What It's REALLY Like To Keep Ferrets As Pets

Today I'm going to be sharing with you what you can expect when bringing home your first ferrets. It's going to be one of those videos isn't it? Hey what's up creatures it's Em and welcome back to my channel. If you're brand new to my channel welcome my name's Em, I'm a former zookeeper and I'm a digital animal educator. If you haven't already remember to hit that subscribe button down below, become part of the creature crew and also hit that notification bell down in the corner there so you don't miss a single upload. Today I'm going to be spilling the tea on what it's really like to own ferrets. Now it's no secret that I love ferrets, they're one of my favourite pets ever to keep. However they're not suitable for absolutely everyone and you'll see why as this video goes on. If you also keep ferrets feel free to leave your comments down below as to what your ferret keeping experience is or has been like and if you have any ferret questions because you're considering a ferret feel free to leave those comments down below I will try to answer as many of them as possible or the community can help to take care of you as well because we have a ton of knowledgeable keepers here at the creature crew. So let's go and meet the stars of today's video and I will share with you all of my ferret keeping experiences. So first things first, this is a ferret, that's a potato. This monster right here who I'm about to liberate is Dobby, she is my female ferret and quite characteristically she is the smaller of my ferrets, she is the female. This is my male Niffler, he is demonstrating so beautifully, something that many people love about ferrets which is just how bouncy they are. So if you're going to be keeping a ferret you can expect a lot of crazy, a lot of crazy, so crazy! Bye! Ferrets really do sleep for many many hours of the day however they will be very full of energy once they do finally come out and the wonderful thing about ferrets is that they are always so eager to play and that's why it's always great to have at least a pair of ferrets. There's nothing like another ferret to tire out a ferret so I would certainly recommend if you are planning on getting a ferret please think about two of them. Oh and we come on to the next little fact about ferrets, oh god this is just coming on those videos, okay no no skipping that one we're going to come on to this one, ferrets will get into everything and anything. This is currently a trash bag full of just stuff from hoovering the floor and from cleaning out some of their enclosure and of course they're going to try and get in there because they're not supposed to. Oh god this video is already such a mess, can we just keep it together please? So anything that you do not want to have your ferrets get into you have to take up off the floor and even then sometimes ferrets can be really fantastic climbers so that's a really lovely demonstration that they are just pure chaos and also they will get into everything so very importantly if you are planning to bring home a ferret or two as I would suggest it is double trouble but also double the fun, make sure you ferret proof whichever room they are going to be in, they can be escape artists and then when they escape as you can see they will get into everything so this this is coming off off the floor okay, you cannot have this, just gonna have to go on my desk for now, there we go. So that is something that you have to be aware of is that ferrets are certainly a lot of fun but they are also a lot of work because you do not, because you cannot really take your eyes off of them for a second lest they get themselves into some life-threatening issue, that's pretty standard, I feel like my ferrets existence is mostly to either give me a heart attack or to test my reflexes so that's kind of what having ferrets has been like for me I've had a really interesting experience with ferrets because I have kept both pet ferrets as well as a working ferret or a retired working ferret, his name was Bear, he's sadly no longer with us, I do miss him every day but he lived to a very ripe old age and he was a ferret who was bred to be a rabbiter, that was the original intended purpose of the ferret and it's why that they were domesticated, was to help people hunt small game like rabbits and pheasants so that's what Bear, my old ferret, used to do and he was a very relaxed, very healthy ferret for many years whereas in the United States where I am now, because that was back in England, I have what is known here in my hand as a Marshall's ferret, if you are a ferret fancier in general you will have heard of Marshall ferrets because Marshall seemed to have the edge on the market, a bit of a monopoly on the production of ferrets especially here in the United States, now that is not necessarily a good thing because although we love a successful company a lot of the Marshall's ferrets do seem to have more health issues than ferrets in general, now in general ferrets can be very unhealthy, they do seem to get a lot of tumours, they seem to get cancers very easily, lots of lymphomas going on, they also are very prone to adrenal disease, so a couple of the