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Post by Deleted on May 8, 2011 22:43:29 GMT -5
So I know that most of you probably have unsupervised ferret play time in your ferret-proofed areas or homes, but I've been so nervous about ferret-proofing and the girls getting into trouble that I've been supervising all their out-of-cage time thus far.
However, spending 4-6 hours a day in my room, watching them play is getting a little exhausting as you can imagine, so I need to start letting them have unsupervised room time for sure.
I'm a little nervous about leaving them alone... so I was just wondering how you went about letting them have unsupervised playtime for the first time?
There's nothing that the ferrets can get at on the floor, but I do have a dresser with drawers and clothes that they could get at if they manage to open them. It's flush against the wall and any cracks are blocked off with towels so that they can't get behind it. Any dangerous clothing I should know about?
I also have anything that they could eat (alarm clock with wires, phone with wires) up on my bed which is really high off the ground. Now I have heard of ferrets levitating so should I put these away?
Under the bed is sealed off and any holes are blocked with towels (but I've ferret proofed under the bed just in case).
Anything else is in my closet which is closed at all times, and it's in drawers in there (I ferret proofed the floor just in case).
Any other dangers I should be wary of?
How often should I check on them when I'm first leaving them unsupervised?
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Post by fearless on May 8, 2011 23:11:43 GMT -5
I just started out small, an hour here an hour there. To this day my kids don't have much more than an hour to two hours of play time. I'm in the same part of the house they are able to get to, but not necessarily watching them like a hawk eye. Eventually when I feel confident that I've done an adequate job of ferret proofing I will feel more relaxed about letting them unsupervised longer. My daughter is only 14 months and I can't really leave her alone so I'm use to it, I also can't leave litter boxes out around the house for this reason too. So for this reason too my kids only get a few hours here and there.
The big thing to watch out for is new things you bring in. You might say, bring in dumbells for working out that have that weird coating on it. Watch them see if they have any interest in it in the next week, if not you can say it's safe for those to be in your room while they are unsupervised. You bring your backpack in but leave it unzipped, they eat the erasers off your pencils, etc.
If you are within hearing distance I would just check every hour till you feel confident they are doing well alone in the room. If one gets stuck or hurt you will hear it, if she climbs up high and jumps off of something, you will hear it. If you arn't within hearing distance, I'd check as often as it takes for you to feel comfortable.
Cords could be an issue if they can get up there, I would put away those that aren't being used, but stuff that will remain out I would try to see how they would do with it, so that you can change, move, modify as needed.
Hope this helps, I'm still nervous about my two new guys, and I've had ferrets before. I feel your pain.
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Post by Sherry on May 8, 2011 23:15:59 GMT -5
I've ferret proofed the bedroom, and one group plays and sleeps in there from about 9am til around 7 pm every day. All I do is remove everything from the nightstand, and make sure it's up where they can't reach(on top of tall boy dresser). I also checked to be certain that there isn't anything they can use to jump from point A to point B to get where I don't want them to be. Just to let you know- they can climb curtains like you would NOT believe So if you have long curtains- just move them up out of the way while fuzz are alone in the room. I think you'll find that they'll play for a while, explore for a while, then simply go to sleep.
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Post by katt on May 8, 2011 23:23:03 GMT -5
Check out my thread on Only Ferrets and read the ferret proofing parts. They can find things you'd never even think of, and reach things you thought were unreachable. My boys do NOT get unsupervised play. If I have to leave the room for even a minute, they are put into the cage. I left Koda in what I thought was a ferret proofed room for no more than 10 min once and came back in...to find that he had found the ONLY object in the entire room, a d destroyed it. It was the bathroom with NOTHING out but the rugs... and a charging cord on the counter - which is a good 3 feet tall. Somehow he scaled the vertical counter face and chewed the cord to bits. After paying almost $1000 for blockage surgery, and several close calls, I don't take ANY chances. However, I spend a LOT of time in my room. I read, study, do homework, crafts, computer stuff, etc all on my bed. When we are in the room we just let them run around. We aren't Activley watching them, but we are on hand to stop them from getting into things. Shane and I both have become Very good at keeping our ears out for chewing of the clatter of ferrets where they don't belong, and our peripherals out to watch for naughty behavior. We are not "supervising" them in that our attention is not 100% on them, but we are in the room. Also the 4 hours does not have to be straight through. 20 min here, an hour there, an hour or two after dinner...
