| Violence in Ferrets - CLICK HERE for the Pet Manual Forum Home Page |
| TheDarkTrumpet |
Hello all,
I'm contemplating getting a ferret, because I heard it's a pretty
trainable, and fun to play with (likes to do a lot of stuff). I've
been doing my research, though, and came up with some information about
ferrets that are violent and mean. What I mean by this is a ferret
that will bite someone else, e.g. the master or whomever. This site
recommended that people don't play with the ferret near their head for
protection. The site is:
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Co...S=1&SourceID=43
Now...my question is, how common is a ferret whom's mean enough to bite
others? I was thinking of a ferret that's very friendly with other
people (maybe one at a store like petco since they are in cages around
people all the time. Also, how does one train the ferret not to bite
others (anyone, at all under any circumstances - unless in danger I
guess)?
Thanks for any help.
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| Julianne |
One really should not play with any animal near their face, if they are
concerned about getting bit.
My cat will bite people on the nose, that get too close, and puppies
are notorious for snapping at people. Ferrets are like any other pet,
in that they need to be treated with kindness and respect.
My advice to anyone considering getting a ferret for the first time, is
to go to a ferret shelter and spend time with the ferrets. Ask which
ferrets are best for first time owners, spend enough time getting to
know the various ferrets at the shelter. Volunteer to clean cages and
stuff to learn how to care for them, and then you will learn if a
ferret is a good choice, and hopefully find one that you are able to
bond with.
Ferrets bite for the same reasons that all other animals bite: fear,
illness, lack of human interaction, etc. I have adopted biters that
became wonderful, gentle companions. It's not really a matter of
teaching them to not bite, as it is a matter of teaching them to trust
me, and let them know that I love and respect them, and will never hit
them or yell at them, or neglect them.
Julianne
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| TheDarkTrumpet |
Thanks for the response julianne,
My cats will bite here, to a small amount if I play with them too
rough. It's always just a playful bite though, so it never really
hurts...which is why I wanted to be careful about ferrets.
How do cats and ferrets get a long generally? I had a dog (beagle)
that I can't have in the apartment which is why I'm contemplating a
ferret since I kinda wanted one in the past. The cats and dog though
got along fine though, should the ferret and cat get along fine too?
Volunteering is a good idea. I just did a local search at my animal
shelter to see if they had any ferrets and they don't sadly. I would
like to try to volunteer prior to buying one to ensure that they are
the "right pet". If I can't find a place to volunteer, doing research
I guess is my 2nd best opportunity, while I save up money for one 100
dollars starting cost plus 200 in vet, cages, etc I heard so I need at
least 300 dollars in the beginning to ensure that I'm prepared for the
little guy.
I treat animals pretty nice, and I never had an animal get mad at me,
so perhaps I'm overworried a little about the biting of the
ferret...but I want to be 100% prepared prior to getting this.
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| jgrace5@hotmail.com |
I think it all depends on the ferret, just as with people. Some people
are nice and will hug you, others will shoot you to get your buck.
Ferrets, as kids, play with rough with their siblings but their thick
fur keeps them from getting hurt. When they get older, and are with
humans they learn through love and training not to bite hard.
For instance, my little Shad (kiss) is very loving and gentle. I put
him up to my face all the time; in fact, I enjoy him licking my eyelids
and I kill his in return. I also kiss him on the mouth and he licks
the inside of my lips. His favorite game, however, is him hiding
inside my jeans and me putting my hand in and... gocha!! he clamps his
fierce teeth down and drags my helpless finger away to be devoured!
Then he licks my finger and the game starts all over again.
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| Sanguine |
I'm assuming your not wearing the jeans at the time?
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| TheDarkTrumpet |
Thank you everyone for your help. So far my research is kinda proving
that while a ferret would be good, I need to be extra careful in
picking one out. I like the point where they are very social
creatures, that's a very good thing. My cats are...somewhat social,
somewhat not.
For the houseproofing. I've pretty much already determined that I
won't have the pet running around the whole house as that's a very big
danger. I was thinking of confining it to one room, the same room that
I'm in (which would be the computer room many times). Ferret proofing
would be an absolute necessity before anything as I'm going to have a
computer in that room , as well as cables of various types. I had to
dog-proof before, so this won't be too big of a problem.
If I do get a ferret it will be most likely in about 3-4 weeks (so I
have adequate time for research, and a bit of money as I have quite a
few expenses at this point).
Volunteering is a good idea, but the nearest ferret shelter that I know
of it about 1.2 hours away from me...which isn't bad, but not great. i
have a feeling I won't get adequate exposure to them prior to getting
one (if I do), so I guess research is my best option right now.
