When people ask me what ferrets are like as pets my answer is always an
enthusiastic one, after all these years I still think that, the ferret is the most
amazing small animal, when people come to shows to see the ferrets they
must think we are totally crazy because of how close we are to our pets, the
ferrets will be shearing our ice cream, tea or sandwiches, licking our face,
or fast asleep on there backs in our arms, all this from an animal that is
supposed to be nasty.
After a late night these
four ferrets decided to
see if a bed designed for
two would fit four, have
you seen anything cuter,
well they are related to
the otter and the badger
so its no wonder they are
cute with that sort of
family connection.
The personality of the ferret is something between a dog and cat they sleep
a lot just like cats, when I say lots we are talking 18 hours a day, but like to
be involved with there owner which can be annoying if you need to get on
with things, I remember drilling a large hole with an industrial drill, of
course the ferrets found this fascinating and started to put there front
paws on the drill to get a better look, I did shut them out of the room for
there own safely, and don't even think of eating off a tray with ferrets out
your food is fair game to the ferrets.
They are extremely intelligent, fearless and inquisitive but get bored very
quickly so you need to keep changing the games you play with them, one
game our ferrets love is giving the bumps in a sheet we have up to six
ferrets on the sheet its just hard enough to make it exciting but not hard
enough to cause injury we stop regularly to let ferrets get on, or off, its up
to them, eventually they stop getting back on, and that's the end of the
game,we don't play this game with the old ferrets, but try that game with
six guinea pigs it would give them a heart attack, every ferret has a
different personality, some are cuddly some more playful some can jump
gaps of 5 feet some struggle with 1 foot, one ferret loves to push crockery
off of tables to smash it, unluckily for us its the ferret that can jump 5
feet, all ferrets love to dig out pot plants, some like collecting things,
I had one ferret that would grab my leg with her paws when I put on my
shoes to go out because she wanted to come out with me, you probably
think we are crazy to live with ferrets but its there intelligence and
mischievousness that make them irresistible.
The picture on the right is
Polo who was eating biscuits
but decided to go asleep in the
bowl, ferrets do sleep in some
very strange places we thought
we had lost a ferret only to
find her in the knife and fork
draw fast asleep there is no
way it could have been
comfortable, sometimes ferrets
go into a very deep sleep, and
are very difficult to wake up
which can be very worrying
when an older ferret does it to you even though we know its something that
they do.
The ability to be silly helps to keep a ferret happy, if you got a house
rabbit and chased it round the house, hitting it over the head with a pillow
or shooting it with a water pistol you would end up with one unhappy
bunny, but ferrets would be in heaven they would love it, unless you took
on a nervous ferret which is normally down to bad breeding, cruelty or
not handling enough when young, I have one but she still likes the bumps.
If you think ferrets are for you after my short description of why we like
ferrets and there is much more, go find a rescue and talk to people who
know ferrets, not a pet shop and don't get them just for the kids, your 15
year old child may like ferrets now, but exceptionally ferrets can live for 14
years so is your child going to want ferrets when they are 29 years old, I
don't think so (that's how Peter and Shirley got into ferrets) and older
ferrets find it hard coming to a rescue, when the kids give up and the
parents can't be bothered, so if you can spend up to 14 years (8 years is
more normal) looking after ferrets and can be silly, (the silly part can be
cut back once the ferret reach's 6 years of age) go get two.