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Post by Heather on May 8, 2011 23:45:11 GMT -5
A ferret-proofing the ongoing, everlasting process. You mentioned that you have towels wedged in areas that you don't want them to go? I've seen these determined little sods remove a whole comforter, wedged by pushing heavy furniture against the wall. It took them....about 15 min. They're a determined lot. If you have objects that you don't want them to have put them away. If you don't want them to get at anything on your bed, put them away. If Minion can get into my waterbed a determined fuzz can easily get onto your bed, no matter what height. Ferrets climb and if there's sheets, or bedding hanging they will climb it. If you have things on window sills, plants on headboards (plants in pots, like water need to be freed, liberated) ferrets will find them. If you've had to step in and remove them from someplace in the past they will get in there in the future. If you're planning on leaving them to their own devices, might I suggest you try sitting quietly in the doorway and watching your little charges. If there is something that makes you move to either rescue your little ones or has to be rescued then that something will have to have something done to it. I was amazed as to how much trouble these little brats can get into. Depending on how well you've done your ferretproofing, you may be able to leave them after about 20 or 30 min of casual observation. Don't kick yourself if you find that you weren't completely successful the first, second or so on. It all depends on how adventuresome and how much ingenuity your little ones have ;D ;D. ciao
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Post by Deleted on May 8, 2011 23:48:01 GMT -5
Thanks guys It makes me feel a lot better to hear that being nervous is normal ;D I'm thinking I'll definitely remove the cords and anything else that they could possibly get into for sure and then try them for smaller periods, I'll have to start with 5-10 minutes though, because I wouldn't be in hearing distance. I'm also super paranoid because I leave the window open when it's hot out (there's a screen) but I keep imagining ways they would get up there in my mind and picture them chewing through the screen and getting out onto the roof. Oh the paranoia! ;D Even with 20 minutes at a time, an hour at another time, I'm not even hitting the 4 hour mark most days though so I feel super guilty They don't really have any tunnels or toys in their cage either because I'm super paranoid about them chewing them when I'm not there. So they definitely need more time out of the cage. *Deep breath* time to be brave I think.
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Post by Sherry on May 9, 2011 1:02:11 GMT -5
Just for your reading pleasure, I'm going to take the liberty of copying a post from the FML about what they can get into ;D The names have been changed to protect the not so innocent ;D **************************************************
I had an apartment years ago in a 100 year old building. At the time I had a Mexican themed bedroom with a great Mexican rug hanging on the wall over the bed. I was working at home and noticed It was awfully quiet for that time of day: should be a lot more action going on. I went into the bedroom to investigate and there was my DEW boy Fuzz sitting there covered in black rich potting soil. Looking up there was this tiny sable butt in the air just firing all the dirt she could, as fast as possible out of the hanging plant Fertie had climbed on to the bed and then climber the rug till she could reach the plant . It was one of those things where you just stand there with your mouth hanging open saying OH MY GOD! The rug was moved to another wall after that and replaced by Terracotta pots.
My same little Fuzz was the one that discovered how to climb the back of a dresser like a previous poster mentioned; back to the wall for leverage and up the back. I later found a good reason to move dressers away from the wall a bit. It was the same old apartment. The walls are not very straight after holding up this building for 100 years. When a dresser was placed flush at the bottom of the wall there tended to be a gap at the back of the top. My big boy Weasel had jumped from something temporarily being stored in the bedroom to the top of the dresser. When I went into the bedroom, Weasel had fallen down the back side ways and he was hanging with his head wedged in this crack and his body dangling about 6 inches above the floor. He was limp and unresponsive. He must not have been there long, as soon as I moved the dresser he started to stir a bit. He made a full recovery, but it sure made me realize no matter how long you have ferrets, and how ferret proofed you think your house is, they will keep you on your toes.
