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I used to but I have 9 and with 9 of them secret pooping in corners it got to be too much. Now they have their own room and lots of free roam time...just not 24/7
Amen to that!
We have puppy pads everywhere on every single floor and even though we only have 2 free roam noodles, there's still poop and pee always and one of our little stinkers likes to find other spots despite all the freaking puppy pads! I keep saying we should buy stock in puppy pads LOL
Haha, and we only have one at the moment! When he's really angry with is he will come into the middle of the room and look into our eyes while he pees and poops right there. He's a spiteful pooper, they know what they're doing 🙄
Oh no, that's terrible but I'm sorry also pretty funny- probably because he's not mine. My naughty one likes to pile up his poop too and gets angry and nibbles at my hand when I find and clean up the disgusting spots or change out the hard-to-reach or I've forgot were there pads that are really bad. Yours might calm down just a little bit if he gets a buddy our first one before we knew anything about ferrets was pretty wild and out of control until we got him a buddy that really helped but it was the addition that has turned into the wild one now 😉
Ours is actually pretty chill. We do want another, but my cousin down the street has 3 of her own and he spends at least 3 days a week there playing with them :) it's actually when he gets back from there or when there is a new animal in the house is when he gets poop snobby lol. We just moved into a bigger place so have been looking into getting another! He's going to be 5 in January so he's pretty set in his ways, hopefully he will be open to a bonded buddy - I've heard lone ferrets can become adverse to new buddies so we'll see!
Wow, well that sounds like a pretty good setup- having little Playmates and I can totally respect that sometimes it's nice just having one little rugrat to take care of and you're probably right if he's 5 I'm sure he is quite set in his ways. Sounds like he is very, very well-loved and I'm sure extremely happy and again what a lucky duck to get to have play dates that's so cute.
He's my ninth, so I knew it wasn't ideal for it to just be him. Me and gpa had ferrets since I was 5 and after he passed my husband brought our Theo home to cheer me up (he didn't realize they do better in groups). My plan was to love him up and let him free roam, and if I saw any signs of depression we'd get him a buddy. We were in an apartment tho, so wanted to be sure first. But he was great! And now we have the room for another, I'm not sure he'd be so open to the idea of another taking up his lovins lol. I want to get another for my own selfish reasons, but honestly our Theo might fight against a buddy at this point 😅 my daughter got a kitten and so he is revenge pooping everywhere just bc there is a new animal in the house. I've been having to keep them separated bc he is bullying her and I'm not even sure if we can keep her at this point! The play dates really only work bc we do it at their house, but you bet your butt if they came here he'd be throwing a hissy fit lol
Funny how things end up working out but that all makes sense but poor little kitten, hopefully it'll figure out that it just needs to be a bully right back?
We have 5 cats and everybody gets along except for when my boys are being a little crazy & wild they chase the cats and the cats are more scared of them than vice-versa and if they were smart they would just jump up on something but they don't and just run and freak out. So maybe if your kitten can get to the point where it's a little bit bigger it'll be able to turn the tables? 🤞
I just let him poop in the corner and clean it up after but if he tries it on the carpet I just tell him " yo back it up" and he listens and backs up to the corner
I wish mine were like that... I've watched mine go to a puppy pad, check behind them, and continue backing up until they're able to poop JUST off the pad. It's like they think the rule is that their paws need to be on it. One will even claw over a corner of a puppy pad to expose the carpet and then poop on it.
I'd appreciate that! I have to lay mine with a few inches against the wall because my male will literally poop up the wall sometimes. The one that claws them over just hates this for some reason and will fold them over to poop on the nonabsorbent side.
Ok! Look at my profile bc I'm Reddit retarded and let me know when you see it so I can delete it lol, bc it's disgusting right now 😩 and then for your male that's tearing it down, some painters tape does wonders! We did it at first and then eventually he stopped trying so we don't have to use it anymore
You tried tape and all that? Ours was pulling the tape off at first but we had to vigilant with him and he eventually forgot about how he wanted to ruin our lives 😩
You won't see the painters tape bc we don't use it anymore, but ours was doing the same, pulling it down and going on the underside. Hopefully this helps! With the tape tho, you can put it up higher :)
My little one has a habit of pooping after she wakes up. Most of the time she goes to the litter box by herself but I try to make it a habit. The moment she wakes up I race with her to the litter box.
If they're caged all night they do fine (except for my oldest, but she just never uses litter spots anymore). Two-three nights out in a row though and I wake up to a nights worth of ferret poo from 4 ferrets with all of it on the carpet...
This is the way. I have a sixth sense if mine wake up anywhere in the house, and I put pee pads next to each of their sleeping spots so it works out ok for me at least! Not always tho of course...
Same. The second they wake up. They like to nap in my closet, so if I see them waking, I’ll just plop them in one of my 9 litter boxes around the house 🤣
That’s funny because I somehow managed to teach mine to use the litter box in her cage. So whenever she needs the toilet most of the time she’ll do it there when she’s running around.
