Ferret pix :D

[jonathan512]

These are my little mischievous creatures , the smaller




The darker one in the back is Poncho and the little one is Mia











This big guys name is Lucas and he's a fb Chou Chou



These gal yawning is Missy and she's a loveing little shi tzhu marteese or markeese lol one of those XD

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These are my little mischievous creatures , the smaller one is Mia an the other one is Naboo

The darker one in the back is Poncho and the little one is Mia

This big guys name is Lucas and he's a fb Chou Chou

These gal yawning is Missy and she's a loveing little shi tzhu marteese or markeese lol one of those XD

 

[ascott]

They are all adorable....hey, what is their regularly diet? My cousin lost her brother recently and has his ferret....it is not being taken care of well...very sad because he is absolutely lovable.....she is not being cruel just not much attention and only feeding cat food...and for some reason that just does not seem enough...you know?

 

[pdrobber]

so cute! the last one looks like my Lhasa Apso

 

[jonathan512]

thnx , i usually feed mine cat food 2 lol and they steal food from my dogs so they eat that aswell ha ha i used to feed them ferret food but they didnt seem to like it much =/ i dnt blame em either it didnt look like it tasted good i have two cats and they really liked my cats food lol soi feed them what they like and theyre all pretty happy =) , also they do need alot of attention if the one ur cousin has is sad or gets moody it may be lonely . i started out with just one which was Naboo my older white one and when i got him the previous owner didnt give him much attention and pretty much had him locked up in his cage most of his life so he was always biteing and being not so nice =/ ever since i got the other two though hes changed comepletly hes the sweeted little ferret now i let all 3 of them run around my room and even take them out for some outside time when i have the time ( my backyards ferret proofed and so is my house lol) you can check out my youtube channel and c how they play outside and in my room =) very happy little guys http://youtu.be/-H2LiywsSJ4

 

[ascott]

Lol....see, learn something new everyday! So I guess the cat food is aok maybe I will go over more often to take him out for some lovins.....he is the same color as your first pic....thank you for re-assuring me about the food part

 

[jonathan512]

Np lol just attention and a protein based diet mine steal what taste good so just watch out they're very mischievous XD

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

 

[Momof4]

That was the cutest video! They look like a lot of work. It's so nice you get them outside.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

I have Sugar Gliders and I want a ferret pretty bad, but all I see are too expensive for this old lady...

 

[ascott]

oh maggie, I wish you lived closer....I bet I could get my cousin to rehome the ferret she has at her house.....I know he would have an awesome life with you....ddddaaaannnng

 

[gopherhockey03]

My aunt's ferret actually just had hip surgery! It weaseled (Pardon the Pun ) it's way into the recliner and got stuck while they were watching it =(. They have had to hand feed it the past 4 months and it still hasn't been able to walk so there is no such thing as a Ferret proof house! But she takes cat food and soaks it and mushes it up for them and they go CRAZY over it!!! Cute Ferrets tho! I love the white masks!

 

[jonathan512]

Magie lol I didn't pay a dime for my ferrets ha ha u should check on craigslist I c them for cheap or free all the time there I even got a six foot 3 story enclosure for them for free! Lol I had to drive and pick it and them up of course but the farthest I went for one of my ferrets was like an hour away.I'd take more in but I dnt think I'd have time for more than 3

 

[Floof]

Very cute!!

I'm in love with the idea of ferrets... They are definitely fun, wonderful little animals, but it's just not meant to be for me. The only mammal I've ever been able to really take care of "right" is my dogs.

