Ferrets A Friendly Playful Pet

Ferrets A Friendly Playful Pet

Ferrets, often considered a rare pet to own. Most individuals choose dogs, cats, birds, or fish to complete their family, however a select few turn to the ferret for its social, playful, curious qualities. Ferrets love to play and explore not only with others and their owners, but also on their own. For this reason, you need to know a few things on how to take care of a ferret.

First, you will want to ferret proof your home before you introduce them as pets. They will crawl into walls, furniture, and anywhere they can get their little bodies. It is much like childproofing a home for a baby. You will want to make sure all of the dangers are eliminated when you allow them out of their cages for playtime.

Ferrets are also biters. The kits, baby ferrets, tend to bite more. You can eliminate the problem or tone it down with frequent handling. It is a sign of their behavior as mock fighting or sparring. The younger ferrets tend to bite more when they are teething and do not mean any harm. For this reason, you will want to handle the ferret or ferrets as often as possible to help reduce the biting behavior. Often those who do not take the time or patience to train their ferret end up leaving the animal in its cage and thus it has a shorter lifespan. Please make sure you are up to the task of training a ferret before brining one into your home. Trained properly they can be as great a pet as cats or dogs.

A ferret’s lifespan is usually six to ten years, however proper care and feeding can lead to a little longer life. Ferrets are carnivores so they require a high protein diet. Most owners decide to feed their ferret’s mice, rats, rabbit, and other raw meats such as chicken. Stores carried other types of ferret food that many owners choose over the live food. Carefully reading the label will tell you if it has the proper high protein diet. Most kitten food can be used for example because it is designed to be high protein and fat for growing cats.

While play is an important part of your ferret’s life so is sleep. Most ferrets spend fourteen to eighteen hours a day sleeping. Part of sleeping is to rejuvenate them from the active play life they have. They love to explore and to play with toys. Many pet stores have toys for ferrets, or you might have something around the house that your ferret will find appealing.

The type of cage is important. Ferrets tend to be very smart so you will need a cage they can get plenty of air, but small enough bars they cannot break away. You will also want to clean the cage once or twice a week depending upon the number of ferrets you have, how dirty the cage looks. They are also burrows so some type of bedding is required. Marshalls Fetter Cages make great living spaces.

Ferrets are little balls of fur that love to play and interact with humans and each other.  While there are some special concessions you need to make to have a ferret the results are worth it. Proper training as a kit will give you even more joy when they reach adulthood.

The Pet Guy

Aqua Terras
ePet Products

What Do Ferrets Eat

Ferrets have a unique diet compared to other animals. This is because they need one that is rich in protein and low in fat. Aside from that, it must also not be rich in carbs and sugar.

Perhaps the best one to buy in the market is Kaytee Fiesta food for ferrets.


The products mentioned are not soft cat food which does not contain less protein that has the tendency to lead to tooth decay. Although these are quite expensive, buying an 8 pound bag of any of the brands mentioned will last up to 2months.

But ferrets in general are carnivores so when you feed them, make sure that you are using two types of food at all times ideally meat and poultry. This will prevent them from being stuck on only one type of food so they won’t have a hard time adjusting later on.

Aside from food, you should also give your ferret supplements. Examples of these include Ferretvite and Ferretone but only in moderation.

Using the right food will prove to be worth it when you notice that your ferret is very energetic and their coat are in excellent condition. Of course, you will still need to groom it by combing the hair and giving it a bath every so often because they tend too smell when they get dirty.

Once in a while, it wouldn’t hurt to feed your ferret some Marshalls Bandits Ferret Treats or small pieces of fruit and vegetable. The same goes with sugar free cereal. This must never be given in large quantities as this causes gastrointestinal upset, a possible blockage and even malnutrition.


As your ferret grows older, you should change their diet to kitten food because studies have shown that these too much protein may cause kidney problems. This should only be given if ever your ferret is recovering from an illness or has undergone surgery. 

Some ferret owners believe that a raw food diet may also work. One good example is raw meaty bones which, helps prevent tartar from forming on the teeth and also provides calcium in their diet. Because of this diet, you will have a more active ferret around the house that has excellent coat condition. You don’t have to clean up that much after your pet because it also decreases the stool volume as the food ingested is absorbed by the body and their natural scent is greatly decreased.

Those who want to try the raw food diet should not be worried if ferret’s stool turns white to a grayish color because this is only temporary and will soon return to normal.  Since it takes time for the pet to adjust, you can mix it with ferret food that can be purchased from the store then gradually decrease this with raw bones from either meat or poultry.

Knowing what do ferrets each is just one of the many steps for those that want them to live for a long period of time. Proper care, attention and love are also needed because these creatures are great to have when you need a friend to take your worries away.
The Pet Guy

Aqua Terras
ePet Products