Thanks again everyone for your help. These tips are really nice, and
if anyone has any more tips I would be really glad to receive some.
Thanks
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| jgrace5@hotmail.com |
No, I put the jeans on the floor, but if I'm wearing them he makes an
effort to start the game anyway!
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| Julianne |
Petfinder has a lot of ferret shelters listed:
http://www.petfinder.org/
This is the link to the American Ferret Association shelter list:
http://www.ferret.org/links/shelters.asp
Take a look and contact ferret shelters in your area. They might even
be able to point you in the direction of other shelters not list.
Good luck.
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| TheDarkTrumpet |
Thanks julianne. According this list there is pretty much nothing in
my general area. I'm not too worried though, I kinda came up with the
decision (about 95% positive) that a ferret would be a good idea.
This idea came to be when i went into petco yesterday and went to the
ferret cage. I spoke to the person there for about 30 minutes just
asking every question that I could think of about ferrets. She was
very helpful in explaining a lot of things, much of which I found out
on the net. She also gave a sheet of care tips for a ferret for me to
read (which all seemed pretty basic really considering my research
already).
After my questions, i asked to see the ferrets, of which they opened
the cage and allowed me to actually hold one. Inserting my hand into
the cage I had about 5 jumping onto my arm. One landed well and
started to climb well.
My reactions about the ferrets are overall positive from that
experience alone. The ferrets were nice, very nice. One I remember
was contemplating biting me, but I think more curious what was going on
(had my arm kinda curled and the hand ended up around some ferrets whom
didn't care too much about who i was, except seeing my hand there). I
picked up about 3-4 different ferrets, and tested to see how curious
they were of stuff. That...was probably the most interesting thing
that happened to me really. When I put the ferret nearish to my face
(not very close), it got really curious about my face, and most likely
mouth and was bound and determined to investigate. That was...amusing,
but I didn't feel threatened at all from the experience. The ferrets
there are about 8 weeks old and about $130. The cage costs about 100
and includes food, bedding, etc.
I'm still doing research, but I feel very positive so far about
ferrets, them there said they were a lot of fun to be around and my
research and experience kinda shows the same.
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| lin |
HI There!
I wish *more* people did their research before getting a ferret. The glut of
abandoned/neglected ferrets in our shelters wouldn't have to happen. For
some reason, right now, most shelters are being overwhelmed w/ animals. Good
for you for not being an "impluse buyer"!
While I don't have it, I'm sure someone here has a link to a website where
you can find out the location of a ferret shelter in your area. If it's a
long drive from where you are, even one day of visiting, helping out,
talking to the Shelter Mom, & playing w/ the ferrets there will be a great
education for you, & an enormous help to the shelter. All shelters need
supplies for their every day functioning. My "local" shelter is a fairly
long drive from where I am (& it's the same one Julianne helps w/), but I
try to take the time to call them up, find out what they really need at the
moment, fill up my trunk & donate it to them. Every little bit helps.
While Julianne has more experience w/ ferrets than I do, I just wanted to
pass along my philosphies about ferrets, & *any* animal one intends to have
in the house.
Ferrets are very social animals. They thrive on attention, esp from people.
They are so domesticated, they cannot fend for themselves if they escape
from the house, etc - they no longer know how to find food or water, & they
have practically *no* homing sense - they can get lost very easily, because
their curiosity will take them anywhere.
While all animals are different, they share a lot of common traits. All
animals need to be respected & never hit or abused. All animals need food &
water. And all animals need human interaction if they are to become friends,
rather than mere possessions.
Ferrets are very intellegent creatures. They can learn their bounderies as
far as behavior is concerned. Even my 3 deaf ferrets understand basic hand
signals. But Julianne is right - you shouldn't put *any* animal near your
face, unless you have become so bonded that you can read it's feelings &
mood & know if you can do it safely or not. My Ariel loves to be kissed on
the side of her face, & I do it often. But when she's in the mood to play,
it would be a stupid thing to do, even though she's never been a biter!
In the course of your research, I'm sure you've read about ferret-proofing
the area where you intend to keep them. Any space they can get their heads
through, they can get their bodies through. Some ferrets are prone to
chewing electrical cords, some aren't (none of my 4 have ever shown any
interest it doing it). Get down on the floor, on your belly, & look at the
room from a ferret's-eye view. If you see anything that looks a little too
tempting - a space they could get out through, somewhere they could get
trapped & not get out, something that could hurt them if they bit it - get
rid of it, plug it up securely, whatever. Sometimes the simplest of items
that we don't think of as being dangerous can be deadly to a ferret. They
like to chew - so nothing made of rubber, foam, etc, as they can cause a
fatal intestinal blockage. Nothing that can pinch or cut them. Be paranoid
about it! And don't be surprised when, after you get your little friend
home, they find something you never considered to be a problem! It happens
to even the most experienced ferret owners.
