Anyone have a pet ferret? We were just gifted one (a couple was divorcing and neither could keep him) We've had lots of pets over the years, but this is our first ferret. He's super sweet, and thankfully came with a HUGE cage, and lots of toys. You can tell he's been well loved. My girls are SO excited. :love::love:
A family in the next town was getting rid of one and my ds wanted it really bad but I drug my feet. We travel alot and I wasn't sure if I wanted a travelling ferret plus we have an iguana & I didn't know how that would go. Anyway we read alot and watched alot of videos on them and they seem like they are great pets just VERY mischievous.
A teacher at the local elementary school used to bring her pet ferret to school with her every day. It would run around the room and the kids loved it.
We have a ferret we got last summer and my son adores him. Some of the things we've learned: Ferrets are like kittens on steroids, they will play in, on, behind, under anything so keep an eye on your computer cables and such and think about if there is anything that might be dangerous like the back of a tv exposed. You always hear about the "ferret smell" which is musky and actually is pretty easy to get used to. I don't even notice it anymore. What you don't hear about is how stinky their cage can get QUICKLY. If your ferret is litter trained to a pan in it's cage, thank God right now for small mercies. If not, you will need to keep up a schedule of scooping out the poop at least every other day or you'll definitely know that you haven't. Fortunately they tend to back up into a corner to do their business so it's fairly easy to just grab the whole icky pile and toss it. Ferrets will sleep about 21 hours a day happily, so if you or the kids get him out at least once a day and let him run around and play (they love games like hide and seek and chase) and wear him out for an hour or so, he'll probably sleep in a hammock in his cage the rest of the time. Don't bother investing (if you don't want to) in the expensive ferret toys. They are just as happy with a plastic grocery bag, cardboard box, discarded kids toys, anything crackly or that makes noise. Brody "fishes" for the ferret with a toy on the end of a string as one of their games. Be careful of water. Apparently ferrets can drown easily so don't let him in the bathroom unsupervised. They can squeeze those bodies under ANTHING so be careful of places like the kitchen where you have small gaps under the fridge, oven, etc. They are very curious and WILL get under there if you aren't careful (I speak from experience!). They are really funny and clever little creatures. Ours wrestles with our smaller dog (a schnauzer mix, about 22 lbs. but be careful of your dog's prey drive if you have one, sometimes instinct takes over and they get a little too rough). They love games and will be much happier if you actually play with them rather than just let them run around getting into things. If your ferret nips (they naturally play with each other that way) I stopped that the first couple days we had him. Every time he started mouthing my hand, I gently (can't stress that enough, you don't want to hurt them) pushed my finger into it's mouth until it was uncomfortable and he didn't like it. It only took 2 days of that and he hasn't nipped anyone since. Have fun! "Bently" cracks me up. They definitely take a little adjustment time because they are unlike any other pet we've had (and we have a zoo) but they are a lot of fun and are just plain silly.
Oh, forgot to mention, their claws grow really fast and can get long and needle sharp fairly quickly. The claws are not as thick as a cat's though so I just clip them once a month with a pair of fingernail clippers. Brody holds him by the scruff of his neck lying in his nap and I try to do it as fast as possible because they don't tend to want to stay still long
I used to have 2.. Pinkie and Floyd (can you tell what band I was really into at the time!?!). They are great pets! Floyd died of a heart attack when he was only 3, and Pinkie lived to an old age of 8. But they are like 2 yr olds... always getting into things they shouldn't, never knowing if what they are getting into will kill them. Pinkie was great... she was the smaller of the two and would drag our poor cat and dog (a lab mix!) across the floor by their lips! They loved it though! Floyd would constantly steal potatoes to gnaw on and hide them around the house! LOL GREAT pets! Also be careful of sitting down on the couch. They tend to love to get into small cracks and such to sleep and their little bodies are fragile. Also, if you have a way of making sure he won't run off where you can't get to him (possibly get him a harness) they LOVE going outside and digging around. Ferrets are just awesome little things, and one day when my boys are grown and gone I will probably get another one or 2. Oh, and make sure you don't bathe him too often bc their skin tends to dry out and get itchy.
Thankfully we have a mud room that is closed off and he can run around freely to play in there without worry. We found out he did NOT like his bath! lol.