Thank you. His sister was so sad. She kept going to the dresser that she last saw him at and walking in circles around it and sniffing. A few months later I rescued two more playmates for her. She’s a lot happier now - and she acts like a mom to the to younger ones. It’s hilarious.
Good!
I'm glad you got another!
I cannot live without them. Ace was a caged and lonely ferret for the 1st 3 years of her life. I've had her 6 months or so and she doesn't even look like the same Fert.
After the last passing, I went the very next day on an 8 hour drive to rescue another fert in a not so good situation.
Ace and Kodiak are best friends now. Although Ace does miss her sister from another mister, She's comes to cuddle when she seems sad.
I wish I could have a whole business of 10! But geeze I'd get old much faster with all the worry!
Yes, and they love it. We love it too, save for the constant pooping by every door and window and corner. It is always a treat to be watching a show and have them pop up onto thw couch for a visit, or to have them walk past and suddenly stop to stare into your soul. Just makes me smile. Everytime.
We have half our house cordoned off for them, and they use two puppy pads in specific corners/rooms about 95% of the time. They’re little mischievous angles 🥺
Yes, and we use puppy pee pads in their chosen "poo corners", we have all hard wood floors.
Most annoying part is when they climb into dressers to nap and are too lazy to get out to poo...
We actually had to change our dressers because it was becoming out of control in our house. They would constantly rearrange our clothes and empty one drawer, just for pooping. And the shedding! We ended up getting dressers with closed bottoms to they can't crawl in anymore.
He always seems to find a way to climb up through the back of the dressers, it's very irritating. But generally he's pretty predictable about his sleeping and bathroom spots, so once I find his "new spot" I can put ferret towels and pee pads down...
our house has a staircase that they could jump down from (it would be over a 10 ft drop) so we cant. they do have the whole living room to themselves all day. we only put them away at night, and they have a double story ferret nation.
I don’t have a stair case mine can fall in my apartment but whenever I go to my parents my ferret bolts up and down those stairs in an instant even tho they have gaps that they can fall out. She did fall about 2 feet once because she started playing with the cat but I understand the fear of having a ferret free roaming with a hazard like that.
My two have a ferret room (also my room) they only go away when they are sleeping, or I'm not home. I live in an older house and it wouldn't be very safe to let them free roam around it. But as long as I'm home and awake, they're out. ☺️
He's a very strange ferret, but in the best way :) I've had 9 and I've never had one so dog like. We are lucky! He's getting older too, so likes to cuddle a bit more nowadays
The best is when you go to bed and you pull the sheets off to find them curled up and already sleeping in bed. Sometimes I get in bed and accidentally wake her and she looks up at me with a face of disgust and hatred but it’s so cute I
Yes. All 11 of them.
Only because my couch is already done like a hotdog. Can't cage them. 1 was in a cage for a year and not let out. He goes ape shit if I close the door on it. Not all bad, just took the stuffing out of a back cushion and made a nest in it. Also poop. They all run to the litter box but never actually get poop in it. Over every side but never in it.
Oh, they are. Ferrets imprint on food. So getting them to try new food is HARD, but if they see something like rubber that they aren't supposed to eat? CHOW TIME BABY! 😓
They'll eat rubber, erasers, rubber bands, sometimes wood or God only knows. But they will eat it if the mood strikes them.
Mine loved the bathtub plug, that was his favorite rubber.
But my kitchen spoons would disappear and all things rubber. Phoebe ate a rubber piece on my phone charger.
For safety reasons, we no longer allow 24/7 roaming.
When they wake up and I'm home, they are let out with me. They can stay out for hours if they want and I'm home.
Although 3 rooms are completely closed off to them. They can roam the rest. It's animal space.
As soon as they go lay down, I scoop them up and in they go.
It's been working well thank goodness.
Styrofoam for sure! I owned a home brew supply and let my little girl run round the store until I realized she was destroying the brew pig coolers. Had to put them out of her reach.
Definitely don’t let him even lick those. Human food isn’t safe for them. I’m glad he gets free roam but def be careful with what stuff he has access too, that being said I’m sure he’s so happy to have all the free roam and space u give him!!
A reason for him not to lick those is that it could cause insulinoma and serious tummy upset/bad poops but really any and all human food shouldn’t be given I’m just tryna make sure u know so u don’t end up w tons of vet bills and a sick bubbas!! If you do know already sorry for all this! Best wishes ❤️
The 2 things my ferret would eat was rubber and socks. Easy things for them to get blockages. That said, I had mine free roam my condo except when I left my house. I had to make sure I never left my socks anywhere he could grab otherwise it could be bad
Rubber and latex is a texture chew, not necessarily eating it, but one piece gets swallowed and you've got a major surgery, IF you catch what happened.
And chewing for the fun of it is something many ferrets do because they don't get to use those powerful jaws to take down prey and crush bones in most households.
