My ferrets

[Samson]

So I was looking through the exotics, and noticed that I only had pics of one ferret! Thats not fair for my other boys so I thought I would post pics of my whole clan...Including the new one I just got today!!
Remy.jpg
flapjack.jpg
Jerret.jpg
Ceasar.jpg
And all of my boys together at "bath time"
Bath time.jpg

Jerret was given to me from a highschool friend that went to Arizona for school, his girlfriend bought jerret for him but he never wanted it and never took care of him! Ive had him for over 6 years, and he is absolutely the most gentle soul possible!

Flapjack was found in a cage with 6 inches of feces and a rotting ferret on the bottom level of his cage! His cage was kept outdoors and he had 6 dogs barking and jumping at him all day and night! He was rescued by a very nice and clean family, but the family didn't know anything about ferrets and she knew it so she was offering him on Craigslist to anyone that knew anything about ferrets!

Remy was also found on Craigslist and his owner was a young college guy that completely neglected him! When we got to his house he quickly tried to get us to take everything and just leave! The cage was FILTHY and disgusting! Remy had a small bald spot on his neck and his head was bald, the guy just said he had a cagemate that was mean and bullying him! Well we've waited for his hair to grow back and he has been actually getting worse! He has lost alot of weight and energy... so we are gonna take him to the vet because its looking more like Adrenal disease, or something else very bad!

Ceasar was given to us by a lady that reffered her to us! The owner was a business woman and travelled alot so Ceasar was left home alone alot and was neglected! He was fed aweful dog food and was allowed to bit EXTREMELY bad because he is deaf! The lady told us "I let him get away with biting because he is Special Needs!" and she had black & blue bruises all up n down her arms!........Well not in my house!!! As soon as we got him we fed him proper ferret food, and started training him not to bite! It was hard and frustrating and hard at first, but we have gone A LONG way! and now he very rarely bites, but still likes to be the alpha ferret (which we are trying to get him to understand that us owners are the alphas!). I do not like any of the ferrets fighting so its easier for them if we are the alphas and not one of them!

[Samson]

Now here is the newest addition to the clan! He was just dropped off today, and is such a cutie pie! He is a porker like Ceasar, and has just the most adorable color! I don't have a name for him yet, but tomorrow we should have one figured out!

new fert color.jpg
new fert body.jpg
new fert closeup.jpg
new fert upclose.jpg

[monmon004]

I was curious about this animal. I wanted to have this in the near future but wondering about their size.
What's bigger? An adult rabbit or a ferret?
Longer than a sugar glider?

[Samson]

Umm... Ive never kept rabbits, so Im not sure the size difference! And yes they are WAAAY bigger then sugar gliders! Suggies are very small and tiny! Ferrets aren't that big they are just very long. They are super energized, but then they crash hard! They sleep ALOT so when they are up they are very hyper, but their energy doesn't last long so 30 min later they will be knocked out again!

[monmon004]

lol
That's funny. I'll definitely get one sooner. Compared to hedgehog, how much maintenance do they need?

[kyla]

They are much harder work than hedgehogs they need loads of training to make them into lovely social animals. I think you also need to be very brave and firm. Unlike Samson i couldn't do it. I took in 2 four month old boys as my girls desperately wanted ferrets and my daughter had been online for months and read ferrets for dummies cover to cover! At first it seemed ok but then i was sitting on the floor and one of them ran up to me and sank it's teeth into my hand! It didn't let go and i was screaming!! After probably 10 seconds it let go, (which is a long time when you have an animals teeth in you lol) I turned to get out of the room and it grabbed my toe. I was bleeding loads!! Later it bit my daughter. To be fair the other one had not bitten at all but i was frightened and knew that i could rescue many animals but ferrets are not one of them!! The other thing I knew I wouldn't like was how much mess they had made in their cages, they mess with everything and move everything!! They like to back into corners to go for a poo and they missed the litter tray also the same with their wee. They like to hide food and even hid it in their litter tray YUCK!!! lol Everwhere they went during playtime took on the smell of ferret!! In fact it was the smell on my daughters dressing gown that made my little hedgie first annoint!! lol My daughter found them too much when they were out for playtime in her room, she had this image in her head that they would snuggle and watch tv with her..WRONG!! lol They did not stop investigating and getting into literally everything. They can squeeze into things you just wouldn't imagine!! Samson has got a great set up because he has a room for his animals but in a normal childs bedroom it was a nightmare!! My best friend has had ferrets for years, she has a very firm and brave personality and doesn't find the bite training a problem, she keeps them outdoors so their cage is set up differently to indoor ones. But even now they occassionally give her a nip. As for the size of rabbits, I have bred dwarf lop, french lop and lionheads. I would think the weight of a fully grown male ferret would be similar to a fully grown lionhead but they are a totally different shape and ferrets can get their bodies into positions that no rabbit ever could!!! I was really sad because I thought ferrets looked like amazing and fun pets but the reality of keeping them is definitely not for me. I will stick with my relatively clean, non destructive, tidy eating hedhehogs lol

