I Want a Ferret

Anyone have any experince?

Comments

[vustrunreyth]

Their stinky, hyper, fuzzy noodles. Adorable, cuddly, playful, and very social. If you get one, get two so they have a companion.

[vustrunreyth]

Get you a tiny little harness and take them out exploring. They love to explore. Or at least mine did

[Arkanids]

They are hyper energetic, curious creatures that will find every nook and cranny in your house (even ones you did not know existed).
They have a gland in their body that gives off a bad odor, not overwhelming like a skunks but bad enough that it might put a few people off. (I could be thinking of ferrets though)
If they are not properly trained to use one area as a place to relieve themselves then they they themselves will find one to use as a bathroom.
Have a few toys ready, like I said they energetic and curious, having a few tubes for them to traverse through is preferable.

[Shady Nail]

Males are very aggressive during heat and females can actually die without a mate, due to an overload of hormones.
Their mating ritual is very brutal, seriously it's bad.
When they're sleeping they'll seem very much dead, lots of owners have buried their pets alive due to this.

[Spazz Kid]

I used to have two when I was little, but when me and my family went out for something (I can't remember what ), leaving them to sleep, someone broke in and stole them, along with a bunch of other things.

All I remember is that they were adorable, and I cried for several days after we found them gone.

[Shakespearicles]

Don't.

I love ferrets, but both times I owned them it was a nightmare. Not for any fault of theirs. They're just straight up expensive. If not rescues or second hand, they're about $150US each. They are social so you really REALLY would need to get two. And the (humane) enclosures that are big enough are about $300US. You *can* feed them cat food, but they really need special ferret food which also isn't cheap. Plus other stuff for dietary supplements and enrichment. They need a lot of attention.

As said, they do smell, but as long as you regularly change their bedding it's very manageable. (As in, multiple times per week.) When I had access to an industrial shredder at my old job, I'd go through a whole trash bag of (free) shredded paper each week. Paying for constant fresh bedding gets expensive fast! You can change it as little as once a week, but the smell will be much worse.

Even with a large enclosure, they need to be able to get out for exercise. They sleep 75% of the time, but they have a ton of energy when they're awake. And if they don't get it out during the day they make a ruckus at night. They *can* be litter trained, but you have to be dilligent about the training or else they will just poop in every available corner of your rooms. Usually underneath furniture, like the couch, where you can't find it, but WILL smell it. Which is why you absolutely should NOT get them if you rent. You WILL lose your security deposit to pet stains.

Ferrets are great fun when your homeowner friends have them.
Owning them yourself is less fun.

Just don't.

Adopt a cat if you're lonely.

[Eldorado]

My aunt used to have them, and had very strongly mixed feelings on the whole thing. Basically what everyone else is saying - they're high-maintenance and have a ton of drawbacks that (for her, anyway) more or less negated all the positives. They used to have every kind of animal imaginable, from cats and dogs to every kind of rodent and reptile there is. The only pets I ever heard anything negative about were the ferrets and the iguana that tail-whipped and bit anyone and everyone who came near it.

They're adorable, but I know I don't have the time or the space or the money to deal with them.

[B_25]

5655597

5655593
Good points

A cat it is

[GNSLNGR]

If you want small furry critters, rats are great. They're definitely more chill animals then ferrets, but they make great pets. Real cheap to feed, too since they'll eat just about anything you will with some exceptions. I had a few that lived to be in the 3-4 year range on a consistent diet of dollar store dried fruits, breakfast cerial and bones.

Not really what you asked, but I figured I'd offer the information.

[Eldorado]

5655598
Cats are great. I also desperately want to get a bearded dragon or gecko or some kind of lizard thing. I gave up my pet snake years ago due to a move, and I've wanted another reptile ever since. But, that's a whole different sort of thing from a snuggly fuzzball.

[sykko]

I've never owned any ferrets, but I've personally known a few people who've owned them. They're cute, furry, hyperactive wiggle noodles, but they're also very high maintenance, you have to constantly change their bedding, you have to continually clean their teeth, you need special food for them, they're obsessive thieves that will snatch anything shiny. Also they're weasels, literally they're weasels, meaning they're musky, they have strong bites, can be ill-tempered, will chew through stuff if not watched closely. Plus they can be a bit expensive to keep.

Honestly it's easier and cheaper to get a cat or dog. I know it's a little mundane, but there's a lot of them at your local ASPCA and animal shelters that would love to be adopted.

If you're wanting to go outside the norm a little,maybe get a fancy rat, a gerbil, hamster or guinea pig.

If you're wanting to go the reptile route, stay away from iguanas as they're carriers for salmonella and you can get very sick if it bites or scratches you. If you go with a snake as a pet, I'd say go with a native non-venomous species like a king snake, oak snake, rat snake or corn snake, that way if it escapes you won't be accidentally adding to the already invasive snake population in this country. Florida and the Gulf Coast is lousy with boas and pythons that have either escaped or people dumped them, and they're wrecking the ecosystem. As for lizards, geckos are pretty good.

[DezzarTac]

The Ferret... as stinky as it is adorable.
Seriously, ferrets will back into corners and defecate with their hindquarters airbourne.
A cat was a good choice.