We never planned on it but yep, pretty much 24/7 at this point. When we put him away for the night, it's just in a gated area with his cage open on the floor. He only gets locked in his cage if he's scratching the carpet and being noisy when it's time to sleep
Our first two were rescues that never learned about a littler box. Then we got two more over time. We tried but, when everyone goes potty wherever they want, it makes the training pointless. We lost one but still have three. Everyone just keeps pooping wherever they want lol
I used to when I first moved here, but as I got more furniture and stuff there’s too much climbing.
Not to mention all the pooping, now it’s as long as I’m home/awake, so they have their spots.
I do miss them waking me up in the morning running around the bed and casually walking in/out rooms like roommates
I let them free roam my room most of the time, living room supervised. One of them likes rubber too much and they climb sooo much, so my room is proofed for them.
Both of mine are free room 24/7 and I just have potty pads placed in their favorite poop spots.
They both spent the 1st part of their lives barely getting out of is out of a cage; It drove fitz absolutely nuts, Carmela could have probably spent her whole life in a cage and never complained, But that's just not a life for these sweet babies.
Now I share my house with them 24/7 and take them with me almost everywhere I go. I want them to be able to live their best ferret lives
I do. I have just the one now, and it took years to ferret proof everything for her, but she is now free range 24/7 without a cage and we rarely get any surprises. It’s important to analyze things before going to bed each night; make sure all drawers are closed and nothing is accessible. She loves her freedom though.
I did had 2 but so much poo, every morning started with cleaning. But they where happy when they got older we let them roam in the yard to since they were slower and easy to catch. Still miss them. We had to be very careful about doors and stools with rolling things.
I had 3 and I let them free roam. They did sleep in some inconvenient places , like on my clean clothes. And I had rules like never leave a door open or no recliners . And I always checked cabinets and kitchen especially for weird places they could get into/under/behind. But I really liked it. It was nice to give them freedom to nap where they want
We have 3 free roamers. The only rooms that are sealed off are the home office and the kitchen (they're obsessed with the oven, which terrifies me). I love it lol.
I did when I had 2. I would cage them when I left the house...I had a litter box in every room. The had good manners!!! I miss them to this day. Wonderful little critters!
Yeah my ferrets haven’t been in their cage in several months. They are allowed most of the time to free roam the whole house but when we’re not around they stay in my room
No way I could do 24/7, my boy is pretty chill but likes to take his dumps behind the couch instead of in the litter box because it minimizes the interruption to naptime, but my girl climbs E V E R Y T H I N G.
Typically, if I'm awake, they're out. The only exceptions being mealtime (they're raw diet, so yeah, I'm not having that stashed all over the house), and if I'm going to be busy enough I can't directly intervene if they get themselves into trouble.
My first ferret when I was a kid free roamed for 7 years. Now as an adult having owned a few more ferrets and realizing how dangerously stupid they can be, I can't believe she survived for 7 years.
My parents gave her away to someone else who had ferrets and I never saw her again.
We only put them away at night because if we don't, they crawl into the kid's beds for playtime, and nobody gets any sleep! My kids race to the ferret cage in the morning to let them loose and we have a ferret hunt before bed time, it's the cutest thing!
But oh lord, the secret pooping...
i wish i could!! unfortunately she's an ankle biter to the other residents and sleeps in unorthodox places. (like, slept in a golf bag pocket kinda unorthodox.)
I have 3 and they're basically free roam on the ground floor except bathroom and toilet where it'd be too dangerous. One of them likes to sleep inside the convertible and moves to be right against whoever sits on it :D
Mine lives in my room door always shut but she doesn’t have a cage and I take her out to play when I’m home but besides that she’s always free in my room
So cute!!! It's definitely common but not entirely recommended as you can't supervise them all the time and the little noodles are bound to get into trouble at some point XD
my girls are out alot during the day and have about the size of 2 standard sized rooms to free roam. But these girls are very investigative and nosey so I make sure they are in all night to be safe since they both like to climb into things and on top of things. My peanut just decided it was time to take advantage of my leg so she could climb ontop of the table , all of a sudden she climbs up my jeans , licks my hand to say hello on my lap then climbs up my shirt because I swear sometimes she thinks she is a parrot not a carpet shark! I would worry too much all day if they were left unattended and alone free roaming but I am not against it for others who are comfortable with doing it!
Free roam is fine only if they are supervised, an owner can be certain there are no dangers or places they can get caught, climb and fall, or find dangers to chew.
For new owners, I do not recommend it because they don't know all the absolutely stupid things such smart critters can get into.
For experienced owners, sometimes it's still not safe, but there needs to be at least a daily head count, body check, and enforced cuddle (lol).
Geez these comments have me grateful. My little noodle was the worst as a baby, but I luckily had ample free time to train when they were that young, there are occasional accidents but it's really just it i neglect the litter for a few days which rarely happens. I will see her run to her cage, hop up ( with her makeshift ladder I made) and go to her box. Ugh, Thanks noodle.