I'm actually babysitting my brother's ferret, though, right now. He went off to job corps in an attempt to do something with his life, much to the family's relief, but the caveat was that I have to keep his ferret while he's gone. (grumble..) She's a fun little thing, but my house is so far from ferret proof that I can't really let her out much. When she does come out, though, she explores every nook she can, steals any dog food she comes across (she seems to really like their Taste of the Wild--she wasn't such a big fan of the old dog's Avoderm, though, lol), and seems to love terrorizing the dogs. Occasionally my little dog will get gutsy enough to come up and sniff her, then she'll turn around, jump at him, and chase him down. There've been a few occasions, too, where she's come up and tried to eat my boxer's leg... Which is strange, because she's looked at me like I'm a crazy person the last 5 times I've tried to introduce her to raw food (i.e. extra frozen/thaw pinkies and fuzzies on the snakes' feeding days, the occasional attempt with a bit of chicken, and one instance with a live fuzzy mouse which she simply killed and stashed in a corner...), and turns her nose up at anything meat-like... Like the last time I tried the Earthborn chicken wet cat food (literally shredded chicken). Crazy ferret. I would so love to get her on a partially raw/"real" diet (healthy for her, and convenient for me--goodness knows, I already have plenty of mice crammed in my freezer!), but she won't go for it. So she gets a mix of high quality ferret food and high quality cat food, with the occasional pate' style wet cat food, which she loves (since it doesn't remotely resemble meat). Hey, I may not be a good ferret mom, but I do my best to make up for it... Lol.

We actually got my brother's ferret free, too. A customer at the pet store I used to work for gave her to me because her son wasn't taking care of her (should've seen her litter box--looked like it hadn't been changed in months!). Poor girl was on some crappy, fruit-based ferret diet from Walmart, and wasn't in very good shape, but luckily she turned around quickly with an improved diet and a trip to the vet for ear mite meds. (It was after all this that I figured out ferret ownership simply isn't for me, and my brother fell in love and "stole" her before I could start looking for a new home... Heh.) In other words, I agree, keep an eye on Craigslist and the like. You may have to devote some TLC, but you can find some great ferrets in need of a good home without having to pay the crazy pet store prices.

I'm actually considering hunting the local classifieds here, for a companion for Lily.. I feel bad that she doesn't get enough attention. Do you think a second ferret would help? Her cage is plenty big enough for two--it's a converted 5 shelf bookcase... Hmmmm....

 

[jonathan512]

That's great that y'all rescued the ferret they're are alot more ppl than u would think trying to get rid of theyres because they either can't take care of it right or just a number of reasons I got my first ferret naboo (1st in a while I mean) from a guy that was leaving the country and couldn't bring him with him so he put a post on craigslist so he could find the little guy a new home well I answered the call just because it's been like 9 yrs since I last had 1 my uncle brought one home for me when I was little and fell in love with ferrets ever since.anyway I'm 22 now and just wondered one day when I was on craigslist if they had ferrets on here ,at first I was like probly not and I clicked it in and sure enough there was a small page on people selling they'res (some people try to sell them online for ridiculous prices or ridiculous rehomeing fees) and people just trying to get them a good home that's when I found naboo .apparently naboo wasn't taken care of very well because his cage was just disgusting and it looked like he never came out of his cage much on top of that he was not very well mannered compared to the gentle loving ferret I owned in my childhood on top of that he was a biter =O a hard biter at that regardless I took him in and at first was cautious when I handled him just becouse he was so mean lol but then I warmed up to him and handled him carefully watched him as he romed every corner of the house ,he was curious of everything lol my cats and dogs sniffed him but were scared of him for the most part I guess because they didn't know what Tha heck he was xD anyway maybe 2 weeks later I was on YouTube to maybe find out y hes so bitty and how I could train him not to bite anymore well There was some vids that were helpful and some that weren't anyway I learned that they bite because theyre trying to communicate with u and to help make them stop biteing ur supposed to grab them by the scruff of they're neck and his at them (in the wild that's what theyre mother does is what I heard) anyway I was using that technique and it helped a little he was bitting less but I wanted it to stop completely so I heard another thing online that he may just be lonely and that ferrets are good in pairs or 3 is the lucky number sometimes.sooo I checked out craigslist again to c if I could get 1 more ,turned out I found a man that had two for free to a good home and they came with a 6 foot handmade enclosure I just had to pick them up (you just can't beat that ) so I talked to him and was just curious as to y he would want to get rid of them ,he said that he had gotten them for his son but is just to rough with them and doesn't know how to take care of them so I took em in and got me a ferret group. When I first saw them they were just so well mannered and taken care of by this guy they're both just two little sweet hearts. So I brought them home introduced them to naboo and just sat back and watched to c what naboo the terror would do =O and sure enough they started sniffing and just jumping around and playing very cute to watch I could tell naboo was really happy.from then on the three are inseparable and naboo doesnt bite anymore hes very sweet now he pulled a 180 lol so anyway I would definatly recommend getting another ferret to any1 that just has 1 just so he or she has a playmate