In litterbox training my guys, I start w/ the smallest physical area
possible as their play area, & make sure there is a litterbox there. Stay w/
them, & any time you see them start to back up towards a corner, put them in
the litterbox, & keep putting them there until they use it. Then give them
lots of praise. After they begin to use the box on their own, gradually
expand the play area. Rinse & repeat.
I'm sure a lot of others will chime in here on different issues, so I'll
leave it at that. Thanks for doing your research first. It'll make you a
better pet owner, & assure that you have a happier pet.
--
Lin, Ariel, Oberon, Max, & Puck
To email me back, take out everything from "K" to "2"
"TheDarkTrumpet" <dthole@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1130249442.853270.5500@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> Thanks for the response julianne,
>
> My cats will bite here, to a small amount if I play with them too
> rough. It's always just a playful bite though, so it never really
> hurts...which is why I wanted to be careful about ferrets.
<snip>
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| DancingMan |
Be careful if you let your fuzzie roam in a computer room. They are really
good climbers and some are also jumpers. If they climb up on your desk, an
unlikely threat is your mouse. Many have small rubber wheels for scrolling.
The ferrets will find them and chew on them. As somebody else also warned,
some ferrets like chewing power cords of which there are several in a
computer room. None of my five fuzzies are the slightest bit interested in
power cords but they are super interested in latex rubber gloves and mouse
wheels. We make sure they don't have access to any. You may also have
difficulty litter training one in a computer room too because computer desks
have lots of neat covered areas under desks and book shelves that make
excellent pooping stations. I let mine in my office just once; never again
though.
"TheDarkTrumpet" <dthole@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1130355806.262323.249960@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> Thanks julianne. According this list there is pretty much nothing in
> my general area. I'm not too worried though, I kinda came up with the
> decision (about 95% positive) that a ferret would be a good idea.
>
> This idea came to be when i went into petco yesterday and went to the
> ferret cage. I spoke to the person there for about 30 minutes just
> asking every question that I could think of about ferrets. She was
> very helpful in explaining a lot of things, much of which I found out
> on the net. She also gave a sheet of care tips for a ferret for me to
> read (which all seemed pretty basic really considering my research
> already).
>
> After my questions, i asked to see the ferrets, of which they opened
> the cage and allowed me to actually hold one. Inserting my hand into
> the cage I had about 5 jumping onto my arm. One landed well and
> started to climb well.
>
> My reactions about the ferrets are overall positive from that
> experience alone. The ferrets were nice, very nice. One I remember
> was contemplating biting me, but I think more curious what was going on
> (had my arm kinda curled and the hand ended up around some ferrets whom
> didn't care too much about who i was, except seeing my hand there). I
> picked up about 3-4 different ferrets, and tested to see how curious
> they were of stuff. That...was probably the most interesting thing
> that happened to me really. When I put the ferret nearish to my face
> (not very close), it got really curious about my face, and most likely
> mouth and was bound and determined to investigate. That was...amusing,
> but I didn't feel threatened at all from the experience. The ferrets
> there are about 8 weeks old and about $130. The cage costs about 100
> and includes food, bedding, etc.
>
> I'm still doing research, but I feel very positive so far about
> ferrets, them there said they were a lot of fun to be around and my
> research and experience kinda shows the same.
>
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| DancingMan |
Be careful if you let your fuzzie roam in a computer room. They are really
good climbers and some are also jumpers. If they climb up on your desk, an
unlikely threat is your mouse. Many have small rubber wheels for scrolling.
The ferrets will find them and chew on them. As somebody else also warned,
some ferrets like chewing power cords of which there are several in a
computer room. None of my five fuzzies are the slightest bit interested in
power cords but they are super interested in latex rubber gloves and mouse
wheels. We make sure they don't have access to any. You may also have
difficulty litter training one in a computer room too because computer desks
have lots of neat covered areas under desks and book shelves that make
excellent pooping stations. I let mine in my office just once; never again
though.
"TheDarkTrumpet" <dthole@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1130355806.262323.249960@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> Thanks julianne. According this list there is pretty much nothing in
> my general area. I'm not too worried though, I kinda came up with the
> decision (about 95% positive) that a ferret would be a good idea.
>
> This idea came to be when i went into petco yesterday and went to the
> ferret cage. I spoke to the person there for about 30 minutes just
> asking every question that I could think of about ferrets. She was
> very helpful in explaining a lot of things, much of which I found out
> on the net. She also gave a sheet of care tips for a ferret for me to
> read (which all seemed pretty basic really considering my research
> already).