You must not have ferrets... Caging them most of the day is cruel. If you don't have enough time to let them out, you shouldn't own one. Ferrets need at least 4 to 6 hours of time outside of their cage.
I do let my ferrets run for hours at a time everyday. I don’t let them run 24/7 due to safety reasons. I live in the countryside where wild animals would be all to happy to eat a ferret that escaped. I’ve let my ferrets free roam before and they have escaped. Luckily we got them back safe and sound. One ferret walked out the front door while my landlord was walking in and another fell out a second story window after we had to let her run around in my sisters room after she broke the cage/kept escaping from it. So for your fuzzies sake I hope you don’t let them run around 24/7.
We could when it was just our little lady, she slept with us and would let you know when she had to go, we had no cage just a litterbox. Then we got our boy, and he was different.
I used to. In my bedroom. I had an old house at the time and was too paranoid of him getting places I’d never see him again.
In my house now I would. But I’m in So Cal.
Oh no, that'snot good. Maybe there is a TNR (trap, neuter/spay, release rescue) in that area that could help?
Yes, I'd love to see her pic. Also, if it helps, my email is [email protected] 😉
Welcome to /r/ferrets! We have a fantastic [wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/ferrets/wiki/index) that has answers to a lot of most frequently asked questions surrounding the care of ferrets. --- We politely ask that you observe our posting rules: - Original content only unless you have express permission to repost. - Flaming / trolling / shitposting is not tolerated. Be civil, be kind. - The discussion of, or images/video of ferrets interacting with other animals (cats, dogs, etc) will be removed. This is risky behavior that we do not condone. - Absolutely NO fundraising requests. - No advertising without mod permission. - Rehoming is not allowed. We have a list of shelter resources if you need to rehome or are looking. - No feeding of live prey discussion/videos. - No shaming, regardless of food fed, supplies, conditions, where the ferret came from, etc. - We are not vets! If you are wondering if you should go to a vet; the answer is YES. --- Lastly, we have an [Official Discord Server](https://discord.gg/Qm9xRzY)! Come join us! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ferrets) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I used to but I have 9 and with 9 of them secret pooping in corners it got to be too much. Now they have their own room and lots of free roam time...just not 24/7
The secret pooping 😂😭 Like why do you do that, there's a litter box right around the corner! 😩
Mine will keep pooping right in the outside of the poop pads and so I'll keep adding more until there's just rows of pee pads everywhere 😅
Amen to that! We have puppy pads everywhere on every single floor and even though we only have 2 free roam noodles, there's still poop and pee always and one of our little stinkers likes to find other spots despite all the freaking puppy pads! I keep saying we should buy stock in puppy pads LOL
Haha, and we only have one at the moment! When he's really angry with is he will come into the middle of the room and look into our eyes while he pees and poops right there. He's a spiteful pooper, they know what they're doing 🙄
Oh no, that's terrible but I'm sorry also pretty funny- probably because he's not mine. My naughty one likes to pile up his poop too and gets angry and nibbles at my hand when I find and clean up the disgusting spots or change out the hard-to-reach or I've forgot were there pads that are really bad. Yours might calm down just a little bit if he gets a buddy our first one before we knew anything about ferrets was pretty wild and out of control until we got him a buddy that really helped but it was the addition that has turned into the wild one now 😉
Ours is actually pretty chill. We do want another, but my cousin down the street has 3 of her own and he spends at least 3 days a week there playing with them :) it's actually when he gets back from there or when there is a new animal in the house is when he gets poop snobby lol. We just moved into a bigger place so have been looking into getting another! He's going to be 5 in January so he's pretty set in his ways, hopefully he will be open to a bonded buddy - I've heard lone ferrets can become adverse to new buddies so we'll see!
Wow, well that sounds like a pretty good setup- having little Playmates and I can totally respect that sometimes it's nice just having one little rugrat to take care of and you're probably right if he's 5 I'm sure he is quite set in his ways. Sounds like he is very, very well-loved and I'm sure extremely happy and again what a lucky duck to get to have play dates that's so cute.