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I put them on YouTube playing in my backyard xD it's funny to watch em play lol naboo is the bigger white ferret. Hope u like the vid http://youtu.be/-H2LiywsSJ4

 

[cemmons12]

I didn't read but 2 posts on this thread because I am tired, but we feed our ferret Sunscription Vita Prima Ferret Formula. The bag is yellow with a ferret on the front. We tried other ferret food but this is the only thing he will eat period. I will say that cat food is a poor diet for a ferret. But to each his/her own. But in the best interest of the ferret I had to throw in my opinion, and experience. Hope this helps some! Oh and we get the food at our local Specks Pet Supply store, altho we have found it at a few pet stores so its widely used in Indiana anyways. Have a great night!

 

[Floof]

Jonathan, that's so cool that simply having companions turned Naboo's biting around.

Chris: I've noticed there is a great deal of debate on cat food for ferrets. I believe what it comes down to is that the diets of ferrets and cats are so very similar, what with them both being obligate carnivores. Some say that a very high quality cat food is better than most commercial ferret foods, because there's no regulation on ferret food (aka companies can throw whatever the heck they want in it). Then you have those who believe cat food lacks a certain something, and within this group you have those who refuse to feed any cat food and those who believe a mix is OK... There are those who believe the best course is to cycle through several different foods, to make up for the weaknesses in both cat (not being formulated for ferrets) and ferret (unregulated, and therefore too often dubious at best) foods... And, of course, the advocators of a straight raw diet...

It's been awhile since I read up on the subject, but I did most of my reading over at Ferret.com's Ferret Forum. It was after reading around there that I decided to try the mixing and cycling method. I usually cycle through the 2 highest quality ferret foods I can get around here (8-in-1 Ultimate and Zupreem.. I especially like that the Zupreem has Corn Free and entirely Grain Free formulas) and Primitive Feline Earthborn cat food (Primitive is their chicken-based formula, rather than fish-based which, I've often heard, just makes them smell awful). Sometimes I'll mix a couple of them 50/50 and do that for a couple months. I'll get her Natural Balance Chicken Liver Pate' formula wet cat food every now and then, too, as a treat. (This is actually the only good-quality pate' food I've found so far... All the other high quality wet cat foods I've been able to find are chunky, which she won't touch.)

I wish she would eat real food, though. I still feel like she's missing something, only eating dry food. Which might be a little hypocritical, considering I won't touch raw with the dogs (too complicated. At least ferrets & cats are straight forward... Just plain ol' carnivores.)

To be perfectly honest, if I were you, I'd rethink your food choice. I did a quick google search for curiosity's sake, and here's the ingredient's list...

"Porcine meat and bone meal, chicken by-product meal, ground corn, brewers rice, poultry fat (preserved with citric acid), corn gluten meal, egg product, brewers dried yeast, spirulina, beet pulp, calcium carbonate, dried skimmed milk, salt, ground flax seed, wheat middlings, yucca schidigera extract, DL methionine, taurine, choline chloride, ferrous sulfate, zinc oxide, vitamin E supplement, niacin supplement, sodium selenite, copper sulfate, calcium pantothenate, folic acid, vitamin A supplement, manganous oxide, copper oxide, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement, vitamin D3 supplement, riboflavin supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, ethylenediamine dihydriodide, thiamine mononitrate."

Second ingredient is a by-product meal... Meaning, not the edible stuff--the beaks, talons, feathers, and such leftover after they harvest the meat. Then there's Corn... Obviously, an obligate carnivore isn't designed to eat corn! Not to mention, corn tends to be very hard to digest, and can be a major allergen, especially if it's low-quality (shedding, weepy eyes, itchy/dirty ears are all common signs of food allergies)... Brewer's rice, you have the same problems as corn. I think there was something else bad about brewer's rice, but I can't remember what it was to save my life and my head hurts too much to bother looking it up, lol. Poultry fat, fine. But then you have more corn--the corn gluten meal.

