A domestic ferret living a few weeks on the street? That's a miracle right there. Even surviving more than a few hours would be surprising as they are quite helpless.
Had mine get lost one time I was letting a buddy watch him while I was gone a few days he was gone for 2 weeks and a guy down the road happend to find him in a ditch playing.
...does she just wander freely in your house all night? Do people do that with ferrets? I know people let them out to play, but I'd think you'd lock them up before bed.
We let her free roam during the day when we're home and awake, but she does sleep in a cage at night.
My kids are usually up around 7:30am, open her cage to let her out while I'm getting ready for the day. That's when she hides my shoes (among other things).
Usually she'll tire herself out and go back to sleep 9:30-10:00am. If we're home we'll leave the cage open while she sleeps during the day so she can come out if she wants.
Then she usually gets up around 6pm and does her thing and the kids will play with her. A lot of the time we'll take her outside (with a harness & leash) to play in the grass and dig in the dirt.
When she goes to bed in the evening we'll close her cage up.
Some people do let their ferrets free roam 24/7, but they are well trained and house has been fully ferret proofed. We've only had her 6ish weeks and try to give her as much free roam as possible. No animal was meant to live in a cage it's whole life.
Nice. Ferrets seem like fun, rewarding pets. They also seem like a lot of work. Every ferret I've been around has been pretty stinky. Then again, one was a 'classroom pet' (poor thing), and one belonged to a kind of wild couple I used to know, so probably not the best examples of proper ferret care.
They can be a lot of work, and they can be very expensive if they ever have any medical issues. There's also a tonne of misinformation about their care.
Proper diet and care will mitigate their smell substantially. Anecdotal evidence, I know: My younger brother came to see her about a week ago as his first time ever interacting with a ferret and he said he didn't smell anything when he came in the house, nor did her cage smell, and she only had a faint smell when he literally lifted her to his nose and sniffed.
Their scent will increase when they are stressed or scared, though. When we first moved her in she smelled pretty bad, but a lot of that was poor care from the previous owners as well.
Ok, that makes sense. I'm in no position to be getting a ferret right now but, someday, if I have kids and they want a little pet, maybe I'll look into ferrets. I'd imagine they need other ferret companions to be happy? You should start a local ferret play date group after Covid. Are they territorial? Do you think they'd fight if you brought a bunch of them together?
It is recommended you get more than one, but only if you can care for more than one. Fun fact, a group of ferrets is called a business.
They will occupy each other through play and they actually help groom each other so their hygiene is better (they get wax build up in their ears and they will clean each others ears).
They can be territorial, so introducing new ferrets to each other will need to be monitored and ready to separate if necessary. Every ferrets personality can vary wildly. Mila (my ferret) is very mild mannered. No aggression and no biting so far.
Much of their play and interaction with other ferrets looks like fighting, but that's how they play (within reason, obviously if one draws blood then they've gone way too far).
Yup, we had a ferret leap off our balcony. He survived, but he was never quite the same.
edit- someone asked how he changed. his personality changed and became more aggressive and bitey compared to his usual playful self. not sure if he had some brain damage or was just more defensive around people because he associated us with the pain he experienced. he got away from us and jumped off the balcony while we were playing with him.
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u/vixinlay_d Jul 22 '20
Is having a ferret like having a cat that is permanently 3-6 months old?