Ferrets, often considered a rare pet to own. Most
individuals choose dogs, cats, birds, or fish to complete their
family, however a select few turn to the ferret for its social,
playful, curious qualities. Ferrets love to play and explore not
only with others and their owners, but also on their own. For
this reason, you need to know a few things on how to take care
of a ferret.
First, you will want to ferret proof your home before you
introduce them as pets. They will crawl into walls, furniture,
and anywhere they can get their little bodies. It is much like
childproofing a home for a baby. You will want to make sure all
of the dangers are eliminated when you allow them out of their
cages for playtime.
Ferrets are also biters. The kits, baby ferrets, tend to bite
more. You can eliminate the problem or tone it down with
frequent handling. It is a sign of their behavior as mock
fighting or sparring. The younger ferrets tend to bite more when
they are teething and do not mean any harm. For this reason, you
will want to handle the ferret or ferrets as often as possible
to help reduce the biting behavior. Often those who do not take
the time or patience to train their ferret end up leaving the
animal in its cage and thus it has a shorter lifespan. Please
make sure you are up to the task of training a ferret before
brining one into your home. Trained properly they can be as
great a pet as cats or dogs.
A ferret’s lifespan is usually six to ten years, however proper
care and feeding can lead to a little longer life. Ferrets are
carnivores so they require a high protein diet. Most owners
decide to feed their ferret’s mice, rats, rabbit, and other raw
meats such as chicken. Stores carried other types of ferret food
that many owners choose over the live food. Carefully reading
the label will tell you if it has the proper high protein diet.
Most kitten food can be used for example because it is designed
to be high protein and fat for growing cats.
While play is an important part of your ferret’s life so is
sleep. Most ferrets spend fourteen to eighteen hours a day
sleeping. Part of sleeping is to rejuvenate them from the active
play life they have. They love to explore and to play with toys.
Many pet stores have toys for ferrets, or you might have
something around the house that your ferret will find appealing.
The type of cage is important. Ferrets tend to be very smart so
you will need a cage they can get plenty of air, but small
enough bars they cannot break away. You will also want to clean
the cage once or twice a week depending upon the number of
ferrets you have, how dirty the cage looks. They are also
burrows so some type of bedding is required.
Ferrets are little balls of fur that love to play and interact
with humans and each other. While there are some special
concessions you need to make to have a ferret the results are
worth it. Proper training as a kit will give you even more joy
when they reach adulthood.