House Ferrets

 

 

This article is for anyone thinking about keeping ferrets as house pets it is based on our ferrets and as such is a guide, some people have said there ferrets chew ours never have. We let five ferrets have the run of the house even when we are out which can be up to ten hours, and one in a cage because his new and is not used to the other five yet, we put them in a cage at night so they can have there meat, they have biscuits during the day, and we are not totally mad we do like to sleep but this is not how most people keep house ferrets, the norm is a cage indoors and let them out when you are home, like our new ferret, Whichever way you chose great care must me taken for the safety of your ferrets.

Young children

If you have young children it may not be possible to let the ferrets have the run of the house and supervision of ferrets and children in one room may be best, young children may hurt your ferret, and the ferret may nip the child if its in pain from being squeezed. My daughter was seven when we got our first ferret she knew not to open a door to the outside without great care and a small bump in a rug was not to be stepped on.

Kitchen

The most dangerous room in the house, all appliances such as the fridge, freezer, washing machine, tumble dryer, cooker and dishwasher must have wire put on the bottom or around the motors to stop ferrets getting to any hot or moving parts if you intend to let your ferrets have the run of the kitchen. If you have a wash basket in the kitchen when you take out the washing check there is not a ferret asleep amongst the washing and when you put it in the machine check the machine is empty and if you take your eyes of the machine for a second take that washing out and check again ferrets can be that quick, I know I sound paranoid but if your small ferret falls out of the machine dead you well regret it for the rest of your life, and it has happened, the same goes for the tumble dryer and dishwasher also make sure you do not shut them in the fridge, I think my ferrets have an alarm on the fridge they appear whenever I get something out and try to get in. Ferrets can get into kitchen units though holes for pipes plug the holes, I left the knife and fork drawer open and our ferret got into our sink base unit, into the drawer then on to the top and pushed everything onto the floor glasses cups the lot they had great fun, luckily none of the ferrets got cut when they got down. Ferrets have been known to eat washing powder keep it and all chemical cleaners out of the way. Or you could keep the ferrets out of the kitchen?

Toilet and bathroom

Keep the toilet lid down I have not had a ferret in the loo but then I keep the lid down, if you have a bath let the water out, ferrets can swim but not forever, some ferrets can be addicted to soap keep it out of the way our ferret took a bar of soap away ate some and made himself very ill, ferrets can climb ours got up to the shelf and knocked everything off including the mirror luckily they didn't get cut so now its all in a cabinet.

The rest of the house

My daughter's room is of limits to the ferrets unless we are in there with them there are to many things stacked up that could fall on a climbing ferret, if you do not want your ferret to get to things its got to be two feet high and smooth if its material they will climb up, if you do not want your ferrets to make a hole in your settee and use it as a bed fit hardboard to the bottom. I have never had any electric cables chewed but I do tend to turn of sockets with appliances in. if you get any deliveries be careful where you put the boxes I put some boxes in our kitchen and our albino jill Titchypud got on top of the work top where the gerbils cage was, I walked in and saw her in the cage I expected blood and no gerbils, but Titchypud was sitting up one end and the gerbils up the other, that was a spot of luck, ferrets like to eat foam rubber, rubber bands and balloons and it could make them very ill with a blockage, put it away, if you leave plastic bags out for your ferrets to play with, cut the handles they can get them trapped round there neck, and most important put any pills in blister packs in a box, ferrets love to chew them which could kill your ferret if they eat the pills.

Carpet scratching

Ferrets do not scratch carpet just for fun, its because a door is shut or the gap under the settee is a tight fit, so in there mind if they scratch the carpet the gap will get bigger and it will be easier to slid under, as we let our ferrets have the run of most of the house its not much of a problem for us, for doors Nail clear plastic carpet protector just by the door, and for things like beds and settees make the gap bigger by putting something under the wheels or make the gap so small the ferrets will give up because there is no gap, we have found ferrets will not waste there time scratching when there is no hope of getting under something, unless they know it's a room, then they can be persistent.

Litter training

I always disagree with people who will happily say to someone who is thinking of taking on a ferret, of coarse ferrets can be litter trained just like cats, its not that simple, cats will run to the kitchen to go to the loo, a ferret will not. When we had two ferrets we had two litter areas one up one down and very occasionally they would make a mistake, now we have six ferrets we now have five litter areas, they all like different places, the trouble is when one makes a mistake there could be five more on the way as they will go in the same place, the main problem is the front door it is a common area for ferrets to go to the loo there because it's a way to the outside, if you can, fit a litter tray to the door that unhooks, no good if the door opens on to a wall like mine, but on the whole they are not that bad there poo isn't as disgusting as dogs or cats its just that if you're the type of person who can not deal with the odd mistake a house ferret may not be for you it may be better to keep them in a cage and when you first wake them up they will go to the loo within a few minutes in the cage and then you can get them out to play with them but keep them under supervision if they go to the loo. As far as litter goes I use paper with five ferrets they need room for them all to use an area they start at the corner and move out, it is cleaned daily if it wasn't they would move onto the carpet. Some people use cat litter boxes some ferrets like it and some ferrets like to dig litter out of the box. You can get triangular litter boxes that look lovely in the corner I got two, they're somewhere, probably in a cupboard, but as far as I am concerned they are hopeless I have a male ferret as big as the tray, have you ever been to a school fate and had to use the infants toilets not very comfortable is it, it's got to be the same for a ferret trying to put his bum into a triangular box and that's the big one the small ones are only good for a hamster so if you want to use a litter box get a large square tidy box and cut a doorway on one side it will not look as good but at least the ferret well have room to manoeuvre.

Is it all worth it

Well yes it is, very much so, people are close to cats and dogs because they share there home with them the same goes with ferrets, you get so much more from them, when you live with them, we let our ferrets out in the morning and they play with us and each other for two or three hours, if we put our shoes on they all run to the door because they know we are going out and they want to come with us, we walk them in the park and some walk round the park that's well over a mile, or down the high street, most people think the ferrets being out is great, take Stumpy a female, she lays on my trainer when I'm putting them on, or grabs my leg, I think she thinks she will get a better chance of being taken out. They love going out and if they didn't I wouldn't take them. When I come home from work, Titchypud and her sister Crystal usually come running down the stairs to see me, while I am writing this article on my computer Titchypud is sitting on my shoulder licking my ear, why don't ask me? But she's happy, and it makes living with ferrets special, when its lunchtime they sit on the settee and share some chicken. In the evening they all start to come down and lay in the living room with us, we lay on the floor and stroke them, then later we put them in there cage and they get there meat. It was defiantly worth the work of ferret proofing our home, we like living with ferrets. If you have a special home, you could to.

Thanks to the ferret crew

Fidget, Mousey, Titchypud, Crystal, Stumpy and Oscar