[monmon004]

lol
That's okay. I have a room for all my pets.
But when I get my ferret soon, I'll have to find other room for it because I think it'd be dangerous for all my other pets.

[Samson]

Yea, I deffinitely would not get ferrets unless you have ALOT of time on your hands! I have to clean their cage up to 3 times a day, usually twice bit 3 times and it helps with the smell! Their pee is really strong smelling like nitrogen, and if you do not clean it up it will quickly overtake any smell! You need to play with them alot so they don't get bored! Like I said they sleep alot, but once they are up... you better hold on cuz they are gonna be into EVERYTHING!! They like to steal everything and hide it in a specific spot that they like! This includes socks, car keys, underwear, shoes, slippers, hairclips, toiletpaper, umm basically ANYTHING and EVERYTHING they can drag... they will!

They are cute, but they are just honestly not for everyone! Kyla said it right... you gotta be brave and stick with it if you wanna train them! They are not like dogs and cannot be punished for doing the wrong thing! They wiill just give you more attitude and possibly get even worse if you punish them! You have to positively reward them for the behaviors you want! And bite training can take FOREVER...its just something you have to do because ferrets already have a bad name associated with them, and the more biters there are the worse it is for the animal!
When Ceasar used to bite me, it REALLY HURT! It would draw blood from me, and it took forever to correct! He would bite down, sink his teath in, and then begin to toss his head back and forth so that the teeth would dig in even deeper! And they only let go when they want to! Its something that I was terrified of, and honestly almost got rid of Ceasar because of... If my girlfriend wouldnt have been such an animal lover I would have tossed the lil booger out the second time he bit me... but she just couldnt do it and kept pushing me to work with him! Im usually the trainer and have patience for this kinda stuff, but he had some VERY strong jaws and it hurt!!

The corner pooping can be the best thing, but it can also be the worst trait EVER!! Because you always know where their gonna go, but if you let them play around the house, and accidentally forget to check everysingle corner afterwards then your gonna be smelling poop for quite a while! especially if theere if furniture blocking your access to that corner.. well.. you are sh!t outa luck..LOL! Again I must say how strong their poop and pee smell.. it sometimes makes me gag when I have to stick my head in their cage to clean it! I mean EVERYONE gets tired cleaning a cage out EVERY SINGLE DAY! Its just something that I have had to make as my daily duty! if I even skip a day it is too much to handle!

And the maintenece they need compared to hedgehogs is not even comparable! Hedgies are NOTHING compared to ferrets! Even one ferret will keep you on your toes! thats why I just decided to rescue more.. because once you have one, your cleaning all over anyways, you might as well have a few! Its called ferret math... and it can overtake you!

[StanleytheHedgie]

I don't think Ferrets are legal in the Philippines, I've read an article about a lady who was stopped at customs for bringing in her Ferret into the Philippines.

[monmon004]

I don't think Ferrets are legal in the Philippines, I've read an article about a lady who was stopped at customs for bringing in her Ferret into the Philippines.

Can you post a link?
In an article that I have read, there's no action of stopping them at all when they tried to ship a ferret. It was according to the government regulation that ferrets are wild animals. And there's no answer whether it's legal or illegal in the Philippines at all.