Q&A: Getting a Pet Ferret? Care, Names, Information? (just verifying and need advice, first timer)?
Question by : Getting a Pet Ferret? Care, Names, Information? (just verifying and need advice, first timer)?
Okay so it is almost my 16th birthday and I have asked my dad for a ferret. Now he has said he will think about it but I have informed him of some things that I’m hoping you can clarify for me. If you don’t know anything really then feel free to leave name reccomendations (I’m thinking it will be a male (i want it to be) so yeah).
Okay so I’ve said that Ferrets can be litter boxed trained. I’m sure this is true as I have read up on how to train them. It seems fairly simple.
I told him that I will keep it clean (he’s afraid of it stinking REALLY BAD and I’m sure there’s a way to keep it from smelling horrible ALL the time. I was thinking to bathe it weekly? or every other week, I don’t want to dry out his skin, ya know).
I know that they must be in a ferret/baby/puppy proofed type of area so they don’t get into trouble, I’m thinking it’s playtime will be in my room so I will place rolled towels under my doors and make sure the area behind my bed is closed off (My bed has no underside to it.) and I will make sure to have small objects picked up and a litter box placed in a corner or convenient area of the room.
I will walk it every day after I walk my dog (I don’t want to let my dog around it unless when I introduce him they get along okay, but my dog is iffy so I will be VERY cautious).
Now here’s one of my concerns:
I will be visiting my mom, who lives a state away, quite often on breaks and during summer so I’m thinking a small dog travel crate (or cat carrier) will work fine while travelling? and if I am only staying a maximum of a month (minimum of a few days to a week) I was THINKING that *maybe* I could just get a small cage to bring with because it will be hard to lug around a large cage. And keep it in a small cage while I’m there, frequent walks and supervised play-time to get his energy out. I will even take him when we go for short car rides or what-not if I have to, until I earn enough money to buy a whole other cage to keep down there. Good idea?
Now I have read they can eat kitten food, would adult cat food work good, too? What do you reccomend? Wet dog food, wet cat food, wet kitten food, or ferret food? Or a specialized diet of real meat and veggies from the kitchen? How much would he eat when he’s an adult (like 2 years old)?
Also how do you clip their nails? Do they have special nail clippers for ferrets or do I use small dog/cat clippers or human nail clippers? O.o
And I read that you should clean their ears out with a q-tip, but I was thinking since it’s not even a good thing to clean your own ears out with a q-tip (you should use a wet cloth and wipe the edges of where the wax build up is) should I just use a small cloth instead? I know q-tips can lead to infections and get cotten stuck inside and I wouldn’t want that happening. I want a happy healthy little ferret (:
Okay so just let me know everything you have to offer advice on and I would *Greatly Appreciate* it!
THANK YOU SO MUCH! 
You guys are fantastic!
I know they aren’t rodents. But they’re often placed in that same category because they are small and it’s the closest thing they had in the Yahoo Answers categories, so sorry about that.
Also I know they are sociable, but my father will not allow me to have two. I’m sure I can find some people who also have ferrets and get them together for like a play date or something. One of my old friends had a single ferret and he was really nice and seemed perfectly fine. Although my friend was dumb and brought him to an unproofed house and the ferret crawled into a heating vent (they were not paying attention) and died.
Don’t worry, my ferret will be perfectly supervised at all times and be socialized.
Thank you for the food information, I was really confused on that because so many websites had varying answers to that; some said that kitten food was the best and some said that dog food worked good while other sites said that using ferret food was the best option.
Also I have like two months t
Best answer:
Answer by Flickyrat
Ferrets are not rodents, they are mustelidae, related to weasels and they eat meat. Do more research! Ferrets for Dummies is a great book.
Secondly, ferrets are social, its cruel to keep just the one alone, you’ll need at least two.
Ferrets can be litter box trained but its time consuming and they are rarely 100% perfect. My boyfriend has 3 and 2 use the litter box maybe 75% of the time, the other one is terrible and always misses the box, and he spent months training them.
Ferrets have a strong musky smell…its just part of the animal that they are. Washing them makes the smell worse as it overstimulates the oil glands in their coat…just like some people get greasy hair if they wash it too often. You shouldn’t bath a ferret more than 4-6 times a year.
As long as they are kept cool and have food and water in the car they’ll be fine.
Ferret food is best…Natural Gold Ferret or Evo Ferret are the two best brands. If you can’t get Evo ferret Evo cat is also good but NO OTHER CAT FOODS ARE SUITABLE! Cat foods are NOT high enough in protein for ferrets. Again you need to do more research. A raw meat diet is better if you want to go this route http://www.holisticferret.proboards.com/index.cgi Fruits and vegetables should NOT be fed to ferrets, EVER.
