Should I get Hobs or Jills when buying ferrets?

A:

Both sexes of ferret are capable of giving good results on a rabbiting foray, but they work in different ways.

However, well-bred and handled ferrets have a good nature, regardless of gender.

Hobs (males) tend to be slower and more methodical workers, while jills (females) are usually a lot quicker, but often leave some rabbits underground.

Both sexes have their advantages, but I find that working a hob with one or more jills, depending on the warren size, is the best method.

Jills will need attention when they come into season between March and August, and if they do not receive relevant attention may well not live a long and healthy life.

Hobs, when they reach sexual maturity, are inclined to fight other hobs, and this can result in serious injury or death.

However, two hobs (preferably siblings) can often be kept together without fighting, provided that neither is used for breeding. There is, of course, no assurance either way, but if two castrated males are kept together they are very unlikely to fight.

About the author

Simon Whitehead

A Suffolk-based professional ferreter and rabbit controller, author and Shooting Times contributor, Simon is known widely as The Ferret Man and acknowledged as the last full-time warrener operating in Britain. Born in Middlesbrough in 1968, he moved with his parents to Suffolk in 1984 after the collapse of Cleveland's steel industry, and turned a boyhood fascination into a business in 2001, demonstrating ferreting at country shows nationwide through the summer and controlling rabbits in rural and urban East Anglia through the winter. Simon has become ferreting's premier demonstrator in the UK, sits on the Shooting Times expert panel and writes regularly for the magazine. He is the author of four books, including Ferreting: An Essential Guide, published by Crowood, and Ahead of the Game, celebrating wild rabbit as food, and has appeared in television programmes on rabbit management.

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