>
> After my questions, i asked to see the ferrets, of which they opened
> the cage and allowed me to actually hold one. Inserting my hand into
> the cage I had about 5 jumping onto my arm. One landed well and
> started to climb well.
>
> My reactions about the ferrets are overall positive from that
> experience alone. The ferrets were nice, very nice. One I remember
> was contemplating biting me, but I think more curious what was going on
> (had my arm kinda curled and the hand ended up around some ferrets whom
> didn't care too much about who i was, except seeing my hand there). I
> picked up about 3-4 different ferrets, and tested to see how curious
> they were of stuff. That...was probably the most interesting thing
> that happened to me really. When I put the ferret nearish to my face
> (not very close), it got really curious about my face, and most likely
> mouth and was bound and determined to investigate. That was...amusing,
> but I didn't feel threatened at all from the experience. The ferrets
> there are about 8 weeks old and about $130. The cage costs about 100
> and includes food, bedding, etc.
>
> I'm still doing research, but I feel very positive so far about
> ferrets, them there said they were a lot of fun to be around and my
> research and experience kinda shows the same.
>
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| kupoo |
Newsgroups: alt.pets.ferrets
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DancingMan wrote:
> Be careful if you let your fuzzie roam in a computer room. They are really
> good climbers and some are also jumpers. If they climb up on your desk, an
> unlikely threat is your mouse. Many have small rubber wheels for scrolling.
As demonstrated!
http://www.ferretocious.com/movies/BUSTED!!.wmv
I recommend some of these other movies too.
http://www.ferretocious.com/movies.html
> You may also have
> difficulty litter training one in a computer room too because computer desks
> have lots of neat covered areas under desks and book shelves that make
> excellent pooping stations.
Carpet in general can be a nightmare. I have heard mostly it's just a
case of not being able to find the litter box in time. I'd say cats have
a far worse reputation as poopers, though you can kick cats outside,
unlike ferrets.
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| chasw |
Our Bacchus scratches holes in carpeting in front of closed doors that he
wants opened. He is very persistent and will only give up on a door if a
person is guarding it. When he was little, he squirmed under a particularly
desireable door. Later, I installed a rubber guard on the bottom of the
door, but he still seems to think he can dig under any door with enough time
and work. - CW
x".
> Carpet in general can be a nightmare. I have heard mostly it's just a
> case of not being able to find the litter box in time. I'd say cats have
> a far worse reputation as poopers, though you can kick cats outside,
> unlike ferrets.
x
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| News |
I found that vinegar is a good ferret repellent. I use a spray bottle,
fill it with half Vinegar and half water. Spray it wherever the ferrets
scratch. It seems to only last about a day though.
Frank.
chasw wrote:
> Our Bacchus scratches holes in carpeting in front of closed doors that he
> wants opened. He is very persistent and will only give up on a door if a
> person is guarding it. When he was little, he squirmed under a particularly
> desireable door. Later, I installed a rubber guard on the bottom of the
> door, but he still seems to think he can dig under any door with enough time
> and work. - CW
>
> x".
>
>>Carpet in general can be a nightmare. I have heard mostly it's just a
>>case of not being able to find the litter box in time. I'd say cats have
>>a far worse reputation as poopers, though you can kick cats outside,
>>unlike ferrets.
>
> x
>
>
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| DancingMan |
Trying to stop a fuzzie from digging is as easy as getting the Pope to
change to Anglican.
Best deterrent is to place a piece of vinyl flooring in the doorway when the
carpet sharks are lurking. They soon tire of digging. They are smart though.
Don't be surprised if they just grab hold of a corner and drag the vinyl out
of the way and continue to mine under the door!
"News" <spamtrap@oakgrovedesigns.net> wrote in message
news:4388CE25.1030304@oakgrovedesigns.net...
>
> I found that vinegar is a good ferret repellent. I use a spray bottle,
> fill it with half Vinegar and half water. Spray it wherever the ferrets
> scratch. It seems to only last about a day though.
>
> Frank.
>
>
> chasw wrote:
>> Our Bacchus scratches holes in carpeting in front of closed doors that he
>> wants opened. He is very persistent and will only give up on a door if a
>> person is guarding it. When he was little, he squirmed under a
>> particularly desireable door. Later, I installed a rubber guard on the
>> bottom of the door, but he still seems to think he can dig under any door
>> with enough time and work. - CW
>>
>> x".
>>
>>>Carpet in general can be a nightmare. I have heard mostly it's just a
>>>case of not being able to find the litter box in time. I'd say cats have
>>>a far worse reputation as poopers, though you can kick cats outside,
>>>unlike ferrets.
>>
>> x
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