I'm absolutely delighted for you and your family. I've kept checking this thread hoping there would be good news eventually!

What a lovely lady, I'm sure she will appreciate the flowers.

What great news I am so happy he has been found safe and well !!

Yay!! excellent news.

Cor! What a relief!! My daughter's family have some of the little darlings and I know how lovely they can be!
Really pleased for you and your family. :)

What brilliant news. So pleased you have him back,your son must be sooo happy to have his pet back.

FANTASTICO!!!! :-)

Whoop! Whoop! And yes you are so doing the right thing with the flowers and Beer for those lovely people.

I love a happy ending. :-D

Yes!!!!!!!! God Bless that old lady :-D.

Away to post he is found all the places I posted he was lost.

fantastic news, well done to the woman who caught him and give your son a ferret welcome home party (that doesn't mean feed them all dead rabbit). So pleased for you all :)

Thanks everyone for your support and especially Cava14Una taking your time to post on other sites for me it is really appreciated :) .
The brothers are happy to be together again , we can't stop smiling when we watch them , Ben has been snuggled in his hammock taking a well earned rest .

Don't mention it I know how I would feel if it was my futret missing. I rather fancy some but think I will stick with the rats.

Loads of welcome home hugs and scritches from other forums for Ben :-)

Delighted for you, that is excellent news :)

Whoop  Whoop

So pleased, I checked in early this morning and was disappointed not to see news.

I bet the tension relief is immense.  :-)

It's a lovely outcome.

Thats good news to hear!

Brilliant news :-)  so pleased to hear he is back and safe

Fantastic news

Good to learn of the Happy Ending,time to up their security,and how about microchips just in case he has acquired a taste for adventure,also take photos that could be used on lost posters.We lost a cat once and a photo was a big help,we got a call the same day from a lovely lady who had taken him in,even taken him to the vet because he was injured.She would have kept him,even though she was putting up a "found" poster when she spotted our "lost" photo.We gave her flowers,and as he was a prize winning pedigree stud,we offered her one of his kittens as well.I grew up with my grandads working ferrets,much more fun to have around than a pet rabbit.

> Good to learn of the Happy Ending,time to up their security,and how about microchips just in case he has acquired a taste for adventure

I spoke to my sister (ex ferret-rescuer) about that, and she said it's fine in theory but in practice, nobody scans ferrets! Many escaped ferrets are recaptured but often they just disappear for good, as did one of hers once, never seen again :(  However hers are all chipped just in case.

She has ferret-proofed her garden as best she can, but there's always a risk as some ferrets can be good climbers.

Brilliant news.  I am so pleased for you all.

Oh so pleased I looked in this morning a happy ending  !!!!!!!!!!!

Hooray, lovely to hear the happy ending!! :-)

what a lovely ending :) so pleased he's back x

Aww thats great news :)  What a roller coaster its been for you all! Its nice to know there are some decent folk about willing to help too :)

:)

Thanks everyone , we have hopefully ferret proofed their run area :) , the door which has springs and wraps on obviously wasn't secure enough for them so that door has been closed for good now, it isn't really needed anyway. They have a double hutch home built that has tubes leading to the escape area!! which is 3 large cages with hammocks , ramps etc then tubing leading to a run large enough for a dog with swings and other bits of things for them to play in.
Yesterday afternoon the gentleman who had him in his garden first came around to see Ben and Jerry , he said "I can't understand why they'd want to escape." He is now considering building a set up similar to ours and rescuing 1 or 2 ferrets :) , after meeting ours changed he is taken with them .

I'm so glad you got them back.  I didn't know what a polecat was, but having googled them, they are ever so cute!  Do they stay outside all year round?  Do they like being handled?

Simone

They def are sneeky lil creatures... Our son to would be lost with out his furkids...

Glad he's back home and safe :-)

Hi Simone , yes they live outside but we have strong homemade hutches with doors to keep them warm and lots of bedding etc. They love to be handled , they can nip which I'm afraid of so I don't handle them , but I love to watch them , and I get pleasure seeing how my son loves them so much. He does most of the work caring for them and his dad oversee's that he is doing it right.
I know a few people who keep them indoors but even when they are neutered I find they still smell a bit .

May ask what is the difference between a ferret and a polecat ?

Polecat is the wild form, and the domestic wild coloured form from which ferrets have been bred.

Yes , and they say the darker the polecat the harder it is to tame them.

I first met Polecats in the late 1970's/early 1980's as fur farm animals in Poland, many people kept them on their allotments along with Nutria (Coypu) for their fur.  Most people also raised a couple of pigs or at least kept poultry and Rabbits for the table on their allotments.