Through the night last night my sons 2 polecats escaped , we found Jerry this morning in a neighbours garden but theres been no sign of Ben since.
I've called the council , local vets , RSPCA although haven't gotton through yet and put a notice in our local garage , son knocked on quite a few doors with his PJ's on this morning , can anyone think of what else I can do . I think we've lost him for good :(  , he's soo tame if someone does find him they may keep him for themselves , I hope no one hurts him though as a lot of people are frightened of ferrets , I've got a pounding headache thinking about the poor thing and how upset my son is .

Facebook, do you have a local radio station that might run the story, especially as a polecat is a "different" kind of pet and belongs to a young person.

Good Luck

Thankyou , I've just put it on facebook , now I'm off to search for our local radio stations . Someone somewhere must know where he is.
RSPCA were no help at all. :(

It must be so upsetting knowing there is a pet out there somewhere, do Ben and Jerry tend to stick together, he may not have been too far. I know it is horrible but cats are probably a main worry, it might be worth looking out to see if you spot any cats hovering over a certain area they could well be a giveaway to where he is. He may well make his way home make sure you keep checking tonight, that is when he is most likely to venture about if he is frightened.

I know totally different but I once had a mouse who went out and about with me, I used to carry her around and one day she dropped out of my pocket in the woods, (I was 8 can't believe I carried a mouse around :-D) we were all looking all over for her and we could not find her, thought that was it, anyhow about 30 minutes later I went back and called her and there she was just sat in the middle of the wood looking at me, wherever she had gone, she made her way back to where we were playing when she heard me call her.

So let your son call Ben in your garden tonight and maybe, just maybe he will wander home.

Hope you find him, so sad for your son.

Thankyou , he has come home from school as is knocking on neighbours doors right now and checking their gardens for him.
I will let him stay out and call him later aswell , we'll do anything to get him back. My mam lives near us and her cat is always in the gardens near us but she has just been sunbathing all day today , I hope he hasn't gone too far as there are woods not far from our house . We've checked under sheds incase he is asleep , I'm keeping fingers crossed he makes his way home.
You were very lucky getting your mouse back , it must of been a huge shock at the time for you to still remember , I hope we have the same outcome , I've contacted three local radio stations so hopefully it will get a mention.
Yes they love each other , they are out the same nest and are both neutered , Jerry has slept all day .

Are they microchipped? (Might be worth thinking about for the future, if not).
Thinking lots of "come home ferty" thoughts here.

You could try asking your local radio station to put out an appeal for his return - and a lost pet advert in your local paper. You should reach a wider range of your local community with both.

ETA - I see you have already contacted the radio stations.

No they aren't chipped , I have the dogs done but never crossed my mind to do the ferrets. Sons in floods of tears , I hope we can find him :(

Thanks Harley , I've contacted 3 radio stations and I'll arrange an advert for the local paper , thanks I wouldn't of thought of that.

How about posters on all the lamp posts? If they aren't microchipped, people need to know what to do if they do find him. Thinking good thoughts for you both!

what time of day did he used to feed them and did he rattle a dish or a box or something when going to feed them did he use to call there names and rattle something so they knew it was dinner time, it might be worth a try if he did something that used to get there attention.

Hope you find Ben, so sorry for your son--thinking of you all with big hugs.

I don't know anything about ferrets so excuse this random thought--can you put Jerry on as lead and see if he leads you anywhere?

Unless you are in an urban area, it is quite likely that Ben is doing what Polecats were originally bred to do - he is chasing (and finding) rabbits!

When we lived on the golf course, we'd often be told that XX has lost his ferrets down a rabbit warren - keep an eye out - and in a couple of days (and on one occasion more than a week) - a ferret or polecat would actually come up to us when we were walking the dogs - or at least make its presence known to us, so that we could take the dogs back home and then come and pick up the by-now lonely ferret/polecat!

So, fingers crossed, when Ben is hungry and wants a bit of fuss - he'll make his presence known to a kindly individual - so let everyone know that he is missing - good luck!

Oh I do hope this is the case with Ben , my BIL is out now with my son and his daughter looking in some woods near us.
She was out playing and thought she saw him , went to have a look and a boy she was with supposedly scared him and he ran into some shrubs . I hope it was Ben she saw . Hopefully he'll recognise my sons voice . I'll make some posters up for tomorrow for that area if they can't find him tonight.
I didn't think he'd of gone that far away myself as it's about 5 - 10 minutes walk.

No luck , he wasn't there :(

Do keep checking inside and under local sheds even if he wasn't there the first time. My first ferrets managed to escape and we found them a few days later under the neighbours shed which we had checked the day they went missing.
Also try putting a cat carrier out in the garden with some of his bedding in it and check it every morning.
Wishing luck for you, its a horrible feeling :(

One of the girls we know, had the same problem with her ferret and she also posted leaflets around her area and on lamposts and somebody spotted her in their garden and it took them about 3 days to catch her with food but she was safe, albeit tired.

I hope you manage to find her soon. :(

Just want to send positive vibes.  We are all rooting for your son to be happy and relieved.

We have a cat carrier out with some bedding in and a box which he likes to sleep in next to it also , been checking all night but nothing yet.
My son hasn't been long to bed , he just can't get it off his mind , poor thing :(
Will double check everywhere again tomorrow if he doesn't come back overnight. I just hope no harm has come to him.