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2011 1:06:08 GMT -5
Oh great Sherry, now I'm never going to leave them unsupervised ;D I have yet to read Katt's only ferrets thread...perhaps I won't be leaving the little monster unsupervised after all.... ;D
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Post by Sherry on May 9, 2011 1:11:27 GMT -5
The thing is, you will always be modifying what you think is ferret proofed. When we just had the boys Boris and Vincent, my bathroom was "normal". Including the furry toilet seat cover, so our elderly cat didn't slip when he jumped up to get on the counter to eat. Then Boris realized he could use it to get up there. I removed the furry cover. When he found he couldn't do that, he ran to the tub, jumped up on the side of it, surveyed the room, and immediately ran to the hamper, climbed it, jumped onto the toilet, then the counter. I moved the hamper. He found if he made a running jump, he could get on the toilet seat, and onto the counter. I cleared the counter. No fun anymore. Let's open the cupboard doors in the bathroom Moved everything out from UNDER the counter. Willow found the toilet paper roll on the holder could unravel and make a wonderful nest to sleep in Move the TP. Sinnead would climb the towel tower, and push all the towels down for the others to play with Not a lot I could do about that one! It really is never ending!
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2011 17:04:03 GMT -5
;D wow! You wouldn't even think something like a bathroom would be such a hazard. I'm having a hard enough time with one ferret room so it sounds like you have your work cut out for you! However...after 30 minutes of removing basically everything from my room (you should my hallway, it's a disaster! ;D) the girls just spent almost 2 hours outside in the room (with me checking on them every 10-15 minutes) and it was a success! I was just planning on starting off with 15 minutes but they did so well, I just kept adding on more time. I'd go in and inspect every 15 minutes, look at everything, every toy, every square inch of the room to see if they'd caused any trouble, but everything was perfectly in tact! They are now snoozing in their cage after enjoying some tasty quail so I think they will be getting much more playtime now! And hopefully stop waking me up in the middle of the night with their litter box romps
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2011 17:39:19 GMT -5
Just remember that it's when they start to get bored with the room that they start looking for trouble
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2011 19:02:50 GMT -5
Just remember that it's when they start to get bored with the room that they start looking for trouble I was just thinking that but thanks for the reminder! I am planning on mixing up the room each time I set it up, rotating toys, putting tunnels in different places, adding new toys, etc. so *hopefully* that will keep them occupied. ;D
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Post by miamiferret2 on May 9, 2011 19:33:37 GMT -5
I've found Sonny swinging on shower curtains like Tarzan. His little mouth is usually open and he is having a ball. My Cosmo used to open the bottom drawer of my dresser and then he'd climb his way up to the top drawer from the back. He also knew how to open the closet door. Then he'd climb up my long wool coat and tried to chew off the buttons. Rule of thumb: if your ferret is QUIET he's up to NO GOOD!!
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Post by miamiferret2 on May 9, 2011 19:36:06 GMT -5
My ferret has free run of the bedroom all day. Then in the evening we let him free roam in the rest of the house except for the office and the spare bedroom.
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Post by Deleted on May 10, 2011 0:17:41 GMT -5
I've found Sonny swinging on shower curtains like Tarzan. His little mouth is usually open and he is having a ball. My Cosmo used to open the bottom drawer of my dresser and then he'd climb his way up to the top drawer from the back. He also knew how to open the closet door. Then he'd climb up my long wool coat and tried to chew off the buttons. Rule of thumb: if your ferret is QUIET he's up to NO GOOD!! Oh my! ;D I don't have any curtains thankfully and so far they have not learned to open the closest door (I place a heavy box in front of it too, just in case. But I definitely listen in on them to hear if they're romping around and then if I don't hear anything I always look, usually they're just sitting there looking at me like "what?" but one of these times I'm sure they'll be up to someting ;D I am hoping to work up to letting them have free run of the bedroom most of the day... do you leave them out when you're not home too? As for the rest of the house, sadly a no-go with 2 large dogs, one small terrier dog who loves to chase and 2 cats.
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