Devil Rat Must Die!!!!!

[Charlie]

Hello everyone!

My daughter begged and begged for a ferret for her birthday and being the softhearted sucker that I am I went and got her one.

We got it a nice big cage, a huge cage as a matter of fact and toys and the whole nine yards and she loves it. I have to admit that I kind of like it too, at least when its not scratching at its cage, following me around the house biting my feet, destroying my carpet, hiding my shoes and killing my houseplants.

I am not the kind of person that adopts an animal, takes it home and then decides that its too hard to care for and takes it back. I have always hated that so I need to find a way to train this little thing before one of us dies. I know that he cant stay in the cage all the time so we take him out so that he can get som exercise and when we do he ALWAYS finds a way to escape from sight and after a while we end up giving up looking for him. Then I end up waking up with a ferret in my face and a trashed house.

Anyone ever have one of these little buggers? Any tips?

Charlie

 

[kraken]

All I can say is welcome to the world of owning a ferret! I have 2 and they both are the same way.I have learned to keep anything important put up,and I keep my inverts in a closed room that they can not get in.

 

[Khaz Rhoz Zek]

Though this is a bit off topic and contraversial considering the subject matter, you should probably get another ferret or even two. It is vital because they're highly social animals and you simply won't be able to give them the same interaction another ferret could. Furthermore, having multiple ferrets could potentially would reduce the amount of time you would have to have them out since they would be able to interact with each other instead.

 

[Barbedwirecat]

I agree they are very social animals, Honestly I had one at one point and she did the same things, and I got her a freind and she calmed down (you know in the ferret world of calming down) It can be difficult to train a ferret but I would suggest getting a book and alot of peanut butter. Thats how I trained mine. Low fat healthy peanut butter BTW, otherwise you'll have fat ferrets.


You didn't say how old it was. Ferret babies are the spazzyiest biteyist little creatures sometimes and if its still a baby then your answer might lie there. Start training soon and you will have something you can actually work with when its older Good Luck.

 

[Charlie]

Thanks

I am not sure that I am ready to go and get another one of these little things just yet. Thank you for all your tips, I think that I will go with the peanut butter thing. I have alleady looked into some books.

I am pretty sure that mine is a adult. But I will work with him anyway. Maybe I can tame him down a bit.

Thanks again all,

Charlie

 

[Kasha]

I hate to be a downer, but I have owned a total of 9 over my life and only one was a good pet. I try to dissuade people from getting them unless they have experience with them or the lifestyle to keep them, ie LOTS of time. Ferrets take a special kind of person, alot like herps and inverts. You have to be ok with having poop to clean up, since they never really litter train completely, having your rug torn up since they love to tear it up (usually trying to get in or out of someplace) and require alot of time.
You have to bathe them, clean their ears and clip their nails all very frequently. About twice a week.
Contrary to what others feel, I would hesitate to get another. Especially since this is your daughter's pet. Make it work with one, before getting another.
You can train them to a small extent, but that takes forever and ALOT of patience. Like nailing jello to a tree someone once told me.
We had a room for them and when we let them out they got to tear it up. Confinement is your best bet. Small area of destruction instead of big. And it makes it all easier to deal with once you fall in love with it. I think thats the key, you love them so you tolerate them.
Good luck!

 

[Bill S]

My wife and I used to keep ferrets. The one you describe sounds like a typical, normal ferret. That's the way they are. You may be able to modify a few details of their behavior - but no amount of training is going to change the basic ferret personality. We ended up building an outdoor enclosure for them, which they loved and prospered in. We could go into their enclosure and play with them or bring them into our house when we felt up to the challenge.

The enclosure was sort of like an aviary. They had a couple well-insulated nest boxes, a large planter with bushes and vines in it, and a pile of small logs and heavy branches. They could climb and explore to their hearts' content. They shared this enclosure with a large striped skunk, and all got along quite well.

By comparison, when we kept them in the house there was a great deal of frustration, similar to what you are describing. They get into everything, have way too much energy, and can do a lot of damage if unsupervised. (Lost my first waterbed to one that liked the feeling of biting soft plastic - came home one day and it looked like someone had gone from one end of the waterbed to the other with a threadless sewing machine.) And keeping a ferret locked up in a small cage isn't fair to the animal either. I really like ferrets, but would not keep one as a house pet again.

 

[Dragoon]

The key to ferrets is to ferret proof (hah!) ONE ROOM for them to play in. Giving them access to the whole house is asking for it to be trashed. Its what they do.
Keep in mind they can open zippers, pull out drawers, untie things and climb or jump up better than you'd ever expect them to. They spend their entire waking moments figuring out how best to reach the areas you've made out of reach. And a ferret NEVER gives up. They will keep trying until they die. Its one of the admirable/hateful qualities that they have.

For people who 'get' ferrets, they are great, for others, they are Satan's spawn. If you are proactive and have a strategy for containing the ferret, you will enjoy it more. Don't let it just roam!
D.

PS, the males are nicer, IMO. As they age, they get real fat, lazy, and cuddly. Generally.

 

[diadematus]

Though this is a bit off topic and contraversial considering the subject matter, you should probably get another ferret or even two.

Even three or four, perhaps.

 

[Kriegan]

LOL!! Just why not start a collection so they can entertain each other

 

[Drachenjager]

weasles are not good pets IMO