Another thought and this may be totally ridiculous, so bear with me, like we have Champ Dogs is there any polecat forum, chat groups. There might not be anything local to you but they may have some suggestions about how to lure him home. Are there any wildlife groups or exotic pet groups ( I know they aren't exotic) but they may have links to other organisations or a network of volunteers who can spread the word for you.

Hoping for positive news in the morning ( hugs)

Not ridiculous at all a very good idea! Have posted on FB; Fancy Rats; Dogsey: Dog Pages and a Beardie site.

Hope he's home soon

Thankyou , checked overnight and this morning but nothing yet :(

Someone on one of the sites I posted on suggested seeing if DogLost would help?

We lost one of our ferrets, and she was found in the neighbours hen coup!!!
Hope your son get his Ferret back, leave food beside there hutch/run, mine when out always come back to there run.

> Another thought and this may be totally ridiculous, so bear with me, like we have Champ Dogs is there any polecat forum, chat groups.

Yes there are loads of ferret groups and forums. I'll ask my sister (ex-ferret rescuer) if she has any ideas and tips, too.

Still no sign I've contacted 2 ferret rescues and placed an online advert. I would of thought there'd be a sighting by now , almost all our area knows he is missing .

Haven't got anything to add to the above posts only that I hope he is found soon.

We had a call at 11pm last night , someone on our estate had him in their back garden , it took a couple of minutes for hubby to get there but he had gone :( .
However he sat and had a cuppa with them , turns out he'd been there all day climbing up the mans legs ( he must of needed a cuddle ! :) ) but he didn't know he was tame. He gave him milk which he drank then curled up and slept next to him as he worked in his garage.
Hubby had the mans decking apart looking underneath and was in the joining gardens but couldn't find him. We left him carrier there incase he pays the man another visit. They have gloves so are going to pick him up if they see him . At least I have a bit of hope now , going to leaflet that area later on.

Oh, so close :-( He may well return, bless him, I can understand why he did not wish to pick him up.

You know he is alive, you know he's had some milk (well it's something) and he does not see humans as a threat, which is brilliant meaning he will show himself again somewhere.

Fingers, toes, arms, legs crossed that your next post will be... he's home. :-).

Can see why he was wary of picking him up but hopefully Ben will go back as he's had a good time. <fingerscrossed>!!

That is really postive news so hopefully it wont be too long before he is back home !

Great that he's been spotted in the area, hopefully on his next visit they can pick him up and he'll be home soon. :-)

I just want to say I really hope he goes back to this man so he gets picked up and brought back to you.  I am keeping everything crossed you get Ben home asap!

I would think he's very hungry now, ferrets need to eat almost constantly. Could you leave a bowl of dry ferret food in this man's garden to see if he comes back?

Yes we are  going to take some round later , the man is a postman and works from 6am until 2pm . He said he'd c.heck before work this morning but he musn't of been there , and will do so as soon as he gets back. He has work planned for his garage today again , we are hoping for a repeat of yesterday

Is there any place you could borrow a humane trap from?

I'll look into it , thanks keep any ideas coming this way :)

I'd try asking local vets, Cats Protection and/or any nearby wildlife hospitals/centres for a humane trap. But if he's as tame as you say, then I've a good feeling he may come back to this chap's garden for food.

Local vets may have a humane trap. When I needed to catch our semi feral cat to neuter they offered a trap to catch him in.
Lea :) :)

I have been checking all day hoping that you have found him.  I'm off home soon so hopefully by the time i get back to work on Monday he will have returned home.  Fingers crossed for you.

ours often escape.......what you need to do is go the local farm supplier and buy a rat trap, the live trap cage type.......assumingly your poley is used to eating rabbit so just put a dead rabbit in there and he will soon be trapped if hes in the area. You need to check the trap every 6 to 8 hours.  We usually find ours curled up inside quite quickly. Weve had them awol for 4 weeks sometimes but always recaptured them.if you have any neighbours with poultry, pet rabbits on the lawn etc you have a moral responsibility to advise them hes loose as he will make short work of chickens ducks etc and you will have very upset neighbours!

Still not found him :(  .
We are going to try and get a trap this weekend , but problem is where to put it , he was last spotted across the estate , I can't believe how far he has wandered . But hasn't of yet been back to the mans garden , or ours. We posted leaflets all over that part of the estate yesterday afternoon but no phone calls :(
He is only used to dry food as this is what he has been fed from his previous owner , he is just a pet so never been worked.
Do you think putting a dead rabbit in would still help , and where would you leave the trap ?.
My mind is busted now , I've dreamed about him returning all night , hope it is a good sign.

Keeping fingers crossed for you! If you were up here I would lend you my live trap it's the kind Sam suggested. Worth trying a rabbit I would think as well as some of his usual food.

FOUND , FOUND , FOUND :) :) :)
HUBBY IS OFF TO GET HIM

Excellent news! :-D

Soon be safe at home xxx

He's back , safe and well not a scratch on him :)
An old lady trapped him in her greenhouse for us , she said he was lovely and tame and had been in there stroking him :)
It's nice to know their are good people out there :)
I'm off out soon to buy her a bunch of flowers , and some beer for the other man that's been looking out for him.
Our son is over the moon , I feel sick with relief and best of all Ben's brother Jerry is just so happy to see him , he has been down in the dumps.
:) :) :)

Fantastic news, I'm so pleased for you :-D

Brilliant news. Your son must be overjoyed to have him home. :-D

I'm so pleased, it must be all the positive thoughts we were sending!!!!! Welcome home, you little explorer.

I take it, one happy son??????

The best news!!!