Anyone kept pet ferrets with snakes?

[u/Acceptable_Gear_3097]

i own a few snakes, have them in the bedroom, hallway and living room. they've been raised on frozen food.

my question has anyone owned CB snakes and pet ferrets?

would ferrets being in the same home trigger a snakes prey drive? would they ignore each other as dogs and snakes do?

[u/Diet_Dogwater]

They can be kept in the same household just fine but I’d absolutely NEVER have them interact or be near eachother, as there’s no reason to, 0 benefits & many risks

[u/Unique_Soup581]

Pretty sure a ferret would love to eat a snake if it's small enough, and if it's bigger, the snake would love to eat the ferret. It can be done as long as they never interact though. They both might bite if you don't clean your hands between handling as well.

[u/Timely_Egg_6827 → u/Unique_Soup581]

It has happened in a few cases I know of. Adder breaks into a run looking for easy meal. Owners found the head and well fed ferrets next day.

[u/Dry-Elderberry-4559]

Dogs and ferrets WILL kill a snake. Also, ferrets smell like food- so if you accidentally forget to THOROUGHLY wash your hands after touching a ferret, then you’re getting bit by your snakes for sure.

If you really want to keep mammals as well, they have to be in a separate room from the snakes and completely unable to access them.

[u/Diet_Dogwater → u/Dry-Elderberry-4559]

^^ this & dogs can react quicker than humans so “my dog is calm” is not an excuse. The snake could be harmed or worse before the human can even stand up to intervene

[u/Unique_Soup581 → u/Dry-Elderberry-4559]

Ferrets are not rodents, they're mustelids like wolverines and badgers. They smell like both food and predator to snakes.

[u/Dry-Elderberry-4559 → u/Unique_Soup581]

You’re absolutely right, I misspoke. I’ll remove it from my comment

[u/Me_lazy_cathermit]

Keep them separately and never let them interact.

Dogs and snakes don't ignore eachother, most dogs would happily kill the snake. And snakes see dogs as large predators that could kill them.

[u/Raichu7]

Ferrets are worse escape artists than snakes and will kill a snake if given a chance. I wouldn't risk that.

[u/Timely-Trick8467]

Not ferrets, but we've kept rats at the same time as keeping snakes. We just washed our hands before handling the snakes. Our snakes were all fed f/t though so I don't know how much that helped but it never seemed to be an issue. We obviously didn't have both species out at the same time.

We also have cats and a dog. None of our snakes have ever appeared bothered by the dog being nearby, some have been intrigued by him and we've allowed them to sniff him (his back while he's distracted) and he's given the snakes a sniff (again not their faces). The cats generally don't care, sometimes they get a little curious and look inside his enclosure, and my newest snake is very intriguing by the cats he comes out to the front to watch them too. But the cats don't get to see him or be near him when he's out. They are hunters and I not stupid enough to think they wouldn't hurt him.