Got Ferret ?

Anyone here has or had em as pets ? My cousin is asking me if i wanted one of his packs. I did some research but it thought i ask someone here who has any experience with em.

I have two Merry and Pippin (yes I'm a lord of the rings geek). They are wonderful animals so long as you understand them. They will very rarely cuttle with you like say a dog or cat. Ferrets do 4 things: Eat, poop, play, and sleep. They are like having constant 2 year olds every thing needs to be baby proofed as they can get into jsut about anything I had mine blocked off into one room of my house now they have free roam when out since they have both masted the are of "escape". I reccomend a harness with a bell on it since you can atleast hear them. They need to be out of thier cages atleast 3 hours aday mine get about 5-8 hours depending on my day.

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Originally Posted by Python-77

They are like having constant 2 year olds every thing needs to be baby proofed as they can get into jsut about anything

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Sean that's a great way to describe the little boogers. They are VERY energetic, and love to play and play and play. (did I mention play) Very sweet little critters, but do require a lot of your time and attention. Be sure you have that time before you commit to owning one. I loved the one I had in college.

We have 3 of them! And I agree with the others, they are little boogers. We have had to ferret proof the rooms that they are allowed to run in nightly, and we still do not leave them unattended at all times. They do require close to the same care as a cat, litter box cleaned and changed regularly, they also smell a bit musky, it does go away with bathing, however bathing too often is not good for them. They maintain thier playfulness like a kitten even throughout adulthood.. heck, we have a 11 year old ferret that even though he is grey and silver still runs around like a youngin most of the time. They are also prone to diabetes esp. with age. Also, over the years I have personally had over 12, and I have seen tumors in these animals, currently, our old man has one, it does not continue to get bigger, but it is there and we will not have it removed due to his age, our vet tells us he is the oldest ferret he has seen in many years. They can be very sensitive to anethesia. Also, they should be vaccinated like you would a cat. Most vets use the cat vaccines.... old man no longer gets his shots because everytime it has resulted in a very sick, almost dead ferret, the other 2 have sensitivity issues also, just not as bad, and they still get thier vaccines yearly. Please be sure this is the type of animal you want in your home, they do get into everything, and have odor more than you realize now (wont till you get it home and have had it for a week or so), they can be sweet or nasty. Our old man is sweet and wonderful, likes to be loved on, but Draeco is kind of a snot, he waits till you are not paying attention and runs up and attacks (visciously) your legs and feet and draws blood. Socks is a sweet guy, just does not tolerate loving to well, and usually wants to do his own thing.

Thx for the info folks! Sounds like a real trouble makers! Hehe. I went to see em farrets today and boy they are playfull little buggers. I told my cousin to hold on it until i do my homework and make up my mind.

Do they chew on furniture and etc ? I had to train my cat not to, just wondering if that is possible for ferrets as well.

Mine dont chew on the furniture, but I did have to teach them not to "dig" at the carpet. You can train Ferrets but its not easy and even harder in my case since one of mine is deaf (Merry) and needs visual training as apposed to the boomign voice I can give Pippin when he mess's up.

Mine also had to be taught not to dig up the carpet. And we had to do alot of ferret proofing because Draeco loved chewing on electrical cords when he was very young. And just about the time you think you have something blocked up so they cant get into it, you find out, they actually can despite youe efforts.
SIDE NOTE: Beware they are sneaky...
A few years back, my sister got a ferret, I told her to really watch him and that he should not be out at the moment, well, he met his death inside her wall (we were putting up dry wall) and he got in there cruising the wall and decided to chew an electrical cord. Had to take the dry wall down in one place to get him out, not very pretty.

Whoah! Keeping ferret sounds like a real challenge. But im quite excited about it. I was playing with a young one today and he really cracked me up! They kinda like a cat+dog combo pet. So cute!

Now, regarding them playing, what would be your best advise in telling them not to do whatever it is they are doing wrong i.e. biting cord, chewing carpet etc.? And how long does it take them to learn ? Are they like cats that requires them to be succesfully trained at certain age range (cats can learn alot at around 2-6 months of age)?

There are 2 methodes that work real well one is "time out" when you catch them doing wrong this works well for Merry. If using the time out method you need a seperate cage (small pet taxi works well) this way they learn that the pet taxi is a place they dont like and not there home(cage). The second is the Loud "NO" this can be used alone or with the nose tap, never hit a ferret in the body Pippin responded well the the "NO" w/ nose tap he now responds to just the "NO" in place of the nose tap you can also use the "NO" /w scruff hold (does not hurt them) but gets the undivided attention. They are a challenge but can be very rewarding.

