Misera1013 Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 OK I know that I saw someone on here that has ferrets, right? Well I'm getting one from a friend who is moving. So this lil guy needs a new home and I talked my hubby into it, lol! Even though we don't "need" any more pets. Oh well! What do I need to know? I only had a ferret as a child and was too young to remember anything. Please help! I really want to give this lil guy the best that I can. I try to do this with all of my pets. (Dog, cat, 2 mice, 6 fish) I think I should open my doors as a petting zoo, just joking. Does a ferret need shot like a cat or dog? Where can I get higher quality food, not junk? Is any bedding better than another? Please let me know! It's Friday,and he will be coming home on Wed, or Thur. Want to have his new home ready for him!! Thank you all so much! Sorry that it was a little off, and not about a bc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixie_Girl Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 I do't know much about ferrets, but I do know you should keep the mice away from it! The person you are getting it from should give you a lot of info. Good luck and post pics! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Misera1013 Posted January 12, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 Note to self "keep mice away". I unfortunitly don't believe my mice will be around too much longer. I know they don't live very long. Aug it will be 2 years that I've had them. Thank you! I will post pics asap!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kat's Dogs Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 i don't have any ferrets, but I do know some about them. They are harder to keep than mice/rats and can get vaccs like dogs can. They need LOTS of attention and can be house trained (also they can learn tricks!). Some people just leave the little guys out most of the day like you would a dog. lots of out-of-cage time is a must. They don't necessarily need bedding, but they do need litter. Here are some Ferret links: 4 pages on great ferret info: http://www.soyouwanna.com/site/syws/ferret/ferret.html A good place to get Ferret stuff: http://www.ferretstore.com/index.html another really good Ferret store: http://www.ferretmart.com/index.html Some "ferret-lingo" http://www.cypresskeep.com/Ferretfiles/Lingo-FUSA.htm LOTS of information on keeping a ferret: http://www.everythingferret.com/index.htm On another note, be SURE that they are legal to own in your area. Some places you can have a ferret, other places you can't. I hope this gives you some good info - it should be fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaska Posted January 13, 2007 Report Share Posted January 13, 2007 All your questions answered at Ferret Central: http://www.ferretcentral.org/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catu Posted January 13, 2007 Report Share Posted January 13, 2007 I've owned ferrets and BC at the same time, the first time the two become the better two friends in the world,and the second time they just signed a pact of mutual indiference. Ferrets are not like a bunny, they need as much care an atention as a 4 month old pup, but by all their life, the good side is that they sleep a lot, so you can keep with your normal live at times . As they are like puppies you have to make your house ferret proof: they can bite, swallow and stole whatever imaginable, but they not use to feel interest in cables. Ferrets are bad climbers, but they don't know it and can climb furniture and a fall of a library can make them real damage. Yes, they can be left to live free, but by their own safety is not always recommendable if your are not there to keep an eye on them. You are adopting an adult so it's going to be a lot easier anyway. I don't know what kind of ferret food you have there, at least in here the one that arrived was not the best branch, so I prefered to food them with premium kitten food (Iams, Innova Feline), but may be there you have better where to choose. Wherever you chooseit must have - protein 32-38 - fat 18-22 - no corn in first 3 ingredients - meat instead of subproducts - no fish Some people give them raisins as praise butI wouldn't recommend it or anything too sweet, even when they love it, at they use to suffer of adrenal problems. And congratulations!! You are opening your house at a loooot of fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donna frankland (uk) Posted January 13, 2007 Report Share Posted January 13, 2007 hi there! my friend feeds hers a mixture of james wellbeloved ferret complete (dont know if that is available over there) and raw food. they need to be taught manners and a soft mouth just like a pup. i 'think' they can catch parvo or distemper but as i dont vax my dogs i cant give you any info on that! also if your boy is not neutered already, i would highly recommend it! male ferts STINK and the op really does help with this also if he is neutered you can think about getting him a girlfriend to keep him company though she will need to be spayed too. depending on what he already knows regarding living in a house, there is much you can teach him! litter box training, recall, tricks etc. have fun with the little lad, i think they are great but for me i will not risk keeping a fert whilst i have bunnies and rats! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrSnappy Posted January 13, 2007 Report Share Posted January 13, 2007 As someone who kept ferrets for many many years, I will tell you the cold truth about ferrets. - they stink. Even when neutered, they have an odour. All the cleaning and washing in the world does not make the odour go away. When I lived with ferrets I staunchly insisted that they did not smell as long as you regularly washed the bedding etc. Now that I do not live with ferrets I must concede that they do, in fact, smell up your living quarters something fierce. - people will tell you they can be litter trained. This is not entirely accurate as I have yet to meet a 100% litter trained ferret. Anyone who has one close to being totally litter trained has a kajillion litter boxes in the house they are constantly rearranging depending on the ferret's newest potty habits. - they are expensive animals. I don't think they were meant to live as long as we like them to, so nearly every ferret in the world comes down with lymphoma or adrenal disease between the ages of 4 and 6. My oldest ferret lived to be 10 and he was the oldest one I ever had (and I had dozens) and the first one I ever had. These things are super expensive to treat. - they are destructive. They will shred your carpets, the underside of your sofa, they can climb into about any hole in your home and will. Anything you put them in, they want out of. They are manic about things made of rubber which they will consume gleefully and it can kill them. They steal and stash your stuff, have the attention span of a flea and require constant monitoring. All my plants had big rocks in them to prevent them from digging in them and all the corners of my wall to wall carpets were torn up. Having said all that, they are hilarious and funny, can be taught tricks, are amusing to interact with and are cute, funny little critters. I would personally never have another ferret, but I can see why people do keep them still. I enjoyed mine, but I also like my "stuff" and my rental security deposits and they ruined both, many times! But there used (maybe still are) these edible things that had a rubber consistency made for ferrets that you could hang from a string in a doorway and mine would spend hours leaping for it and trying to grab and eat them. That was fun. They are fun pets, but much more interactive and demanding than rodents (which people seem to think they are). They killed and ate my short tailed possum, but ignored the mice when winter came and we had a mouse problem. They are talented escape artists. If I had them now I would probably feed them raw, as they are very much carnivores and back in the day when I had them we fed them cat foods. Like dogs, they get rehomed constantly because people don't realize they are not like rats, which you play with for a bit and then put away again. And they live longer than most rodents. It's a sad thing. Do have fun with your new pet, just be prepared! RDM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosefarm Posted January 13, 2007 Report Share Posted January 13, 2007 Here's my not informative, but I thought funny ferret story. My mother never let me have pets, she finally let me have a cat after a while. Well when I was in grade school I came home from school and she yelled at me "Denise you have got to clean your room, there are things beginning to live in there". Apparantly, when she went to take a bath (across from my room) the cat was freaking out and when she happened to look again, a head peeked out -- of a ferret. Scared the crap out of her at first -- she thought rat, my room really was quite messy. But I kept him for quite a while, he would steal clothes, whatever caught his fancy, pretty cool. It turned out to be the neighbor boy's 3 houses down. And of all places descended into my messy room. After returning him, I did some intense cleaning and found a nice stash of ferret poop under my bed --Denise Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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