place to ask for thoughts/info! Basically my idea is monitoring their reaction to predator and prey scents. I'm thinking of creating a quite large enclosure (so they don't feel trapped), with 3 boxes at different corners, one empty for the ferret to hide in if it wishes, another with a cloth or something containing the scent of prey - hamsters in this case, and another box with a cloth holding the scent of a predator - this is where I'm struggling to think of what scent to use? Once I have created this environment I will then put in one ferret at a time (I will clean between each one so they hopefully can't smell the previous ferret however I know they have super good sense of smell so if anyone knows any very effective cleaning methods please let me know!), for ten minutes and monitor the ferrets behaviour. My hypotheses are that A - they will enter the prey box in search of the scent source and B - they will avoid the predator scent. As dissertations also have to have a 'purpose' so to speak and a reason the experiment is being carried out, my idea was it would be a case of improving welfare - eg. it could be tormenting to a ferret to be housed close to a hamster where they can smell their prey but will never be able to get it, or if ferrets are housed outside and are exposed to predator smells this could be scary for them. This is just my rough idea and it's open to tweaking, there's no doubt things I haven't thought about! Was just wondering people's thoughts on this? And any advice or tips are most welcome!   Thankyou 

That sounds awesome! Best of luck on that! That sounds like a really good test, I hope it turns out well. I know they can smell prey, because they always wanted to go after the chicks I was holding. However, testing to see if they can single out a predator is smart. I hear a lot of animals react to the scent of things like wolves or cougars. Maybe a zoo would give you some scent from them. Again, best of luck! I'd love to know how it turns out! : )

I wish you luck with your project.  from my personal research, ferret aint afraid of nuthin.  Not heights, not cats, not dogs, not peeps, not dark, not confined spaces, not odors or noise.  I can barely get them to wake up with a squeaker, and they've walked right up to big dogs wanting to play.  It could be that ours have all come from long lines of domestic ferrets bred in captivity.  What ferrets are you planning to use? Where do you live?  In the States almost all ferrets are fixed at a young age and bred in mills.    

THE DOOKS OF HAZARD

Just want to say that two years ago I was a third year studying an Animal Management degree and I also did my dissertation on ferrets (effect of the presence or absence of straw substrate on frequency of sleeping and resting behaviour... phew, its a mouthful!).
So ferrety solidarity!