ailments you're going to want to read up on as well as the early warning signs I will put on the screen right now so you can screenshot that and go and learn a bit more about those, then the other thing I want to come back to is something that Niffler is demonstrating right now which is that ferrets can be mouthy, now ferrets are indeed obligate carnivores, they are supposed to only eat meat and as such they do have carnivorous teeth, let's have a little look see at your teeth, ow, hey, hey that is too hard mister, that is no, no, no, that's not okay, all right, no, hey, no, so ferrets, this was the next point that I wanted to come on to, is ferrets can be extremely nippy, now Niffler is not generally nippy, this is not to be nasty, this is him being very very playful but as you can see, let me see if I can focus my camera, they can leave puncture wounds, now that wasn't entirely hard, if Niffler wanted he could have very easily broken my skin but he didn't, he is just being a big baby and being extremely, extremely athletic for Niffler, being extremely hyper today, so he's being very mouthy, he normally is not that mouthy, so that's why I corrected him and I did that just by gently scruffing him and pinning him and just saying no, now ferrets are very smart, they are intelligent, they do understand what no means, they just don't care, so you can also expect if you're going to be bringing home ferrets that they are different and difficult to train, speaking of training ferrets, a lot of people like to train their ferrets to be litter trained and to use a litter pan, it's up to you if you want to do that, I personally have chosen not to and this is what I'm greeted with every morning, so this is a whole night's worth of poop from two ferrets, it is really stinky okay, let me just tell you right now, it's really stinky, so if you are not a fan of strong odours and smells or you live with someone who is not a fan of strong odours or smells, I would not recommend a ferret for you because the smell never really goes away, you can somewhat manage it depending on the bedding that you use as well as the diet that you are feeding your ferret, I have to say a raw fed ferret is not only usually a more healthy ferret, but they are also slightly less stinky than those that are fed with very cheap filler ridden kibbles from a store, so if you are going to be looking into a kibble, I would certainly research that, the one that I used with success with these two for quite a while was Wysong, but they are now both raw fed ferrets and they take some of the meat from my dog Kiba, who is a raw fed dog, and they have that every day, so sometimes they have lamb, sometimes they have chicken or quail or turkey, Niffler sometimes still won't eat it, Dobby is not a Marshall's ferret, she is an independently bred ferret which is much more difficult to come by in the United States, so I have a feeling that she's always going to be healthier than Niffler, I already have my suspicions that Niffler might need to go to the vet soon just because his coat is not what it used to be, even though he doesn't have any kind of lumps on him or scabs right now, hey no, certainly not, we don't do that, hey Niffler, that's rude, watch me poke you in the throat, see how you like that, how'd you like them apples huh, how'd you like that, he's just difficult to be angry with, but yes Dobby is independently bred, so she is a lot more healthy really than Niffler and I would assume that she will probably be around for a few more years than Niffler would be, which is not something that I like to think about, but every ferret owner should take that into consideration. Something else that you're going to want to take into consideration when you bring home ferrets is whether or not they are desexed and that means whether or not they are still able to produce offspring. In the United States you're not supposed to sell ferrets which are not altered, so neither Dobby or Niffler can reproduce, they just don't have the ability to do that, they've been spayed and neutered, Niffler would have been neutered at a very young age as did Dobby despite being a technically a backyard-bred ferret. It's funny, it's like backyard-bred ferrets in the USA are healthier than the mass-produced ones, I know, what a paradox, what a strange time to live in when that is the case. So that is a little bit about ferret health, something else that you're going to want to look out for is that you are regularly clipping their nails, their nails can get extremely sharp and very scratchy, so you do want to make sure that you're taking care of their nails and you don't want to bathe them too often. I know that their smell is not to everybody's liking, please don't knock yourself out Dobby, but that just comes with them, it never officially goes away forever, it's not like as they get older they don't have that odour anymore, it will always be there for them, so you just kind of have to love it. And most people do eventually really love the smell of their ferrets and they go a little bit nose-blind to them, so definitely you want to keep them in a well-ventilated room, as you can see I have some big windows up there, so those often stay