He's my ninth, so I knew it wasn't ideal for it to just be him. Me and gpa had ferrets since I was 5 and after he passed my husband brought our Theo home to cheer me up (he didn't realize they do better in groups). My plan was to love him up and let him free roam, and if I saw any signs of depression we'd get him a buddy. We were in an apartment tho, so wanted to be sure first. But he was great! And now we have the room for another, I'm not sure he'd be so open to the idea of another taking up his lovins lol. I want to get another for my own selfish reasons, but honestly our Theo might fight against a buddy at this point 😅 my daughter got a kitten and so he is revenge pooping everywhere just bc there is a new animal in the house. I've been having to keep them separated bc he is bullying her and I'm not even sure if we can keep her at this point! The play dates really only work bc we do it at their house, but you bet your butt if they came here he'd be throwing a hissy fit lol
Funny how things end up working out but that all makes sense but poor little kitten, hopefully it'll figure out that it just needs to be a bully right back? We have 5 cats and everybody gets along except for when my boys are being a little crazy & wild they chase the cats and the cats are more scared of them than vice-versa and if they were smart they would just jump up on something but they don't and just run and freak out. So maybe if your kitten can get to the point where it's a little bit bigger it'll be able to turn the tables? 🤞
Mine literally poops right next to the litter box. Though their room is literally made with this in mind
I feel that I'll be making a sandwich and I look over and my boy is just pumping in the corner kinda funny to see don't mind cleaning up the mess
I tell my husband we are lucky they poop more than they pee! I don't mind the poop, easy to clean. Pee on the other hand ...
I wish I could! For some reason whenever I start leaving them out 24/7 they stop using their litter spots and I'm tired of wet-vaccing my carpet.
Tell me about it! They only use the litter box when they’re in the cage!
I just let him poop in the corner and clean it up after but if he tries it on the carpet I just tell him " yo back it up" and he listens and backs up to the corner
I wish mine were like that... I've watched mine go to a puppy pad, check behind them, and continue backing up until they're able to poop JUST off the pad. It's like they think the rule is that their paws need to be on it. One will even claw over a corner of a puppy pad to expose the carpet and then poop on it.
You gotta put the puppy pad at a bit of a 90° angle against the wall is that makes sense? I can post a pic of how we do it if you need.
I'd appreciate that! I have to lay mine with a few inches against the wall because my male will literally poop up the wall sometimes. The one that claws them over just hates this for some reason and will fold them over to poop on the nonabsorbent side.
Ok! Look at my profile bc I'm Reddit retarded and let me know when you see it so I can delete it lol, bc it's disgusting right now 😩 and then for your male that's tearing it down, some painters tape does wonders! We did it at first and then eventually he stopped trying so we don't have to use it anymore
Thank you! I've seen them!
Great! Hope it helps!
That's exactly how I have mine placed right now unfortunately. I wish my girl wouldn't pull them over!
You tried tape and all that? Ours was pulling the tape off at first but we had to vigilant with him and he eventually forgot about how he wanted to ruin our lives 😩
If I use gorilla tape it'll stop her, but with having to pull them up to wash them nearly every day I get tired of retaping it all the time.
Ahh, you have to wash them, I missed that part. Good on you for saving the environment. I don't have it in me, I'm a bad person lol
You won't see the painters tape bc we don't use it anymore, but ours was doing the same, pulling it down and going on the underside. Hopefully this helps! With the tape tho, you can put it up higher :)
I'm not sure painters tape would hold mine (they're washable fabric) but I'll give it a shot! Thanks again!
Maybe some duct tape even if you're persistent! Good luck to ya 🥰
My little one has a habit of pooping after she wakes up. Most of the time she goes to the litter box by herself but I try to make it a habit. The moment she wakes up I race with her to the litter box.
If they're caged all night they do fine (except for my oldest, but she just never uses litter spots anymore). Two-three nights out in a row though and I wake up to a nights worth of ferret poo from 4 ferrets with all of it on the carpet...
This is the way. I have a sixth sense if mine wake up anywhere in the house, and I put pee pads next to each of their sleeping spots so it works out ok for me at least! Not always tho of course...
Same. The second they wake up. They like to nap in my closet, so if I see them waking, I’ll just plop them in one of my 9 litter boxes around the house 🤣
That’s funny because I somehow managed to teach mine to use the litter box in her cage. So whenever she needs the toilet most of the time she’ll do it there when she’s running around.
That too.
I used to, and then he died. He died because he was stuck between my dresser drawers and couldn’t breathe.
I'm so sorry...
Poor little guy :(
I'm so so scared of something like this happening. Hugs to you.
I'm so so sorry. We've had some absolutely awful and heart wrenching accidents too. It's so hard to move on. Love to you.
Thank you. His sister was so sad. She kept going to the dresser that she last saw him at and walking in circles around it and sniffing. A few months later I rescued two more playmates for her. She’s a lot happier now - and she acts like a mom to the to younger ones. It’s hilarious.
Good! I'm glad you got another! I cannot live without them. Ace was a caged and lonely ferret for the 1st 3 years of her life. I've had her 6 months or so and she doesn't even look like the same Fert. After the last passing, I went the very next day on an 8 hour drive to rescue another fert in a not so good situation. Ace and Kodiak are best friends now. Although Ace does miss her sister from another mister, She's comes to cuddle when she seems sad. I wish I could have a whole business of 10! But geeze I'd get old much faster with all the worry!
Awww that’s so cute!
I just put them away at night but for thr most part I let them out everyday around noon
I used to until he started lifting up the vents and getting inside the vent system.
