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To cage, or not to cage...
Environment, Room Temperature
Lighting
Litter
To
cage...
Ferrets are not like hamsters or
gerbils or other small animals that stay caged all the time. Think
of ferrets as being more like cats, but not as independent as cats; they
require more care than cats. Your ferrets can live in a wire cage (the
larger, the better), but they should be allowed to run around outside their
cage (but inside your house) for at least one hour each day.
If you decide to cage your ferrets, get the
largest cage you can afford. They are very active and need lots of room
to move around during those times when they are not out exercising in a
ferretproofed room in your home.
See our
Ferret Products page for companies
who make ferret cages.
Or not to
cage...
Many ferret owners dedicate an
extra bedroom or bathroom in their homes to be "the ferret room" so
that the ferrets can be more or less free-roaming. However, if you decide to keep your ferrets
in a free-roaming state in an extra bathroom, make sure to always tape the
toilet lid DOWN. Ferrets are good climbers and jumpers. If they
can get the seat up and if they fall in your toilet, they may not be able to
get out and they could drown!
If you decide to allow your ferrets to
free-roam in "the ferret room" in your house all the time, you MUST be careful
when entering, exiting, and moving about in the room. We have heard too
many horror stories of people stepping on (and killing!) their ferrets when
the ferrets were in sleep sacks on the floor, or of people accidentally
squashing a ferret head or body in a closing door when exiting the ferret
room.
The Ferretlady
says...
Although I keep my ferrets in a cage (a
very large cage!) most of the time, I also have a room that functions as the
ferret play room. I am in the process of creating a solution to the
entry door problem. I plan to build a little boxed-in area just inside
the ferret room door, encircling the door entrance.
I call it the "submarine
entrance." In submarines and other underwater vessels, there are often
double sets of doors leading to the outside when divers can enter when the
vessel is underwater. Divers enter through one set of doors, drain the
room of water, then open the second set of doors to enter the rest of the
vessel.
The walls of the "box" will be about three
feet high and made of one-inch thick plywood. One of the walls will be
on hinges and will swing out into the ferret room. Then, when I open the
room door to enter from the hallway, I will be standing inside the ferret-free
boxed-in area. I can then close the door to the room, and open the
swinging door of the box to enter the ferret room.
When I prepare to exit the room, if one of
the ferrets squeezes past the swinging door as I am closing it, and enters the
box with me, all I have to do is simply pick it up, lift it over the wall of
the boxed-in area, and set it down in the room again. The door to the
hallway would still be closed at this point, so the ferret would not have been
able to get past me and into the hallway. I can then open the full-size
door and exit the room.
With this device, I will be able to enter
or exit the room without fear of injury to my little fuzzies.
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These can be dangerous! |
I don't approve of the "gates" that wedge
inside a door jamb. If the gate is low enough that you can step over it
easily, it is probably not high enough to keep your fuzzies from jumping out.
If it's high enough to discourage even the largest and most persistent ferret
you have, it will probably be too high for you to step over comfortably.
Trying to get over one of these things means you risk losing your balance and
falling, causing injury to yourself or one of your beloved fuzzies! I
know of a woman who accidentally killed some ferrets this way - they had
gotten under her feet as she was coming down with all her weight on the other
side.
If you don't intend to step over these
barriers at all, they will be fine. But if you think you will be tempted
to step over the gate to get something out of the room without having to
disengage the gate from the doorway...then don't use this device. Build
a submarine entrance box in the doorway instead.
Environment,
Room Temperature
Ferrets are primarily cold-climate pets.
The room temperature in the ferret room, or the room where you keep their
cage, should remain between 65 and 75 degrees. Temperatures in the 80's
are not comfortable for ferrets, and ferrets can die within minutes in
temperatures of 90 degrees or more.
See The FerretLady's article:
How to Protect Your Ferrets When It's HOT
Lighting
Ferrets need periods of dark and light to
regulate their hormones. Make certain they get at least 10 to 12 hours
of total darkness every night. Overexposure to light (whether natural
sunlight or indoor artificial light) can result in overproduction of hormones
and lead to adrenal gland disease. For more information about
adrenal gland disease, click here.
Litter
Do NOT use standard cat litter. The
fine dust it creates can cause respiratory problems in ferrets (and sometimes
in humans!).
Most seasoned ferret owners prefer recycled
newspaper product, such as Yesterday's News.
 
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