open in the summer and then in the winter I honestly just have to really keep on top of their poop as much as I can. I haven't done it yet today because I've had a lot of meetings, but that's why their bedding is out, because I have to clean them out in a moment. The bedding that I like to use can be pretty expensive, it is by Carefresh, it's their nesting bedding, it also has some odour control properties to it, which is really nice, and also my ferrets just really like it. Some people complain that it's too dusty, I could see that being a problem with some lesser brands, but I haven't really found this brand to be that dusty. I would, if you're considering it, maybe go for like one or two bags and see how your ferrets do, and if not you can switch them to an alternative, for example in the USA something a lot of people like to do who keep ferrets is to keep them on fleece. I really hate fleece, I am not ever gonna keep my ferrets on fleece. Where'd you go Toffee? Oh she's she's gone already, that's just that, oh you surprised me, you surprised me, come here, bring that cute little butt over here, and you're so cute too, but you're being nippy today, and that is rude mister, that is rude, yeah. Ferrets are also pretty robust, so they're fun for playtime if you're an adult or you're a teenager, but at the same time you also do want to remember they're small and they can get stuck in places and they're still, you should still be gentle even though they are pretty robust. They do also shed, that's something else you need to take into consideration if you have fur allergies, is that they can shed. Niffler has just started to blow his coat which looks a lot more patchy than Dobby's which is still really nice and soft. Oh hello Car, Car is actually a really great point right now, you also want to make sure that if you are cohabiting your ferrets in a multi-pet household that your ferrets do not come into contact with any other animal. Now I will put an asterisk here because a lot of ferrets can get on really well with some well-behaved dogs and sometimes even cats, but what you have to remember with cats is that they often have a lot bacteria in their claws which can be fatal to small mammals, ferrets included, and dogs of course they can have much more powerful jaws than ferrets and what it could be just like a friendly nip might be really fatal to a ferret, so if you are going to introduce your ferrets to any other house animals be sure to do it under intense supervision and also expect your ferrets to give a hearty nip to any animals that they come into contact with. Remember ferrets are a predator and they are an obligate carnivore so do not introduce them to other small pets with the exception of other social ferrets. Do not mix them or try and house them with rabbits, that is their natural food. Do not try and mix them or have them make friends with birds, that is also their natural food. Rats and mice as well are their natural food, do not mix them, they do not want to be play buddies trust me. The other kind of sad thing that you have to remember with regards to ferrets is that they don't have the longest of lifespans. Some online resources say that they will live eight to ten years, now a healthy ferret might just do that but honestly these Marshall's ferrets and some of the more poorly bred ferrets are not even going to live half that because they do get sick. I'm anticipating that at least one of my ferrets will likely get sick over the next couple of months or the next year because they're both getting on into their middle age. I don't have any cause for concern right now but it is something, oh god I say I have no cause for concern, it's mostly just Niffler's brain cells, he has none left. But I do know that especially with the Marshall's ferrets there can be issues so I am just going to have to keep an eye on Niffler for any signs of adrenal or any signs of him just acting more unusual than he already does. Hi Niff, what you doing Niff? You can also expect to be on your toes a lot because ferrets do get into everything and one of their favorite things to do is to tunnel because tunneling is essentially what they were bred to do. They're bred to go down into rabbit holes and to flush out rabbits for farmers and hunters so if you do have anything tubular, for example these super three ways, sadly by Marshall's, then they're really great fun for ferrets to enjoy and to play with. A healthy ferret is a playful ferret and a playful ferret never seems to get tired so definitely be sure that you have the right amount of time to dedicate to having them outside of their enclosure for I would say at least two to three hours a day. That's kind of why I have them in my office so that I can kind of just let them out and they can run around while I'm down here. You know that editing videos for me takes a really long time, it can sometimes be an eight hour process or 12 hours depending on the subject matter so that is why I often just let them go crazy when I am down here in my office but there's certainly a lot of fun. It looks like Niffler is trying to eat Dobby's face and she's not having it today which is kind of funny. Oh oh he's gonna do it. When he