Fantastic Fuzzies
Welcome to the wonderful world of ferrets!! I'll be your guide to these loveable pets also fondly referred to as slinkies and carpetsharks. When people find out that I own ferrets as pets, I get a variety of reactions, some negative, some positive. But all of them are very curious as to what ferrets are like as pets.
First I should probably tell you a bit about them, though. Ferrets are members of the Mustelidae family. Other members of this family are: otters, mink, marten, stoat, polecats, badgers, weasels, ermine, and wolverines. Quite a number of people think ferrets are wild animals; they actually aren't. Ferrets have been domesticated for over 2,000 years; as long as the common housecat. Ferrets are very social critters, though there are some that prefer being by themselves rather than having another ferret as a playmate. They have very short attention spans as well, so it's a good idea to have lots of things to keep their interest. Their vision is pretty poor, their sense of smell is fairly good, and they have a wonderfully keen sense of hearing.
Male ferrets are referred to as hobs and female ferrets are called jills. Baby ferrets are referred to as kits. A male ferret's average weight is between 3-5 pounds while a female's is between 1-3 pounds. On average, a ferret will live between 6-8 years. Many have lived as long as 10 or more years. Ferrets sleep anywhere from 15-20 hours a day. Though they sleep a majority of the time, they need at least 2 hours each and every day of playtime outside of their cage in a "ferret proofed" area. I'll go into ferret proofing in a future article.
Ferrets are obligate carnivores and have very specific dietary requirements. Their diet must consist of a food containing at least 35% protein and 20% fat. The first few ingredients must be meat based (such as chicken or turkey) not grain based (such as corn). There are a number of ferret diets available on the market. Ferrets can be trained to use a litter pan just like cats.
Ferrets are extremely curious and mischievious by nature. They are very energetic and playful and will retain this playful nature throughout their lives. Ferrets do have a musky odor which some people find offensive while others don't mind it. This musky odor can be kept down to a minimum with proper diet, grooming, and maintenance of their living area. This info should be a good starting point. I'll go into more specifics of ferrets in my future articles. You can visit my site, Weaselworks (link on page) for info and photos of my ferrets. Oh, and before I forget-the picture on this page is of my ferret Munchkin!! If you have any ferret questions, comments, or stories, feel free to post them on my bulletin board! Ferrets will steal your hearts as well as your keys, socks, gloves, and..oh, you get the idea.