Stoats

[Clive Tee]

Got a stoat taken residence quite near the house, comes out and sits at the entrance to his hole, seen him a few times now. He (or she) is quite big, defo not a weasel. I know nothing about them, so just asking is this a problem or a good thing? Do they get up to anything I need to know about?

TIA

 

[Kidds]

If you have hens they are a bad thing, other than that I think they are a good thing.
Had some here. loved watching them.

 

[Gilchro]

Got a stoat taken residence quite near the house, comes out and sits at the entrance to his hole, seen him a few times now. He (or she) is quite big, defo not a weasel. I know nothing about them, so just asking is this a problem or a good thing? Do they get up to anything I need to know about?

TIA

Of course, you know how you tell the difference.......

One is weasely recognised, while the other is stoatally different



I'll get me coat

 

[Woolgatherer]

If it's got a black tip to its tail it's a stoat. If it's bigger than a rabbit, it could be a polecat. They are great to see (as long as you haven't got hens or kids pets outside!)

 

[Clive Tee]

If you have hens they are a bad thing, other than that I think they are a good thing.
Had some here. loved watching them.

As it happens, we just got rid of our chickens and not replacing them as we've given up eating eggs.

If it's got a black tip to its tail it's a stoat. If it's bigger than a rabbit, it could be a polecat. They are great to see (as long as you haven't got hens or kids pets outside!)

Yes, it's got a black tip to it's tail.

It looks like this one...

.

 

[llamedos]

Great little critters to watch

 

[Dry Rot]

I once kept a weasel as a pet. Fascinating animals. I kept it loose around the house and it would come to call to take scraps of meat from my finger tip. Never got bitten and I never had a mouse in the house! But they are killers. Another time I was having adult hen pheasants killed in a laying pen. Finally caught a weasel (definitely not a stoat and not my pet one) in a Fenn trap and lost no more pheasants. They will easily pass through a wedding ring, they are that small. Got to admire their guts.

 

[Woolgatherer]

Stoats and weasels are immensely strong. I've seen one dragging a dead hare across a road, many times it's own body weight. Determined too, it wasn't going to leave its dinner even though I was there!
Also, I came across one lying in the road one day. I didn't know if it was dead and being a big softie I went to see if it was ok. Luckily I know they bite and touched it with my boot. It jumped up and sank it's teeth into my steel toecap. It took some getting off - they don't let go! A friend of mine stopped to see if I was ok and had a good laugh watching me hopping about trying to dislodge a stoat off my foot.....

 

[Gulli]

Vicious little buggers but no bad thing really love to see them as not many around here.
Our cat brought a weasel home one day and made the mistake of letting go, came home to find them having a stand off in the corner of the dining room

 

[Guiggs]

Stoats (and weasels) are fantastic creatures! If it has a litter than for god sake keep out of their way because the mother won't hesitate to attack you if she feels threatened!!

 

[martian]

Vicious little buggers but no bad thing really love to see them as not many around here.
Our cat brought a weasel home one day and made the mistake of letting go, came home to find them having a stand off in the corner of the dining room

They are related to skunks, we had a pet weasel once, utterly delightful creature (border terrier got it in the end), but it could really stink the place out if frightened. Brave little fellas though, don't get frightened very often...

 

[grumpy]

great things nothing will clear rats out quicker than a stoat.

 

[Clive Tee]

great things nothing will clear rats out quicker than a stoat.

That's good, loads for him to have a go at here.

 

[Y Fan Wen]

Fencing along an earth bank once and a weasel who had her litter in the bank decided that she had to move to a new home. Neighbours making too much noise! It looked exactly as though she was towing a fur glove behind her as the weaselets (?) followed closely behind.

 

[Clive Tee]

Had to stop my car a coupe of years ago as two weasels were having a scrap in the middle of the road. Got out, stood over them, they were totally focused on their wrestling match and ignored me. Went on for about 5 minutes. Another car stopped, he got out to watch the fight. Then they suddenly paused mid-fight, both looked up at us, you could almost see them thinking, "oh sh1t !", one shot off to the left hedge, the other to the right. Wished I'd had a video camera with me .

 

[Dry Rot]

Had to stop my car a coupe of years ago as two weasels were having a scrap in the middle of the road. Got out, stood over them, they were totally focused on their wrestling match and ignored me. Went on for about 5 minutes. Another car stopped, he got out to watch the fight. Then they suddenly paused mid-fight, both looked up at us, you could almost see them thinking, "oh sh1t !", one shot off to the left hedge, the other to the right. Wished I'd had a video camera with me .

I've a series of negatives of stoats fighting somewhere. The pictures were published in The Countryman under the caption "Stoatal Warfare", then used in a specialist book on mustelidae (sp?). Sadly, they are only black and white 35mm so I didn't make a fortune but fun photos anyway! I always kept the Olympus with a 250mm zoom lens in the car in those days. If I find time, I'll try to dig them out.

 

[Exfarmer]

Often out on my byke I see some wonderful sights. In the last few weeks a weasel intently watching something in the grass for five minutes with me 10 feet away. Stone curlews putting on a courtship display and a buzzard feeding on a rabbit. Never happens if I take a camera though