That's just the first 6 ingredients. I see others that bother me (i.e. wheat middlings, salt.. beet pulp is a debatable one even in dogs, who at least are omnivorous), but I think I'll leave it alone at that.

Sorry--I guess analyzing dog/cat/ferret food has become second nature... I used to work for one of those rare pet stores where the owner actually gives a crap about marketing good dog food (as opposed to the bigger profit in crap dog food). Heh. If you take a look at sites like DogFoodAdvisor.com, you can find a lot of articles on dog/cat food and what to look for when choosing a food. (Remember, a ferret's diet is very close to a cat's, so the information applies very well.) The Ferret.com forum also is a wealth of information, and I'm sure you can find great advice on good vs bad ferret foods there. I seem to remember there even being a chart in a sticky thread that gave a basic run-down of common ferret foods--but, like I mentioned earlier, been awhile since I got on there.

As far as it being the only food your ferret will eat... Well... That's a toughie. Those darn critters do have a bad habit of getting addicted to foods that aren't necessarily good for them. (Come to think of it, we humans are really bad about that, too! Lol) I've found, with my boxer (who is incredibly stubborn about that kind of thing), that adding a bit of hot water and swirling it around helps a lot since it basically makes it all taste the same. This is how I managed to get my boxer to switch from Purina One to Avoderm (which she just didn't like much), as well as to keep her eating every now and then when she decided she just wasn't going to eat her Avo that day (like I said, she really didn't like it, but hot water seemed to make it taste delicious. Only reason she stayed on it for so long is that it did wonders for her joint health...).

Heh... Like I said... I may suck at being a ferret mom as far as the attention factor, but I sure do my best to make up for it everywhere else!

 

[jonathan512]

Wow u really do make up for it everywhere else xD that's great you've done some extensive research I keep hearing mixed messages about it also I have 2 cats and 2 dogs they all eat great we dnt get them the cheap stuff anyway I used to feed my ferrets ferret food I forgot what the name was lol I noticed that they kept stealing our cats food and dog food also and they didn't really seem to like theyre food so we stopped stopped buying ferret food and just let them eat what they liked cat and dog food =) bad I know I guess we spoil them a bit but I figured as long as they have a protein based diet they'd be alright plus they enjoy it so I'm bad on the diet part a little xD

 

[Floof]

I still like the idea of cycling through foods, for the sake of making sure you cover all your bases. IMO, food is definitely not an area you want to slack on. It's such a major component to their health, you just don't want to cut corners. Which is why I'm so completely obsessive over it... lol. (And again, I'm sure raw diet advocates think I'm such a hypocrite with this paragraph. Still not going there with the dogs. ... But still trying to convince the ferret that the snakes' mousicles are food. I'm thinking next week I'll try her on one of the BCI's rat fuzzies... Fingers crossed! )

Our little girl will happily steal the dogs' food, too, rather than eat her own--I think it has something to do with it NOT being theirs... I've noticed that same phenomenon with the men of my family. For some reason, stealing someone else's food must make it taste better... And ferrets are shameless little "foragers" (aka glorified thieves) to begin with... Lol

(By the way, I'd also like to note, expensive doesn't always mean good... My boxer's Science Diet J/D hit $70 for a 30 lb bag before my parents finally called it quits and switched to something else, and Science Diet is CRAP. I felt soooo awful when I found out we'd effectively been feeding our dogs a very expensive mix of corn and chicken by-product... And on the vet's recommendation, too!!)

 

[jonathan512]

Ha ha they seem to do what they want sometimes xD anything they can get away with, mine steal things all the time especially when I turn around for just a few moments they run off with my watch under the couch or my bed or try and take my shoe under the bed xD they know they can get away with it because it's soo cute xD mischievous little ones ,I'll need to keep a better eye on what I'm feeding them

 

[Floof]

Lol, they're definitely troublesome! When she gets to come out, Lily will go for anything coated in soft rubber... She especially loves the dog's Furminator knock-off, since it's got a cushy, thick rubber grip. Oh, and anything in a roll--paper towels, for example. When we first got her, there was a big issue with a roll of door screen I had laying around... She'd grab it and try to drag it into the bathroom or her cage. She might get it through the door to the bathroom, but otherwise all she succeeded in doing was unraveling it... lol