Is my ferret happy?

Question

I built him his own cage, 20' deep, 33' tall and 28' long. it has 2 floors, and 2 hammocks connect with one another, one he lays in when its a little warmer, and i can see him, and another PRIVATE one where i cannot see him. fresh food and water every day (change water twice a day, refilling it) and he can climb around the cage, not just walking up.

Outside the cage he has my whole room to explore, there are toys (a can he likes to roll and chase) and some computer wires that dangle to jump up after (not dangerous) i give him a fair amount of treats, never to much, and i make him try to do a trick for it.
And then theres me, i chase him, he chases me, i make him get into that war dance or happy dance, and he chases me and then plops on the floor waits for me to go by and chases me again, and i made him a 'dig box' with uncooked rice so he can dig and get that out of his system, and berries himself in the box and pops out running.

So is that enough? is he a happy ferret?

Answer 1

I'm sure he is happy. I don't mean to crash the party BUT there is always room for improvement no matter what. In your case, I would recommend another ferret! Ferrets are species social and VERY MUCH SO enjoy the company of other ferrets. While you can chase your ferret around and play with him, you still can't quite play the way another ferret can. You also can't cuddle with him in his cage. Bummer. Put 10 or 15 bucks aside every week until you have enough to purchase your ferret a new buddy. Once you see how happy this makes your ferret you will be happy you did.

Answer 2

I'm truly impressed with the custom cage construction. Assume you mean inches, and not feet there. ;-)



He has access to food, water, he has private space, a dig box. All that's great. There's one or two things I don't quite know, but overall you give the general impression that you're going to be taking great care of your ferret.



Those things are: how much time does he get out of the cage? Preferably at least 2 hours daily but that doesn't sound like a problem. If you always have him out, the potential for mischief and cleanup is greater, so it's a tradeoff.



What food are you feeding him? As a general rule, first ingredient of the ferret (or sometimes kitten) food should be a meat product, and corn shouldn't be in the first 3 ingredients. Fish products tend to make ferret waste stinkier. Zupreem or 8-in-1 are great brands.



And I'll throw in the usual, when someone asks about ferret care specifics. Ferrets for Dummies by Kim Schilling is *the* book for ferret care, very detailed and valuable.



All in all, sounds like you're doing a great job.

Answer 3

I have had single ferrets and groups of ferrets. If your ferret is getting a lot of attention and playtime (and it sounds like she is!), she will be fine as an only ferret. Before you get a second ferret, please consider the costs involved. This means you will have to buy twice the food, spend twice the money on annual exams & vaccines, twice the toys and twice as much poop and pee! Ferrets are great little pets. I am down to one (from four) right now, and she seems to be perfectly content being the only ferret (at one point she was with three others).

Answer 4

Sounds like he's got it made.

One question, you meant 20x33x28 INCHES, not FEET, right?

Sounds like you're doing everything right and he's enjoying your company.

Ferrets appreciate the simplest things. They are very olfactory and love to sniff out new things they've never smelled before, like an empty pizza box, a take out box(empty) or someones dirty socks or shirt. They play forever with an empty shopping bag you brought the groceries home in and love things that smell and sound differently, but I'm sure you know that. I put ice cubes on a shallow tray for mine and watch them try to catch the cubes or I fill a 2" deep cake carrier lid with water and throw a few treats and toys into it and let them dive for it. There's tons of things for you to do with your ferret. Have you tried towel rides yet? Pull a beach towel along the floor in front of him until he hops on and then speed around the house until he either falls off(careful he don't hurt himself) or he climbs all the way up the towel to your hands. Get him some tubes to play with too, they love tubes like dryer vent tubes(make sure there's no wires poking out at the end anywhere).

You do not have to get a second ferret. Yes, a lot of ferrets like the company of others, but not all of them do. They have personalities, just like people. Some love ferret company, others will simply just tolerate it, others yet will never like it.

Ferrets were not socially animals originally, actually they were more or less solitary in the wild only seeking each others company at mating time. The whole social thing is something that came about since domestication(over 2000 yrs ago) and is a trait introduced by humans.

And since yours seems happy at this point, why ruin a good thing? Two ferrets will double your bills, which is especially important when looking at your vet bill.

There is one phenomenon though: you double the number of ferrets you seem to quadruple the amount of fun to be had by all. It's amazing.

Glad you're enjoying your weezil, keep up the good work.

Good luck to the both of ya.

Answer 5

Sounds like your fuzzy has a lot of fun, I have three and they are a blast. They love playing in my brother's ball pit, chasing my mom around the house, and playing with my german shepherd mixbreed. You seem to be doing well with keeping him occupied. If you think that he is unhappy get another ferret to be buds with him. They love to gang up on people.

Answer 6

I would say extremely happy. Ours does go through depression, like when I was in the hospital. In fact you gave me an idea with the dig box, I've been trying to figure something out.

Answer 7

Sounds like a good ferret life to me.

Answer 8

Yep sounds like it! You'll know when he's happy when he does his little dance. Our Marty sometimes churps when he's happy and makes little noises but I don't think all ferrets do that. xx

Answer 9

i only had a cage for my ferret so YES your ferret is extremely happy.

Answer 10

if hes active n playing ... hes happy .. u seem to have put a lot of work into him trust me hes havin fun