Good quality small animal or cat nail clippers are fine.
You can buy ferret ear cleaner which loosens the wax and then scoop it out with a piece of cotton wool rather than a Q tip.
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
Please do as much research as possible so your ferret can have a happy, healthy life. These active little guys are relatively high maintenance & it would take a lot of space to tell you everything you should know. Here’s some info to get you started though:
Yes, ferrets can & should be trained to use a litter box. Before trusting them with a box outside the cage, they need to learn in the cage. This can be a challenge though. It was more difficult to litter train our ferret than it has been for cats, rabbits & rats. You’ll need a litter box that you can securely attach to the cage or your playful ferret will keep knocking it over. It may also be hard to get him to view the box as a toilet & not a digging opportunity. Place the box in a corner where you’ve noticed that he prefers as a bathroom. While he’s being trained, keep the cage *extremely* clean (you’ll need to spot clean a few times a day) & place some of his excrement in the box so he gets the idea. Yesterday’s News is a good litter box filler.
Even descented ferrets, especially males have a distinctive odor that somne people can’t tolerate. We got used to our girl & as long as she & her habitat were kept clean it was no big deal. We bathed her every week or 2 but I’ve learned since then that too frequent bathing isn’t good for them & can actually make the smell stronger. Keeping the cage clean goes a long way to control odor.
Ferrets can eat kitten food if necessary, but a premium ferret food for the specific stage of life is better. Don’t use adult cat food or dog food. If you must use kitten food, get the highest quality possible & don’t use it long term.
When you visit your mom, the best thing would be to keep a fairly large cage @ her house if possible. You can bring the litter box & other accessories with you, or have a 2nd set that stays with your mom.
Here’s a trick to make trimming claws easy: Put a couple drops of Ferretone on the ferret’s tummy, clip a couple nails while he’s licking up the treat, use a couple more drops, clip another couple of nails, etc til you’re done. Ferretone is also great for litter box training. Use only a couple drops @ a time so you stay under the daily max.
As for names, you might wait til you get to know your ferret & choose something that fits his looks or personality.
Ferrets aren’t rodents, by the way.
Ferrets are hard to litter train but it can be done. It may take a while though and they may poo all over their cage and your room until they are litter trained.
To keep smell down. Never bathe it. The oils on their skin is what smells. When you bathe them you are removing those oils and their bodies go crazy and produce even more oils.
Feed them a high quality diet. Raw and whole prey is best. Raw and whole prey fed ferrets do not smell. This website has tons of info on raw and whole prey
http://holisticferret60.proboards.com/index.cgi?
And clean up their poo every day.
Towels under your doors will not keep them in. Here is what I did
http://s833.photobucket.com/albums/zz258/ctam12345/?action=view¤t=ferrets006.jpg
I taped coroplast to the bottom of the door. You can get coroplast at most sign stores. You can also use cardboard or anything sturdy.
Ferrets do fine traveling and a small cage is fine as long as you let them out for at least 3 hours a day. You can get a collapsible cage too. Like this one
http://www.ferret.com/item/marshall-mini-mansion-ferret-home/650716/
Or you could get a playpen
http://www.ferret.com/item/marshall-ferret-playpen-11-panel/650889/
They cannot have cat or kitten food. They ideally should not have any kibble. Kibble is not biologically appropriate and causes a lot of health problems like dehydration, insulinoma, dental problems, etc. You should really look into raw or whole prey. Even if you supplement kibble with raw or whole prey that would be ok. Do not feed veggies, fruits, grains or anything other tham meat, eggs and fish. Ferrets are obligate carnivores. If you feed kibble ferrets need to have unlimited access to food. They will eat more kibble than raw meat. Female raw fed ferrets will eat around 2 oz a day. Male raw fed ferrets will eat around 3 oz a day.
You can use any nail clipper. I use a people nail clipper. Its easiest to have 2 people. One person to hold and scruff the ferret and another to clip the nails. You can also put some fish oil or ferretone on their belly. They will sit there and lick their belly while you clip their nails.
They dont usually need their ears cleaned. If they are really dirty they probably have ear mites.
Since your only getting one ferret you need to be able to spend at least 3 hours a day playing with it to keep it busy.
The holistic ferret forum is a great website. You shoudl do some research.
Please adopt. Its cheaper and you will be saving a ferret. You can look on petfinder.com, craigslist or at shelters and rescues.