Ferret News
Pet Ferret Care Tips
and Information
By Mary R. Shefferman & Eric Shefferman - along with Gabby, the ferret
www.ferretnews.com

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Title: Thinking Outside the Ferret Cage: How to Keep Your Ferrets Having Fun and Reduce Unwanted Behaviors - Part II
Date: July 15, 2002
By: Eric Shefferman

==> Thinking Outside the Ferret Cage:
How to Keep Your Ferret Having Fun and
Reduce Unwanted Behaviors - Part II
by Eric Shefferman

You can find Part I of this article in our archives:

http://ferretnews.com/articles.html

-- repeating the introduction:

If you're like many ferret owners, your ferrets
spend a lot of the day in their cage. It's one of the
easiest ways to be sure your ferrets are safe and not
getting into trouble while you're out of your home.

This makes it all the more important that when you
let them out for their daily play that you do your
best to provide them with exercise and intellectual
stimulation.

Many unwanted ferret behaviors stem from boredom.
Your ferrets don't know what to do and they settle
on something that annoys you. By keeping your ferrets
active and intellectually stimulated, you'll have
sleepy, contented ferrets at the end of the day.


-- Old toys:
When old toys lose their appeal you can try
different things to make them "new" again.

- move the location of the toy
We are always moving our tunneling toys, as well
as the boxes we have on the floor. A new location
or configuration makes the toys seem new.

- take the toy away for a while
After your ferrets haven't seen it for a week or
so, it will seem new when you re-introduce it.

- wash the toy (if it's the kind you can wash)
This will change its scent and make it seem
new. Note: Some ferrets have favorite toys
and won't like them anymore once they are
washed. So if it's something really special
to one of your ferrets, you might not want
to wash it.

-- Other interesting room amenities:

We like to keep a bowl filled with food outside the
ferret cage. The ferrets seem to think this food is
"special" (even though it's their regular food) and
they love to snack from this bowl. We place our
outside bowl in an open box so that if ferrets dig
food out of the bowl it lands within the box --
helping to keep the room neat and ant-free.

If you've got a "splasher" (Koosh is our splasher),
then you can't leave a water dish in the cage (at
least not without all your other ferrets and their
bedding getting soaked). You can place a dish of
water outside the cage for your ferrets to use. To
help keep the water contained you can:

- place the water dish on a large serving platter
or tray

- place the water dish inside a plastic storage
container or a small kiddie pool that is low
enough so your ferrets can climb in and out

- use a heavy ceramic "chips and dip" serving dish
with the water placed in the "dip" cup -- the
rest of the dish catches the splashes

-- After they've had their play:

Of course, once your ferrets get tired they're
going to look for a place to sleep. We like to leave
blankets in the dark corners (e.g. next to the couch,
behind the TV, etc.) so that the ferrets can curl up
where they want. Ferrets love to take a nap outside
of their cage. Once these blankets are slept on a bit
and have some sleeping ferret smell, they also serve
to discourage ferrets from going to the bathroom in
those areas. A good litter training tip is to take
these "sleep smelling" blankets and use them to cover
spots that you are trying to discourage your ferrets
from using as a bathroom. Creating "nesting" spots for
your ferrets outside the cage can also help you locate
your ferrets when it's time to put them away again. We
have several places we know to look for ferrets at the
end of playtime.

-- And YOU!

You are the most interesting toy for your ferrets.
Get down on the floor and play with them a bit. Pick
them up and cuddle them. Reach into their food bowl
and offer them some food from your hand as a treat.
Ferrets love special attention and many will even do
tricks for their regular food if you are giving it
to them by hand. What makes it so special? You!

Your ferrets count on you to keep them entertained.
And if you take care of them, they'll keep you
entertained too!

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Do you have any tips you'd like to share on
thinking outside the ferret cage?*

Use our feedback form at:

http://ferretnews.com/feedback.html

or send an email to feedbackferretnews.com

with your tips and we'll publish the best ones
in a future issue of this newsletter.

*We've already gotten a bunch of great ideas
and are looking forward to receiving more!
We'll be publishing them in a future issue so
stay tuned!
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