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Post by hurricanekatt on Sept 15, 2012 0:11:45 GMT -5
He also seems to have figured out what the bathroom is for, and that's where he goes potty. Hey, for some that actually IS a good trick! And hard to learn apparently...  ;D |
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Post by Guest on Sept 15, 2012 7:17:14 GMT -5
My first ferret, Kylan, was a waardy... but also very very smart. He managed to figure out just about anything and often outsmarted me. Yeah... good type of pet for a first time ferret owner. Fortunately for me, I still had experience with them since my parents bred them when I was very young.
One of his tricks was borne out of my attempt to stump him. He had a LOT of beanie babies. He loved them, and around that time they were just coming out of popularity so you could buy them pretty cheaply if you knew where to look.
One day, I took a huge bulk of his beanie babies and wedged them so tightly in a basket that they would require a good deal of force to pull them out.
What does my ferret do? He tries to pull one or two, realizes they are beyond him because of the angle they're jammed in there. He stops trying to use brute force, and goes around and gives a few test tugs on different stuffed animals. Very quickly he decides to try the middle... which is the weakest point, and pulls. Tada. He has his plush, and now all of them are easier to pull.
After that time, any time I would wedge the plush toys in the basket he would start on the middle.
I admired him for his grasp of problem solving skills... even if most of the time those were set to use frustrating me!
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Post by boozle on Sept 15, 2012 20:38:17 GMT -5
Boozle (DIP) became my alarm clock. He had lost weight after passing a hairball and spending 3 days at the vets. I started feeding him baby food mixed with crushed kibble at 6am , 4pm , and 10pm., after he gained some weight I stopped the 4pm feeding and then the 10pm feeding. The first sat. my alarm did not go off to feed him -he climbed into bed and walked all over me to wake me. He continued to do this every morning. One day I wanted to sleep in - so I told boozle that mama was tired and I would get up in a half hour - he went and laid down be my feet and slept with me  he then woke me up later for his breakfast ;D |
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Post by rachellori on Sept 15, 2012 20:42:53 GMT -5
Hmmm I don't know if I would call it a trick but Remus knows that when we're playing, nipping socked feet is okay but bare skin isn't, he limits himself to pouncing on me and catching my foot with his paws and then grooming it when I'm barefoot.
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Post by Guest on Sept 16, 2012 7:08:00 GMT -5
No, it might not be a trick... but it is definitely a sign of smarts that he limits himself to just socked feet! Very smart weasel indeed, Rachellori!
Boozle, that's incredibly cute.
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Post by kristinalee90 on Sept 16, 2012 8:50:27 GMT -5
Being an alarm clock is sooo cool!!! Clever ferret!!  |
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Post by Guest on Sept 16, 2012 9:02:12 GMT -5
Not only that... but a POLITE alarm clock!!!
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Post by silverblood on Sept 16, 2012 11:54:33 GMT -5
Thought I had already posted this but I can't see it in the thread - apologies if some of you see it twice! Fraggle has a swimming pool in the kitchen. He doesn't actually like getting wet - I put it down when it was really really hot, so he had an extra source of fresh water, and also in case he decided a swim would help to cool down. Although he doesn't like getting wet, he is fascinated by water, and obviously wants to play with it. He has lots of plastic bags as toys, most with holes in them where he's ripped them when we play together. Some of his bags are a bit thicker though, so don't have holes. I was absolutely amazed to watch him choose one of these bags, drag it over to his pool, climb into it, and then jump into the water - ferret scuba suit!  He played for quite a long time, until he finally got the angle of it wrong and some water got into the bag. I have never seen him shoot off so fast! ;D |
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Post by Sherry on Sept 16, 2012 12:17:31 GMT -5
Now THAT'S bright  |
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Post by rachellori on Sept 16, 2012 13:03:34 GMT -5
Yeah I think Fraggle wins, everybody else go home. ;D
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Post by silverblood on Sept 16, 2012 13:23:15 GMT -5
;D
He balances out such moments of genius with regular stupidity though, such as running headlong into furniture when he's excited, or rolling over when he's having his tummy stroked and falling off the sofa....
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Post by rachellori on Sept 16, 2012 13:53:48 GMT -5
Oh my gosh that's what I came back to post about too. Remus balances out his cleverness by regularly forgetting where his litterbox is and having to run around the room three times to find it, or thinking that the top of my bed (three feet off the ground) is an appropriate height to jump from. ;D Can we start a 'Dumbest Ferret Tricks' thread too?
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Post by Sherry on Sept 17, 2012 10:40:50 GMT -5
I think THAT one might get too long too fast ;D
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Post by Heather on Sept 17, 2012 11:06:15 GMT -5
There are some really cute antics here and it goes to show their trouble shooting skills definitely work over time. I love the zipper thing and definitely the wet suit. I have to wonder if the untimely soaking will prevent him from attempting that again?? The bratty 'binos have developed a knack that I don't consider particularly smart but more percistent. They've learned how to open the meat fridge. It's only a bar fridge but it's a new energy efficient one so the seal is very tight. Bacchus has figured out how to open it, Enigma has not. He's also figured out that the food on the bottom is in dishes so has little use for him, but the food on the top shelf is thawing and often only has wrap on it. He's also figured out that if you steal from the fridge and then shut the door you don't get caught (at least until you're found dragging a turkey down the hallway  ) He's also figured out that you get more if you lock your accomplise in the fridge and that Enigma might just get blamed for the mess. Mad Max learned how to open my husband's closet, use his suit to climb into the upper regions of the closet shelves and then push all the clean shirts and t-shirts down to the waiting brats who then played in the clean laundry until they were caught. I think what is most intriguing is how their minds actually seem to work on logical solutions to problems. Even Thor, a wee boy who was always a couple of bricks short of a load (waardy) managed to stake a claim as to be the only ferret ever to successfully escape from the ferret room by jumping over the ferret door  . His escapades ended when he landed in the dog's water bowl and soaked himself ciao |
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Post by rachellori on Sept 17, 2012 12:43:03 GMT -5
WOW! It's really amazing to see what ferrets (and other animals) can do when they put their minds to it...makes me wonder if we're really the smartest species there is...
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