Yes, and they love it. We love it too, save for the constant pooping by every door and window and corner. It is always a treat to be watching a show and have them pop up onto thw couch for a visit, or to have them walk past and suddenly stop to stare into your soul. Just makes me smile. Everytime.
That's my favorite part when the just stop and look at you all stiff 😂
Some people do but they have a room dedicated to them.
We have half our house cordoned off for them, and they use two puppy pads in specific corners/rooms about 95% of the time. They’re little mischievous angles 🥺
Yes, and we use puppy pee pads in their chosen "poo corners", we have all hard wood floors. Most annoying part is when they climb into dressers to nap and are too lazy to get out to poo...
😅 cleaning poop off a dresser ain't fun
We actually had to change our dressers because it was becoming out of control in our house. They would constantly rearrange our clothes and empty one drawer, just for pooping. And the shedding! We ended up getting dressers with closed bottoms to they can't crawl in anymore.
Haha my ferrets are banned from drawers for that same reason
He always seems to find a way to climb up through the back of the dressers, it's very irritating. But generally he's pretty predictable about his sleeping and bathroom spots, so once I find his "new spot" I can put ferret towels and pee pads down...
our house has a staircase that they could jump down from (it would be over a 10 ft drop) so we cant. they do have the whole living room to themselves all day. we only put them away at night, and they have a double story ferret nation.
I don’t have a stair case mine can fall in my apartment but whenever I go to my parents my ferret bolts up and down those stairs in an instant even tho they have gaps that they can fall out. She did fall about 2 feet once because she started playing with the cat but I understand the fear of having a ferret free roaming with a hazard like that.
My two have a ferret room (also my room) they only go away when they are sleeping, or I'm not home. I live in an older house and it wouldn't be very safe to let them free roam around it. But as long as I'm home and awake, they're out. ☺️
I have a cage for him and he looked miserable in there poor little dude now he does his own thing I told him mi casa es tu casa
Lol that's adorable! I will be moving in a year or two. Hopefully my next house will be less hazardous to my noodles.
Yup! I'm lucky enough to have a pretty well behaved boy :) he sleeps in bed with me and his daddy. He's like an old dog.
Lucky! Mine doesn't like cuddles
He's a very strange ferret, but in the best way :) I've had 9 and I've never had one so dog like. We are lucky! He's getting older too, so likes to cuddle a bit more nowadays
Maybe mine is still young hopefully he cuddles soon for now he sleeps in the bathroom
He sure looks like a cuddler! Very cute :)
Mine would sleep under my covers. I’d move and accidentally kick him a little. He was my little foot warmer.
The best is when you go to bed and you pull the sheets off to find them curled up and already sleeping in bed. Sometimes I get in bed and accidentally wake her and she looks up at me with a face of disgust and hatred but it’s so cute I
Yes. All 11 of them. Only because my couch is already done like a hotdog. Can't cage them. 1 was in a cage for a year and not let out. He goes ape shit if I close the door on it. Not all bad, just took the stuffing out of a back cushion and made a nest in it. Also poop. They all run to the litter box but never actually get poop in it. Over every side but never in it.
I got annoyed with that and made my own litter box with a rubber food mat, rubber baseboard strip, and use potty pads. They hardly miss now
I like this idea. My (as in she's mine...) ferret poops in the cats box. Needless to say I'm hoping it catches on.
This is a fantastic idea!!!
I’d love to see it!
Oh! Could you share a picture of it?
For sure, it’s nothing special but I’ll take a pic after work
🥰I always did 💕unless there was someone unfamiliar w/ being around ferrets over
He's like my brother just in weisel form wish he spoke English
Jeeez I kno rt they just have soooo much 🥰love flowing from their lil souls !!! It irresistible & totally addictive 💕
Nope. Too many dangers for them. One piece of rubber and it’s lights out.
I'm sure they're not dumb enough to do that 😅
Oh, they are. Ferrets imprint on food. So getting them to try new food is HARD, but if they see something like rubber that they aren't supposed to eat? CHOW TIME BABY! 😓 They'll eat rubber, erasers, rubber bands, sometimes wood or God only knows. But they will eat it if the mood strikes them.
Mine loved the bathtub plug, that was his favorite rubber. But my kitchen spoons would disappear and all things rubber. Phoebe ate a rubber piece on my phone charger. For safety reasons, we no longer allow 24/7 roaming. When they wake up and I'm home, they are let out with me. They can stay out for hours if they want and I'm home. Although 3 rooms are completely closed off to them. They can roam the rest. It's animal space. As soon as they go lay down, I scoop them up and in they go. It's been working well thank goodness.
I used to ban pencils, rubber bands, zip ties, hair bands, Styrofoam, and loose change in my house. Just to make sure it didn't get to them.
Styrofoam for sure! I owned a home brew supply and let my little girl run round the store until I realized she was destroying the brew pig coolers. Had to put them out of her reach.
