My 10 yr old boy came rushing in from the garden shouting "quick, there's an otter in the garden!!!". My dad was visiting so he rushed out with us to see........a ferret!!!!

It was a quite a shock! There was an albino ferret tottering around the patio, walking towards my son, following his every move. I told my son to jump up on the bench out of the way (not knowing ferrets behaviour, I couldn't tell if it were friendly or disorientated in which case it may bite), while I rushed into the house trying to find somthing to contain it in.

When I went back out with a large plastic lidded box (storage tub) and some ham to entice it, the ferret had gone under the shed.

I set my trap next to the shed - the box with ham in the middle and me with the lid ready to put it on the box. We waited, called to the ferret....waited a little more....then a little nose pooped out, slowly followed by it's body. It smelt the ham - I  smelt the ferret It carefully peeped over the box, then quickly reached in, nicked the ham and darted under the shed!!! Wow, those animals are long, I thought it would have to jump into the box, didn't realise it was long enough to reach right in while it's back feet stayed on the floor outside!

Tried again, but this time moved the ham to the opposite side of the box - the side we were on - thinking it would rather jump into the box than come aorund our side. WRONG, it never even stopped to think about the puzzle, it tottered around, reached in, grabbed the ham.
Tried putting the ham in the middle of the box - it reached in but kept it's back feet hanging over the side & me not being confidant with small animals wouldn't touch it and couldn't lever it in using the lid (didn't want to hurt it's little feet).

I decided to go & ask the only neighbour I thought would possibly have such a pet, if they had a ferret that had escaped. No, it wan't thiers & they didn't know who it belonged to. When I got back home, my mum had come to visit, tempted the ferret out from under the shed, picked it up calmly by the scruff & lowered into the box - safe & sound :)

My mum was just getting into her car to take it to the vets (what else can you do with a ferret you've found in your garden?), I spotted a man who lives at the bottom of our street, asked if he knew of anyone who had lost a ferret - yes, it was his next-door neighbours, it's been missing for a few days.

The ferret was re-united with it's over-joyed owner :)

Phew, that was a rather strange evening! An otter that turned out to be a ferret.

Yesterday I found a dog in the garden (recognised it, it lived in the next street, popped a lead on & took it back to it's home).

'They' say things come in threes, so I am starting to wonder what on earth may appear in my garden tomorrow..

> 'They' say things come in threes, so I am starting to wonder what on earth may appear in my garden tomorrow..

The Easter Bunny ? :od :od

Nice one Margot!!

Oh I love ferrets, but lucky it wasn't our garden as my husband always kept a few, and might not have wanted to give it back ;)

a lady down the road from me walks her two ferrets on harnesses around the big field.

I probably would have done the same as your mum, and assumed it was tame.  A lot of folk round here keep them, and my vet gets to spay a lot of them. 

I can't imagine what number 3 is going to be - or the look on your face when it turns up!   

id be more concerned that a 10 year old cant tell the difference between a ferret and an otter!!!!

My ferrets often wander around the garden, there better trained than the dogs!

> The Easter Bunny ?

LOL, that would be great :)
Been keeping my eyes peeled, but no sign of the Easter Bunny yet :(

> id be more concerned that a 10 year old cant tell the difference between a ferret and an otter!!!!

LOL Sam, I take it you haven't got kids.
My son has never seen either an otter or a ferret in the flesh before. He had gone in the garden and spotted a bizarre, long-boddied animal on the patio, next to our pond, I have no concerns that his mind made that association :)

>I have no concerns that his mind made that association

...and if he'd been younger he might have 'seen' the Loch Ness Monster.  Wouldn't that have been a good one for show and tell :)

> ..and if he'd been younger he might have 'seen' the Loch Ness Monster. Wouldn't that have been a good one for show and tell :-)

LOL that would be a good one :-D

We have had otters in gardens locally feasting on koi carp!

at 10 id never seen an elephant int he flesh but i could tell the difference between an elephant and a rhino!

Well done for rescuing the ferret! My two escaped a few days ago and it was awful.
The elderly one had walked all the way up the garden and across the lane to the house and my neighbour found her standing outside my front door.
I had no idea they had gotten out till he knocked, so then passed a frantic hour with four neighbours searching under brambles and compost heaps searching for the other one. She surfaced eventually from a hole under a tree completely black but looking delighted.

> We have had otters in gardens locally feasting on koi carp!

I'm sorry for those who have lost their carp but wouldn't mine losing a few if I got the chance to see an otter. Have you been lucky enought to see one, our neighbour is certain he has seen a pair on the beach near by. Am keeping watch and living in hope.

> I have no concerns that his mind made that association

Yep, my (almost) 10 year old son would probably have done the same!! Or perhaps said a meercat!!

> at 10 id never seen an elephant int he flesh but i could tell the difference between an elephant and a rhino!

The actual word-for-word account of what my son said was :

Son - "Quick Mum, there's a.....ummmmmm - otter! in the garden"
Me- "what? An otter? What are you on about?"
Son - "Uh? I don't know what it is!!!!!! Come see. It's an...otter? I don't know. Quick!!!!. It's long and furry. It's in the garden by the pond QUICK!!!!!!!"

So yes, he did say it was an otter, but he was not making a firm identification, he was trying, in an excited, panicked way that children do, to tell us there was something in the garden that shouldn't be there and we needed to deal with it.

It's quite sad sam, that you are trying to turn a light-hearted post into a dig about the inteligance of my son, but I have not taken any offence from your posts, I just feel sorry that you can't see the funny side or know how children can be.

> We have had otters in gardens locally feasting on koi carp!

A horror for the fish owners (we've got koi, so you can imagine our panick at the thought of an otter in the garden!), but what a wonderfull sight to see an otter in your garden.

