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