Day 1, 2 and 3!

Well day one with the two new ferrets, was exhausting for many reasons!



One was the worry about would they like me, the house all the other animals? Would everyone get along? Another was would they wreck my house like the house rabbit did?(spawn of the devil that one, but she was cute!) Would they smell as bad their reputations suggest? And then mainly would I like them?



Well the chap from the ferret rescue centre came to do the house check and then the plan was to leave them with me if he thought all was ok. We had the chat and it felt like 20 questions, what do you know about ferrets? Why did you want them what are you going to do with them,? i.e. keep them outside in the house, in the cage most of the time or let them run wild, havee tehm for stew or feed them to the pet dragon living in your outhouse. That kind of thing!



Well I must have passed the Q&A as half an hour later I was left with the two bundles of mindless energy! They were like that half because they had been in their cage for an hour and a half in the car and half because that's what they're like!



You could probably now guess the main reason for my exhaustion! Yes you got it right, they never stopped moving... so much for the "Ferrets can sleep up to 22 hours a day." info I got from the books/internet etc.



Maybe it's because of the new house, smells other animals etc but they stayed up for a very long time. As everyone and the chap suggested, I kept them in the cage for the first night to let them get used to the above mentioned, so after a little handling and getting to know each other session thats what we did.



The inside of the cage got wrecked! I had nicely placed bowls, water and bedding and they even had a shelf to jump up on to see about, also hammocks and toys!



I would say within minutes, but that was an eternity compared to how long it took these two to make the cage look like armageddon had struck. the shelf fell down and they burrowed under it spreading bedding and food all over the place.

And then there is the smell...Ferrets normally do not smell anymore than a cat or dog does, normally! But of course I just happen to get two female ferrets ten days after they come into season, (which is every spring and can last through autumn, they're body clocks change once the dasy start getting brighter and longer and of course the opposite happens in winter ). You would not believe the smell! I already have a cat, a dog, a rat and two guinea pigs and so I wouldn't pretend that my house smell as fresh as a daisy but with air freshners strategically placed, at least my friends don't have to hold their breaths.

The ferret smell is strong to say the least, but it's not OMG I'm gonna be sick kind of smell. (Well not to me, maybe to your aged frail grandmother or a houseproud housewife.) It is vey musky, with a hint of musk and oh with extra musk thrown in just for good measure. If your female ferret is kept in season without mating with either a vasectomised or full ferret, she can develop a type of anaemia and then die. If you are not going to breed with her the best thing to do is get her spayed. To get the ferret out of season you get her a jill jab, which is basically hormones and so takes her out of season. You can then get her spayed. Also hurrah! This gets rid of the smell! We just got our jabs today so hopefully in a couple of days I can invite people round without having to hand out pegs at the front door.

We are still getting used to each other but at least I can lift them to my face and get a little kiss now, without them squirming to get put down. We are bonding but I suppose as I am the person that feeds them they do get to know who to suck up to first. I wish they would bond with the dog as quickly as she is fed up of being followed everywhere and having her legs nipped. At the moment they seem to see her as a mixture between enemy and a food stuff. Poor meg but she if bite back once when it mist of hurt and it was quite funny to see the ferret hurtling towards the bathroom in shock.

On the plus though it is so worth it to see them playing all the time they are awake, crawling into tubes and things and to see them sleeping in weird places. The funniest thing that has happened so far is when Primmy, the youngest but biggest, climbed my stairs which are wooden and so have gaps between each one. We heard a scrabbling noise and loooked up to see a confused ferret falling thorough the air only to land safely on the sofa barely missing someones head. Also it is cute to find them asleep in the strangest of places i.e. behind chairs, under my pile of childhood teddy bears (yes it was hard to tell the difference), and then we found one in the box that we keep full of shoes by the back door. Primmys' favourite place so far is to sleep is in any carrier bag she can find, whether it's in a cupboard or on the table still full of shopping.

I am sure day four and onwards can only get more interesting so please keep checking for more updates.

Cat

(No-one was hurt in the making of this blog.)