Moving States possibly?

[thelifeofmyferrets]

We are moving and thinking of moving states with the ferrets.

Does anyone have any experiences or tips?

The ferrets are raw fed but I am thinking it might be easier to switch them to a commercial FDR or kibble for the short while.

[Deleted]

No...don't it...no kibble boooo!!!

[Deleted]

So your move is going to be several days on the road?
If it was me, I would just stop at the store each day and get their meal like Tyson's heart\gizzards.U can get some chicken wings one day. You could also freeze some meat to take with you for first day on road. I have never used FDR, but some on forum have. You could supplement with that or vice versa or like you said FDR.

[Deleted]

I moved states with 3 and it was so much easier than expected. They loved the ride and it was so exciting for them. As for food, I just froze their meals and put them in a thermal bag I got at the dollar store. It worked incredibly well, and I would do the same again.

[Heather]

I travelled in the US and Canada with my guys and fed raw on both sides of the border. I just didn't carry the meats across the border. Raw feeding is so simple...walk into a grocery store and buy some meat for the ferrets....so very simple
Switching a raw fed ferret to kibble or even the FDR whatever for :slap:
ciao

[thelifeofmyferrets]

Thank you. I am not moving states at this moment, just wondering for the near future. I was just wondering because you can't get smaller portions at a grocery store and didn't want it to go bad.

When moving along state borders, do you have any trouble with pet searches/border control?

[Sherry]

Depends on the state I would imagine. If moving to a FFZ, then back roads are a better bet. As for the food, bring a cooler with ice packs along. Have enough frozen for the journey and take out the day's portion to defrost and feed. Larger pieces can sit out for up to 24 hours with no issue.

[Heather]

I had no problems crossing the border with the ferrets. Just make sure your paper work is in order. They didn't want to deal with the ferrets. I crossed at the Windsor crossing once and the Sarnia crossing the second time
ciao

[storm]

Just don't go to California or Hawaii. Ferrets are illegal there and some states have restrictions. see here
For some reason they consider them pests but rats are ok?

[katt]

I have moved with the boys many times, including 2 summers ago when we made the trip from AK, through Canada, into ID, and from ID to Seattle. This past Christmas we drove with them from WA to Nevada and back to visit grandparents.

First of all, moving is no reason at all to switch to kibble. I do keep my boys familiar with FD (I use it for foraging toy treats), as it can be handy in a pinch, but when we travel we still bring raw meat with us. It's pretty easy really. All you need is a little cooler. For our trip down from AK, we were carting our year's catch of fish and moose (for humans), ferret meat, and whole prey for the snakes. We had 2 large coolers. If a cooler is stocked with frozen-solid meat so that it is filled with frozen items, and kept closed, the frozen meats all act as ice-cubes for each other and it stays frozen for a very long time. Do NOT put ice cubes in the cooler. Once they start to melt (which they do quickly), you get water in the cooler...when that happens your stuff will start to thaw out. Since our trip to AK was such a long one, we started out with a few blocks of dry ice in the coolers, and duct taped the seams so they were as sealed/insulated as possible. We only opened the coolers when we absolutely had to. The dry ice lasted 1-2 days - it dissipated and the meat stayed frozen totally solid long after. Our trip was about 4-5 days (counting load and unload time for the meat), and when we unloaded the meat it was still very frozen. Some of the stuff on top was starting to thaw a little, but it was still kept very cold by all of the other frozen meat in there.

For the trip down to NV (about 12 hours if I remember correctly), we just had one cooler and not all that much food. We had a frozen 2L water bottle, some human foods, and the ferret meat. We did not use dry ice for that trip and didn't tape the cooler seams. The meat was still well frozen when we arrived.

For traveling the boys have a travel cage that fits in the backseat of the car: holisticferretforum.com/care-and-enrichment/cages-and-bedding/easy-travel-cage/

As far as crossing borders, you only need to worry if you're trying to go to California, Canada, or NYC (anywhere else in NY is fine). Hawaii too obviously but it's not like you can just drive there and you'll get turned down by the travel peeps via the airline etc pretty quick. lol

[Deleted]

I had no problems moving Gwin from AZ to MA. I just had him travel with me by plane - it wasn't too bad for either of us. The only paperwork I had to do was the pre-flight certification from the vet for the airline.