New Ferrett!

[lv4dogs]

Over the weekend my boyfriend brought home a baby ferrett. Oh he is soooo cute! He is white & chocolate? I am not sure of what coloring they call it & we are still searching for a name! He was born sometime late July early August. I was wondering if anyone here knows any ferrett info. sites or strictly ferrett communities. I do know the basics about ferretts but would like to know more so I can properly care for this baby. I thank you in advance for your help!

[Sam's My Baby]

Aww that is soo cute! You are so lucky! :) I want to see pictures!!!:D :D
Here are some websites that might help you:
http://drexotic.com/care_ferrets.htm
http://67.29.152.163/maferretsorg/info/care.html
http://www.ferret-universe.com/care/ferretcare.html
http://www.pathvalleyfarm.com/baby_ferret_care.htm
http://www.ferrets.petloverstalk.com/ferret-care.htm
http://theferretrealm.tripod.com/ferretcaremain.htm

You can also try searching in a search engine (google, yahoo ect.) for more websites!:)

[primabella]

congrats!:D i love ferrets, i have always found them adroable. i don't have any info, but i'm sure those webiste (^) should help. ;) i would like to see some pictures if you have any. :)
good luck with your new pet! :)

[neko1]

Awww I bet he's so cute!!! We must see pics!!! Ferrets are so cool! Good luck with him.

[lv4dogs]

Oh I wish I could post pic's but not yet. Hopefully santa will bring either a scanner or a dig. cam.!!

Well we decided to call him Chaos! We tried Schnookums but he did not respond to it. We have only had him 4 days & he is only 2 months old, already 99% litter box trained & knows how to roll over!

Does anyone else here have ferret's?

[Chinadoll]

Congrats on the new baby!

A must have: Ferrets for Dummies by Kim Schilling

The best ferret resource I've found on the net:
Ferret Central (http://www.ferretcentral.org)

A great community is The Ferret Store's board...many ferret experienced people there.
Neeps' Ferret Store board (http://www.neeps.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=forum&f=10)

My webpage with basic info:
Triple Trouble (http://loyno.edu/~tdomil)

I'll be happy to answer any questions you have, and if I can't answer it, I'll find someone who can. What kind of food are you feeding? Ferrets need a diet high in protein and fat. A good quality food makes all the difference in the world. Plus poor nutrition is directly related to health problems later in life. Stay away from Kaytee foods. Very horrible food. Good foods are Mazuri, Zupreem, Totally Ferret, 8 in 1 Ultimate(NOT the Ultra), Marshall's(although some say because one of the ingredients is fish that it makes their poops smellier), Path Valley, and The Ferret Store's Superior Choice.

You can also feed high quality kitten food. Some good ones are Iams kitten, Eukanuba kitten, Maximum Nutrition kitten(made for and available at Walmart). Ferret food is best but kitten food is also good(but only high quality kitten foods and never any cat food!) It is best to mix at least two or 3 of these foods as ferrets imprint upon foods early in life. If one company changes their formula or stops making it at least you know you can fall back on another food to feed. Ferrets are stubborn animals, if you don't have the food they like they will refuse to eat and get very sick. You should always have food available. Ferrets have fast metabolisms so free feeding is the only way to go. Water bottles are ok, but ferrets will drink more out of a bowl....And by drinking more, it makes their urine smell much less. You can buy a lock on crock for water. That way it is attached to the cage and your ferret can't move the bowl and spill water everywhere.

What else....you should have a litter box in the cage with some kind of pelleted litter(no kitty litter, the clay is too dusty for them) and hammocks hung and blankies on the floor of the cage for bedding. I can give you litter training tips if you need some. I could go on and on. And make sure your fuzzy gets the proper out time everyday in a ferret proof room...at least 2 to 3 hours with 4 or 5 or more hours best. you don't need to constantly interact all that time but they do need the time to excercise to expel energy. Also check out theferretstore.com They have tons of ferret products and they have FREE shipping with purchases over $25 . They have a great selection of cages for much less than petstore costs. The Ferret Store (http://www.theferretstore.com)

Hope that helps! Sorry so long!!

[lv4dogs]

Thanks Chinadoll! Oh your fuzzies are soo cute! I am feeding Marshall food but never thought about mixing due to a company changing ingredients or stopping production. Good idea! I have not yet noticed any ferret food in my area except oncour (does not seem very good?) or marshall but I will look around. He is in a huge 4 story ferret cage w/ litter box w/ newspaper pellets. He has 2 hammy's and a bunch of tubes & balls in there w/ him. I do know they drink more oout of a bowl & we bought a lock on crock well he just scoopes all the water out of it. He loves water! So in his cage he now has a bottle. BUt he shares the dogs water when he comes out! Yup I bought that ferret for dummies book & it is excellent. I am learning fast! I will have to check out that community.

[Chinadoll]

Hmmmm...Never heard of that ferret food. Basically I just compare ingredients and percentages. If they basically match what I know to be a good ferret food(like Marshall's) than I deem it ok for the fuzz. The first 3 to 5 ingredients should be meat based protein and percentage of protien is anywhere from 32 to 38% and fat 18 to 25%. If you can't find any other good ferret foods in your area and you don't want to order on-line, try mixing kitten food. Iams kitten, Eukanuba kitten, and Maxximum Nutrition kitten are used by many ferret owners I know for their mix. I use Maxx. Kitten, Mazuri, Zupreem, and TFS's Superior Choice. The Maxx. Kitten is made for and available at Walmart. The great thing about it is that it has basically the same ingredients of one of the high quality ferret foods and is available less than half the price of the more expensive ferret foods.

I know what you mean about water everywhere. When I switched from the bottle to a lock crock, two of mine were strange. They would knock as much water out as they could and then drink it off the floor of the cage. ick. First I stuck a towel underneath the bowl and secured it with clips to the cage. Then I raised the bowl a couple inches in order to make it harder to get their whole arm and paw in there to knock water out. That's worked for the most part. They still manage to knock a little water out, but not as much as before. You could try having both a bottle and bowl in the cage. Really, it's just preference. I had to switch to bowls because one of the fuzz I took in did not know what to do with a water bottle...still doesn't.

Anywhoo...Good Luck with the new fuzz kid. Got any pics?! ;) ;)