gets her started he ends up coming off the worst because she, even though she is smaller than Niffler, is vastly more strong than Niffler and a lot more agile as well and if she wants to she can really teach him a lesson. Generally speaking I've found that females seem to be somewhat more intelligent and goal-oriented than the males. When I say goal-oriented it's because the females seem to like to have a goal, they like to stash things, for example socks or anything with a rubbery texture including tv remotes, cameras, lots of different things that Dobby has stashed. She's even tried to stash a tripod. In fact I have a small tripod over here. She might try and stash it if I leave it there for her to discover. We'll see. Oh I think she's already on the scent. There we go. Are you gonna stash it Dobbs? You gonna come through for me on camera today or are you going to be difficult and turn me into a liar? Are you gonna do something about it Dobby? You gonna take it? There we go. They're surprisingly strong for a small creature. There we go. She wants to stash it and steal it. It's kind of why I pulled out the leg at the bottom because it won't fit through there as easily and I had a feeling she might take it. So yes anything of a rubbery texture ferrets seem to be obsessed with so you can expect a lot of damage. She's even damaged a drill in the past like a handheld drill. She bit off the rubber grip. It was kind of funny. So yes that is what I found with females. Males I've always found to be a little bit more laid back and a little bit more lazy. I've also found them to be a bit more affectionate as well but also a lot more dopey. So if you want to have a more laid back experience you might want to invest in two males. If you want a more crazy experience you can definitely throw a female or two into the mix. They're definitely a little bit more cray cray. That's all I'm saying. And Dobby has decided to steal my sock. This is why she is called Dobby because she likes socks. Give me my sock. Give it. Give it. Give me my sock. Dobby. She's like a little velociraptor. She's tiny and violent. She literally wakes up every day and chooses violence and to be annoying. Something else that you can expect is to dedicate a lot of space to your ferrets. So when I'm down here which is most of the day my ferrets can go in and out of their enclosure. This here is the furplast ferret tower. I personally love it. It is a lot bigger in real life than you would expect. I can actually fit my whole torso in this hole and get in there to clean the enclosure. It is much much larger than it looks on camera. I forget the actual dimensions but I will put them in just so that you can you can tell. That's a book on top there so it gives you some idea of like this is a really massive enclosure. However what I would suggest is if you're looking for an enclosure try putting an enclosure within a pen I think or a room even better if you can. Something I'd like to do when I move is to re-erect my clearly loved pets pens. I have three of them which I feel very lucky to have and oh hello can we come out from there please thank you. And what I'm going to do is to hopefully have a room where I can put my ferret enclosure but with a clearly loved pets pen around it so that the enclosure is always open. So yes definitely plan to have a lot of space dedicated to your ferrets. In Europe a lot of people decide to keep their ferrets outdoors in sheds. I would never suggest putting them in a hutch. Number one a hutch is too small and number two they don't provide quite as much prevention from the cold and protection from the cold I should say as a shed would like with solid walls. But certainly a shed will give you more of a break from their smell and it might potentially give your ferrets more space too. Another reason why not to keep them in a hutch outside is they are escape artists and they do not have a homing instinct so if they get out which they most likely will at some point they will not find their way home and it will be to their detriment and they will probably not survive very long in the wild. So that is something that you have to be very cognizant of and you definitely want to look after your ferrets because they're wonderful. Also when you're walking you're going to want to expect to watch where your feet are at all times because ferrets do often want to follow their owners around even when you have nothing for them they're just like oh where are you going is there extra mayhem for me to get into there and they can really quickly catch up and get under your feet and you can seriously injure them so you can expect always keeping an eye on where you tread. And that's it for today I hope that you really enjoyed this video it was a lot of fun to make and a lot of behind the scenes chaos as well not gonna lie that's just what ferrets are like so if you enjoy the chaotic good in your life I hope that you will enjoy looking forward to keeping your very own ferrets but I also hope that you will do so responsibly and do a ton more research outside of this video to get as many different points of view as you can. Thank you all so much for watching I will see you in another video soon. Bye!