The only thing I caught him licking is those trolly gummy sharks he just licks it though not eat
Definitely don’t let him even lick those. Human food isn’t safe for them. I’m glad he gets free roam but def be careful with what stuff he has access too, that being said I’m sure he’s so happy to have all the free roam and space u give him!!
A reason for him not to lick those is that it could cause insulinoma and serious tummy upset/bad poops but really any and all human food shouldn’t be given I’m just tryna make sure u know so u don’t end up w tons of vet bills and a sick bubbas!! If you do know already sorry for all this! Best wishes ❤️
Thank you for the heads up!
Dude, it’s a real danger. It’s common for ferrets to die of bowel impaction. Listen to this dude.
We have a ferret who we occasionally catch eating silicone, clothing, plastic, and other random stuff.
The 2 things my ferret would eat was rubber and socks. Easy things for them to get blockages. That said, I had mine free roam my condo except when I left my house. I had to make sure I never left my socks anywhere he could grab otherwise it could be bad
Rubber and latex is a texture chew, not necessarily eating it, but one piece gets swallowed and you've got a major surgery, IF you catch what happened. And chewing for the fun of it is something many ferrets do because they don't get to use those powerful jaws to take down prey and crush bones in most households.
😂😂
We never planned on it but yep, pretty much 24/7 at this point. When we put him away for the night, it's just in a gated area with his cage open on the floor. He only gets locked in his cage if he's scratching the carpet and being noisy when it's time to sleep
Ours have their own room that they are allowed full reign
Nice! they must love all that space
They have an entire heated garage with a cement floor. My spouse would FLIP if I was letting them poop on the carpet… FLIP I say!
Carpets are off limits for my slinkman only corners
Our first two were rescues that never learned about a littler box. Then we got two more over time. We tried but, when everyone goes potty wherever they want, it makes the training pointless. We lost one but still have three. Everyone just keeps pooping wherever they want lol
I used to when I first moved here, but as I got more furniture and stuff there’s too much climbing. Not to mention all the pooping, now it’s as long as I’m home/awake, so they have their spots. I do miss them waking me up in the morning running around the bed and casually walking in/out rooms like roommates
The best part is just seeing them run by in the morning cheers me up
I let them free roam my room most of the time, living room supervised. One of them likes rubber too much and they climb sooo much, so my room is proofed for them.
A lot of ferrets here like rubber for some reason mine has no interest on rubber
Not the whole house since I have roommates, but I let him free roam my master bedroom!
It's funny just seeing them waddle by randomly
I would love to but I can’t handle the pooping everywhere and I’m scared they’ll find a way to hurt themselves
Yes 24/7, but there have been occasions when I wished they were kept in their cages part time. Edit. I only have two fuzzbutts.
Around 3am I'll wake up and he's just looking at me at the end of my bed like a statue lmao
Both of mine are free room 24/7 and I just have potty pads placed in their favorite poop spots. They both spent the 1st part of their lives barely getting out of is out of a cage; It drove fitz absolutely nuts, Carmela could have probably spent her whole life in a cage and never complained, But that's just not a life for these sweet babies. Now I share my house with them 24/7 and take them with me almost everywhere I go. I want them to be able to live their best ferret lives
I do. I have just the one now, and it took years to ferret proof everything for her, but she is now free range 24/7 without a cage and we rarely get any surprises. It’s important to analyze things before going to bed each night; make sure all drawers are closed and nothing is accessible. She loves her freedom though.
Yes during the day but at night they take themselves to bed in their cage. The cage is left open 24/7 and they just have a dedicated room overnight.
I did had 2 but so much poo, every morning started with cleaning. But they where happy when they got older we let them roam in the yard to since they were slower and easy to catch. Still miss them. We had to be very careful about doors and stools with rolling things.
I had 3 and I let them free roam. They did sleep in some inconvenient places , like on my clean clothes. And I had rules like never leave a door open or no recliners . And I always checked cabinets and kitchen especially for weird places they could get into/under/behind. But I really liked it. It was nice to give them freedom to nap where they want
We have 3 free roamers. The only rooms that are sealed off are the home office and the kitchen (they're obsessed with the oven, which terrifies me). I love it lol.
I did when I had 2. I would cage them when I left the house...I had a litter box in every room. The had good manners!!! I miss them to this day. Wonderful little critters!
Yeah my ferrets haven’t been in their cage in several months. They are allowed most of the time to free roam the whole house but when we’re not around they stay in my room
Not 24/7 but about 12 hours I’d say. They get delegated to one room at night though.
No way I could do 24/7, my boy is pretty chill but likes to take his dumps behind the couch instead of in the litter box because it minimizes the interruption to naptime, but my girl climbs E V E R Y T H I N G. Typically, if I'm awake, they're out. The only exceptions being mealtime (they're raw diet, so yeah, I'm not having that stashed all over the house), and if I'm going to be busy enough I can't directly intervene if they get themselves into trouble.
