Ferretopolis is complete! Bow down before its glory!

http://members.cox.net/tlaloc26/personal/cage/

TlalocW

Ferrets are great.

Debbi

Very cool Ferretopolis!! Well done!

if you dont mind....


my daughter (age 12) thinks a ferret would make a really cool pet. How difficult are they to care for?
Can they be litter trained?
Do they chew furniture?
Do they smell bad?
Do they get along with other animals? (we also have dogs)

They are not very difficult to care for. Probably on par with a rabbit, except that you'll need to give it a bit more interaction and a couple of baths a week. They are good escape artists too-best to have them wearing a harness with a bell attached when they're out of their cage.

No, they don't chew furniture (not in my experience anyway). remember-they're carnivores; more closely related to dogs and cats than rodents. They'll chew what a cat will chew.

They smell bad only if they don't get a bath every week. I used to just leave some water in the tub after a shower, suds up my ferret Ravi Stinkar, rinse under the tap then quickly towel him dry. Giving a ferret a bath isn't much of an ordeal-it took only a few minutes three times a week.

Not many cats like ferrets, but dogs do. My collie loved to play with mine. Another friend had a chihuahua that simply adored her ferret. Just supervise them while they're together.

They make good pets for children that age as long as the child has time to play with it daily. Also, two ferrets are better than one if you don't have a dog (they keep each other company during the day). Ferrets are hardier than rodents and have tons of personality.

Good luck!

:hi:

They can be litter trained although every now and then they'll just go in a corner because it's more convenient. I've never had trouble cleaning it up, and the smell can be gotten rid of easily.

They do like to chew things sometimes. My last ferret loved to take my Dr. Shole's insoles out of my jogging shoes and chew on them so I had to be careful to keep them out of her reach as she could bite off a piece and swallow it and have it tear her up inside. There are edible chew toys available for ferrets and daily crunchy snacks you can give them.

More than that, they like to dig at things - they're natural burrowers so you have to be careful when sitting down on the couch, etc. because they could be under the cushions.

Most ferrets are descented. With my last ferret, I only needed to give her a bath every two weeks, but that may have been because she was pretty small for a ferret. Just sniff them, and if their funk is overpowering, it's bathtime, and you can work out a schedule then. They also have ferret perfume in spray bottles that you can hit them with in between bath nights.

Ferrets like other animals - for the most part, but not all animals like them. Supervision is necessary.

The other thing you have to be careful about is when you have nippers/biters. Right now, these three bite quite a bit - partly because their last owners had five kids, and they might have been wild around them, and probably because I've had them less than 24 hours, and they're probably just getting used to everything. Ferrets also do a little war dance where they make dook dook dook sounds and open their mouths - that's an invitation to play, and you might get a play bite or two, but it shouldn't hurt. They also like to attack feet. As far as I can tell, ferrets are playful throughout their entire lives unlike a lot of other animals who calm down when they get older.

And the one thing to remember is never underestimate a ferret. If you think that a ferret can't do something or get somewhere, you'll find out pretty rapidly how wrong you are. They're pretty intelligent, but more than that, they're stubborn, and they won't quit until they achieve whatever it is they're trying to achieve.

TlalocW

I have some for shelving and the corner pieces are impossible to get on. Great job!

And got an apartment, I got a bunch of those and made a seven foot by seven foot entertainment center. I own a house now so I took most of them apart but kept a couple together for shelves in the computer room then I found plans for ferret cages on Ebay made out of these. That's how I made this sucker (with a few improvements of my own).

TlalocW

of five. I'm hoping I didn't waste my money. Congratulations to your ferrets on their new home!