I used the No with scruff holding. Worked good for my guys, 2 of them at least. IMO they learn alot better when younger, I think they get more stubborn about bad habits as they get older. Cause I got one that we cannot let roam the house without someone being right there to monitor him, he is old, and the person that had him before us, left him in a cage with his own excrement all the time with no cleaning, so now he likes to use the rest of the house when given that option. And scruffing does not work, he looks at ya like "yeah right lady, get over yourself". I have tried everything possible, but it seems to be a habit not easily broken now.

When mine are loose another thing I have to watch for is them chewing on the hoses of my 3 canister filters to my fish tanks.

NEVER NEVER NEVER!!!

I would never own a ferret. They are cute and when purchased as a pet deserve adequate care as any other animal, but I wouldn't take on that responsibility. They STINK. I cared for my fair share when I worked for a pet shop and vowed to never make the mistake of purchasing one. To me, their urine has twice the amonia odor of cats. If you do get one though, give it the care it deserves.

Royal - I've had ferrets for 8 years and have never ever had a problem with smell. The smell is all how you keep them. Every pet store I have ever seen or been in keeps ferrets on pine or other wood shavings as a bedding and then have either the same stuff in litter boxes or another kind of bedding in the boxes - this doesn't work very well, most ferrets don't distinguish from one type of bedding and the bedding in their boxes - also ferrets prefer square boxes not triangular boxes.

Biting is easy to fix. Biting is caused from fear, mishandling, or excited/playful behavior. Scruffing can and does work if done properly if not done properly will only cause the biting to increase or have no effect at all. I have had ferrets that were "bad biters" ferrets that would latch onto toes or fingers and draw blood and not let go. Every single one of them, varying in age from a few months to a few years old, was quickly and simply "fixed" of this habit.

Ferrets are great pets! But most people don't understand how to care for them and they will smell and will bite and will tear things up. I never allow any ferrets free roam. Ferret proofing only goes so far - my fuzzies have a special room and a playpen, very easy very cheap. Never had any problems in EIGHT YEARS with cord chewing, carpet scratching, sofa diggin, various other destructive behaviors because I don't give any opportunity for such things.

I've had 5 ferrets in one cage (very large cage, I could fit into it..) plus two cat boxes in the same small (12 x 10) room and no smell. The products used to clean, as bedding, and how often you clean and how many boxes you have and diet all affect their smell. Most foods ferrets are given including Marshall and other prepackaged 'ferret diets' are not appropriate diets and cause more smell because of the increase in ammonia produced. Ferrets have very short digestive tracts, they need a high quality food or most of what they take in is expelled in a toxic mash out the other end.

I know this thread is really old, sorry! I just wanted to say that ferrets, if properly cared for, DO NOT STINK any more than any other animal. And they make great pets. I currently have 2 and will be getting another one as a rescue in a few days.

I have only had mine for a few months and I can say that smell is not an issue here. We keep the cage clean and have no smell issues. We also supervise playtime so that no furniture gets destroyed or cords get chewed. We still have an issue with biting but its all in play and we are currently using bitter apple spray and scruffing to help with this.

They are great pets and we love our little Twitch to death! We plan on getting a ferret from a rescue once Twitch is a little older and we get a bigger cage (Ferret Nation Cage).

I've had mine for about 6 months. They do smell, but its by no means awful. The actual ferrets just smell like ferrets, its not a stink...its just a smell...like a dog smells like a dog. If you clean the litter boxes daily, and wash their bedding weekly, then the smell is extremely minimum. I love my little fuzzbutts! Jay_Bunny I have my two in the Ferret Nation cage and they LOVE it. I'm also thinking about adopting two more from a shelter, I just feel like there are so many ferrets that need somebody to give them a good home...but it may have to wait until I'm out of school. I would recommended to anybody to adopt there's from a shelter (I just didn't know better when I got mine). Most shelters will already have them litter boxed trained (especially ferret specific shelters), they will already have their shots, and they will be out of that nippy baby stage. PLUS...you will be giving a deserving ferret a good home.

Also, www.ferret.com has really good ferret supplies at low prices and $8 shipping no matter what you get....just to let all you ferret lovers know! (I saved almost a $100 on my cage)