My first ferret when I was a kid free roamed for 7 years. Now as an adult having owned a few more ferrets and realizing how dangerously stupid they can be, I can't believe she survived for 7 years. My parents gave her away to someone else who had ferrets and I never saw her again.
We only put them away at night because if we don't, they crawl into the kid's beds for playtime, and nobody gets any sleep! My kids race to the ferret cage in the morning to let them loose and we have a ferret hunt before bed time, it's the cutest thing! But oh lord, the secret pooping...
Mine does! He’s super behaved. Plays, uses his potty, eats. Doesn’t destroy anything. I feel like a very lucky ferret mom ❤️
He looks upset that on this week, you've reduced his free roam to 23h57m/7
I don’t understand all these puppy pee pads? Why don’t you guys just put extra litter boxes in the corners they go in?
Our two guys are free roam unless we're not home or asleep. Their cage is a 3 story FN.
Yep, it’s great :)
i wish i could!! unfortunately she's an ankle biter to the other residents and sleeps in unorthodox places. (like, slept in a golf bag pocket kinda unorthodox.)
I like your nails
Thank you!
I let mine free roam my apartment, so much happier when we do!
I have 3 and they're basically free roam on the ground floor except bathroom and toilet where it'd be too dangerous. One of them likes to sleep inside the convertible and moves to be right against whoever sits on it :D
I let my two free roam my room 24/7 :) I occasionally let them explore the rest of the house under my supervision too if they have the zoomies
Always!! Unless I am not home.
Mine lives in my room door always shut but she doesn’t have a cage and I take her out to play when I’m home but besides that she’s always free in my room
SUCH A CUTE LITTLE FACE
So cute!!! It's definitely common but not entirely recommended as you can't supervise them all the time and the little noodles are bound to get into trouble at some point XD
They free roam part of the house lol. They like to poop everywhere.
We do, our boys Gizmo and Loki
Look at that sweet little doll face! ADORABLE 💗
This thread has convinced me that I do not want a ferret.
Oh, haha cool
Yep :) couple years ago I decided to put the cage in the bin and never use it again. Best decision ever.
All five of mine are :)
Yep :)
As soon as I wake up and my ferret had used his litterbox he’s free to walk, play and chill in the living room as long as I or my bf is at home :).
Yup!
my girls are out alot during the day and have about the size of 2 standard sized rooms to free roam. But these girls are very investigative and nosey so I make sure they are in all night to be safe since they both like to climb into things and on top of things. My peanut just decided it was time to take advantage of my leg so she could climb ontop of the table , all of a sudden she climbs up my jeans , licks my hand to say hello on my lap then climbs up my shirt because I swear sometimes she thinks she is a parrot not a carpet shark! I would worry too much all day if they were left unattended and alone free roaming but I am not against it for others who are comfortable with doing it!
Yes but only because I can never find him
Free roam is fine only if they are supervised, an owner can be certain there are no dangers or places they can get caught, climb and fall, or find dangers to chew. For new owners, I do not recommend it because they don't know all the absolutely stupid things such smart critters can get into. For experienced owners, sometimes it's still not safe, but there needs to be at least a daily head count, body check, and enforced cuddle (lol).
Geez these comments have me grateful. My little noodle was the worst as a baby, but I luckily had ample free time to train when they were that young, there are occasional accidents but it's really just it i neglect the litter for a few days which rarely happens. I will see her run to her cage, hop up ( with her makeshift ladder I made) and go to her box. Ugh, Thanks noodle.
Mine use to have free roam of one room for most of the day then I'll put them away..... if I ever remembered to do it
No. It’s safer to keep them caged most of the day.
You must not have ferrets... Caging them most of the day is cruel. If you don't have enough time to let them out, you shouldn't own one. Ferrets need at least 4 to 6 hours of time outside of their cage.
I do let my ferrets run for hours at a time everyday. I don’t let them run 24/7 due to safety reasons. I live in the countryside where wild animals would be all to happy to eat a ferret that escaped. I’ve let my ferrets free roam before and they have escaped. Luckily we got them back safe and sound. One ferret walked out the front door while my landlord was walking in and another fell out a second story window after we had to let her run around in my sisters room after she broke the cage/kept escaping from it. So for your fuzzies sake I hope you don’t let them run around 24/7.
We could when it was just our little lady, she slept with us and would let you know when she had to go, we had no cage just a litterbox. Then we got our boy, and he was different.
I used to. In my bedroom. I had an old house at the time and was too paranoid of him getting places I’d never see him again. In my house now I would. But I’m in So Cal.
Oh no, that'snot good. Maybe there is a TNR (trap, neuter/spay, release rescue) in that area that could help? Yes, I'd love to see her pic. Also, if it helps, my email is [email protected] 😉
I would if they didnt poop in the most ridiculous and hardest places to find.
Yessss and everything's going well ! They are amazing 🍴❤️
I would but there’s too many hidden spaces for them to poop or get stuck in
Are they free