> Or perhaps said a meercat!!

LOL Now that mistaken identity is 'simples' to make :-D

Bully for you Sam....you are soooo clever!!! I take it you had a degree in anthropology at aged 10!

> Wow, those animals are long, I thought it would have to jump into the box, didn't realise it was long enough to reach right in while it's back feet stayed on the floor outside!

They are incredibly long, aren't they! Kind of like those Stretch Limo's.... they look like they should have an extra pair of legs - or wheels - in the middle! Very fun little animals with all the sense of humour that otters seem to display - same family (mustelidae) so your son wasn't so far off :)

Ahhh what a lovely story, wouldn't it have been amazing if it had been an Otter, how sweet that your son thought it was. Love a happy ending! :-)

Well, I wonder what number 3 will be? Going by my few days away it could be anything. We went to Center Parcs and the wildlife there are very people friendly, we had our own little gang of 3 male ducks who came to our open patio doors every morning and late afternoon, they would waddle up and quack at us until we gave them some bread, then a beautiful male pheasant would follow and took bread from my hand, that was amazing, glad we didn't take my girl that would never have happened otherwise. Though we did have a very chubby and very cheeky squirrel who walked right in and sat on the coffee table for a piece of bread.

But, I don't think it will be any of those, I think that ferret will be back as it got fed so well by you, it is probably planning it's escape right now. :-D

> I think that ferret will be back as it got fed so well by you,

It did like the ham :) Buster was a bit confused as he saw us making several trips into the garden with ham and he wasn't allowed out of the house - he couldn't work that one out as ham is the thing I often use to temp him out for his last wee of the day (he'd rather stay sprawled out on the sofa than make the effort to go out into the garden!) :-D

I'm glad we found the ferret before it came to harm, the owner was so happy to have it back as they had lost it's mate last year after it had escaped and got caught & killed by a dog :(

We haven't had a 3rd visitor  - yet, not even any frogs in the pond. I was really looking forward to the Easter Bunny turning up :-D

Your trip to Center Parcs sounds lovely.

> a beautiful male pheasant would follow and took bread from my hand, that was amazing

Wow, that is amazing :)

> It's quite sad sam, that you are trying to turn a light-hearted post into a dig about the inteligance of my son

Totally below the belt.  Unecessary, and spiteful and a shame that some people have to be so superior.

Sorry mastifflover - you do not deserve that in any way.

Bless him - Sorry to turn away from the purpose of the actual post but I LOVE when kids say silly things.

I always remember my little brother (there's 12 years between us so quite a gap) saying when a cat ran out in front of my car "Do you know it would have been the cat's fault if you'd run it over then", "Well I was driving so it would have been my fault really", "Tut... all animals have a sense of humour you know"... Followed by a puzzled face from me until I realised that he meant that all animals should have common sense!!!

Bless them... He also said once when watching Free Willy "Do you know, that whale can do everything that the boy can do. I bet he can't ride a bike though". Lol. Love 'em!!!

When my eldest was about 4 years old we took him to a local nature reserve, we were walking past the pink famingos and he asked what they were, so i tod him they are flamingo,s, once we had seen all the wildlife etc he turned round and said "mummy can we go see the funny bingo,s again" it was so funny we burst out laughing, ah bless him. he is almost 21 now and hasnt ived it down, the innocence of them eh? great tale about the Otter ferrett.

I bet flamingos will always be called funny bingos in your family,it is 40 years since one of my toddler sons said he was conker tayting when he was concentrating on some thing, and the expression still gets aired from time to time in our house.!Happy memories from when the kids  were little mean so much as the years go by

Yes!   Rolls Royces have always been Ronald Royces and in Cluedo the weapon is a lead (like a dog lead) not lead (led) piping.  My son is 30 this year!  Now my Grandchildren are saying funny things - wish I could write them all down.  My son-in-law apparently looks like Jesus - since my grandson saw a picture of Jesus this Easter and said it was Daddy - who doesn't shave when he is on holiday.  Mind you I always thought my Mum looks like the Queen!

> My son-in-law apparently looks like Jesus - since my grandson saw a picture of Jesus this Easter and said it was Daddy

Ahh, that's sweet.

These stories of kids saying funny things are great, keep 'em coming :)

> wish I could write them all down.

There must be so many funny little things that my boys have said over the years, I wish I had written them all down. I think I'm going to start keeping a little book of them all, it's great to look back on and remebering them always cheers me up - but as much as I wrack my brains I can't think of anything other than 'whomp-sips' instead of 'Wotsists'.......

LOL, I'm loving 'funny bingos' :-D

> I bet flamingos will always be called funny bingos in your family

Ha ha your right lol x he was also a big fan of the kids tv programme rainbow, we took him to Gran Canaria when he was 2 and he cried the whole holiday cos he wanted to go home to "Bungle" bless him.

> I bet flamingos will always be called funny bingos in your family

We have funny sayings too! We have "Henty" for elephant, "Geppa Dodge" for tinned spaghetti and sausages and we always say "Happy Bursday"!!

Ahhh... I love thinking about things that kids have said - Makes me think about how much I loved my brother before he became a teenager and ceased all forms of conversation apart from grunts!!! :)

> became a teenager and ceased all forms of conversation apart from grunts!!! :-)

Yes my 2 are teenagers and grunt at you too lol ha ha! wish they were still toddlers.

Same here, my two only speak in anything other than grunts when they want lifts/money etc!

We still call Rice Krispies pippies.  Apparently when I was little, I christened my mums favourite singer, Shirley Battery!! :-D

> Shirley Battery!! :-D

He he! nie 1, i like the pippies one also lol x