I decided to figure out the bike trail to my friend Julie's house. Since it was a spur of the moment decision, I didn't call ahead to make sure that she would be home, and 4.5 miles later, of course, she wasn't.
I had the ferrets with me in the Ferret Bag (tm). I put hard plastic ice packs into the bottom of the backpack to help keep them cool. As soon as I got to Julie's place, I took the ferrets out of the bag so that they could take care of any pending business and then I rung the bell. The little dears played around the plants in front of Julie's and then I decided to walk them back to the park a block away. Half way down the block, this little boy saw Fuzzball. He went running to find his daddy, shouting about "puppies with no legs!" His dad came and saw them, and I explained that they were ferrets. Father and son were thrilled.
I had to carry Fuzzball part of the way, but I finally got the ferrets to the park. I stopped at a picnic table and pulled a water bottle and water dish out of the backpack and watered the ferrets. Then I threw them back into the bag and rode home. I suspect it took about 25 minutes or half an hour each way, but however long it was, it felt good to get out and ride!
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2 comments:
Hi,
Me and my boyfriend have one ferret(Rocky) and he's going to be 4 months on the 26th. Are you ferrets trained? My ferret does not seem to listen. There are times he goes so crazy and starts biting me. Do you have any tips? He's going to be moving to my house where he's going to have his own room but I am afraid he's going to bite everyone. It also seems that when theres people around he goes crazier. E-mail me fsclassen@gmail.com
Congratulations on Rocky! Now that you're completely overwhelmed by one little bundle of joy, I recommend that you get a second. Your ferret baby wants to play! Biting is part of natural ferret play, so getting him a buddy to bite on would provide him with a safe outlet for his play aggression. A female is probably the safest choice, though if you take him to meet the new ferret first, potentially any ferret is OK. I suggest looking for local shelters in the area, since they have many ferrets, and sometimes they are already well socialized. Ferrets at pet stores tend to be little undisciplined brats! (Think lots of kids and no supervision, and you'll understand.)
So, what to do with Rocky and his new buddy when they bite you:
All the books that I've read recommend that you stop them from biting as young as possible. Baby nips become adult bites. There are a number of possibilities:
-Put bitter apple or something else that they hate (I use chili sauce on anything that my guys shouldn't bite-but this can be rather extreme; avoid your eyes and theirs!) on your fingers so that he won't like the flavor of your fingers.
-Make a little shriek like a hurt ferret when he bites, so he knows that it hurts you. If he just wants to play, this should encourage him to at least temper his level of biting.
-When he bites, take him by the scruff of the neck like Mama Ferret and shake him just the slightest bit, accompanied by hisses.
I highly recommend that you get the book Ferrets for Dummies. Even for those of us who don't consider ourselves dummies, it is full of useful information! It runs around $20, but you can usually get it cheaper used online.
A useful website is http://www.ferretcentral.org/faq/part3.html#nipping
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