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Post by olenka on Mar 2, 2018 7:47:37 GMT -5
Since our fuzz butts stopped eating kibbles, they do not smell any more. But my house stinks LOL Yesterday I found a chicken leg and one pound of bones under my couch. The other day I discovered 2 wings in my sweater drawer. I am trying to watch them as I let them out. I am trying give them as much as they can eat - not more then that. But somehow our little beasts manage to smuggle meat out of their room. This morning it just hit me: open only upper cage door! We have 3 level cage. I keep it accessible all the time just in case if they want to come back for whatever reason. They can climb in and get out using upper door. But I doubt that they can jump out of the cage with any "carry-on"
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Post by abbeytheferret6 on Mar 2, 2018 8:22:55 GMT -5
This morning it just hit me: open only upper cage door! We have 3 level cage. They can climb in and get out using upper door. I doubt that they can jump out of the cage with any "carry-on" Read more: holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/24176/stop-fuzzy-stushing-meat#ixzz58azZ04mYI would not leave any doors open on 2nd or 3rd floors. I do not walk away from cages when cleaning blankets out of second levels.No way(although human I am). they do not have the spring of a cat. I already had a female with a broke leg. Whether from a fight with a new male or from trying to get down from the top of a Critter Nation, I do not know. I understand the stashing---boy do I! I had them stash food under a heavy wrought iron bed on carpet. The room would knock you out with the smell. Finally closed that room off. Because I have a designated ferret room--- i put food in there and close the door and let them feed. Mine will stash in that room now. They hardly bring it out after I took away other rooms while feeding. I do feed also in a closed pantry because I have 2 groups. There is minimal stashing as door to all bedrooms are closed, and I have a playpen stretched out blocking my sun room. Some people use food bins. I had a plastic bin without the top( bin turned upside down on a baby blanket) got tired of dragging bin to tub to wash out. This may help. I forsook that after my blaze decided to make it her toilet on occasions--hahaha! And---their hidey places are always better than yours.
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Post by bishop24 on Mar 2, 2018 11:43:17 GMT -5
We made a habit of checking every 2 days for old food. They have there favourite stash spots so we get to stuff before it starts to go gooey. Except for that time that Ellie decided to hide 2 weeks worth of food in their play castle along with all of her toys.... I think every ferrant who feeds raw experiences it at least once. We also use shower hooks to tether bigger pieces so one ferret can’t hoard it all to themselves. And like clockwork Missy will try to bring her stashed food into the bedroom if we forget to close the door so if she gets in we are sure to check for it. But I still haven’t figured out how to stop them from trying to stash their soup. Dried meat puddles, especially the ones on bedding are a pain
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Post by Heather on Mar 2, 2018 13:52:05 GMT -5
Try creating a feeding den. This often saves from stashing. Weigh and measure their food....too much food means it gets stashed. The other is to get into the habit of looking for meats. You can feed just in cage....but they still stash, so it's something one needs to be aware of. Even my mink stashes. It's the nature of the beast. ciao
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Post by olenka on Mar 3, 2018 8:36:30 GMT -5
Abbytheferret6: Come on! If they jump off the couch, why can not they jump down from their cage? Our "second floor" level is only 2 feet high, and the door is located there. They used to jump off my shoulder when they were younger. That is 5 feet. No broken bones )
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Post by olenka on Mar 3, 2018 8:53:33 GMT -5
Bishop/Heather, I prefer to give them little bit more that they can eat because our girl might have insulinoma (early stage, not diagnosed yet) We do have a "den" in their room (yes, my spoiled fur kids have their own room with utility sink, rice and ball pits, boxes and tonnelles) We feed them only in the cage, and we always keep cage door opened. Nevertheless, a chunk of chicken finds its way out of ferrets room Their favorite stash spot is inside a sofa bed. We have to open that sofa bed each other day to get the meat out. On top of that they come up with new ideas every day - closets, spring boxes, fire place, drawers...
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Post by abbeytheferret6 on Mar 3, 2018 10:41:39 GMT -5
I have a ferret nation and a critter nation which look like more than 2 feet to second levels. Mine will jump off sofa seat, but they do hesitate before doing so most of the time. I keep mine off my tall bed as well. I had an aging ferret with an ACL tear, so I am mindful that they do not injure by jumping(ACL tear just seemingly came out of nowhere).
I have read a cat uses tail for balance. Ferrets do not have this feature as far as I know.
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Post by Sherry on Mar 3, 2018 10:49:33 GMT -5
If they land the wrong way they will break their spine. We have seen it happen between here and the fb group more than once. Even falling from the shelf levels some have done serious injury to themselves. It becomes a case of mitigating risk factors. That is one you can prevent.
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Post by olenka on Mar 3, 2018 17:18:09 GMT -5
Abbytheferret: We have "WARE Living Room Series Ferret Home" cage. It is much shorter then yours and has only 2 doors. Upper door is exactly 2 feet from the ground. My little beasts are troopers They jump off my desk, our beds, chairs, etc. I do not encourage this behavior. It just comes naturally. And I cannot prevent them from jumping - they are kind of cage-free. They only sleep and eat in the cage. I keep those cage doors opened. Some times (not often) I shot their room door.
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Post by olenka on Mar 3, 2018 17:32:43 GMT -5
Sherry: OMG I definitely do not want my ferrets to break their spine! You got me worried. My fuzz butts run wild all over the house. Jumping down from the cage is not a stunt for them. You should see Ruby flying down off my kid's bed with my daughter's teddy bear in her mouse! The bed is 3 feet tall, the teddy bear is twice bigger then Ruby. And the boys are even more outrageous. So far they did not have any injuries (keep my finger crossed!) Well, almost... Milky, our dominating ferret, has a broken fang. One of his canine teeth is shorter then the other. Probably, he landed on his face one day.
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Post by LindaM on Mar 3, 2018 23:16:51 GMT -5
Ferrets have real crappy depth perception, and don't use their brains to think of the risks, all the brainpower is going into thinking what they can get out of it. They can thus be a real danger to themselves. Which is why we have to vigorously ferret-proof things, you simply cannot leave it as "it comes naturally". They can hurt themselves badly. Not saying it to be mean or anything, but sadly accidents can happen if you don't take steps to lessen the risks.
When our ferrets had access to our bedroom, we put the bed's box-springs flat on the floor so it wouldn't be as tall. Furniture was moved further apart so they don't climb and jump from piece to piece.
Our ferrets are cage-free too and have their own bedroom, they free-roam the entire downstairs of our home, but we ferret-proof (and ferret proofing is an ongoing task for the lives of all your ferrets because any day something can stop working). It is so easy for them to get hurt from a jump or a fall, we have a short cat tree in our ferret room and it is in a corner, so walled on two sides, the cages are moved right up against the other side, and the front is padded with pillows under and in front of it. There is nothing ours can use to get onto the desks, furniture that could be used is moved further away, chairs are moved away and the spare chair in my hubby's area has a big blanket around it on the floor as padding because we have one that likes to groom themselves on it. My husband has to move his chair away from his desk even just to go pee so Athena doesn't get on it and find something to harm herself with.
And if your kid's teddy has plastic eyes or nose, that's likely why they want it so bad, please don't let them have it. Plastic eyes and noses are dangerous to ferrets and can lead to a blockage, even chewing away at the plastic isn't good for them either.
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Post by Heather on Mar 4, 2018 0:17:21 GMT -5
My ferrets free roam the house and their own rooms. I'm at the present working at trying to make it so that there is no way for my guy to climb their FN cages and other places. About 4 yrs ago, I got a gorgeous wee albino jill, she was 18 months old. MY wee Lily climbed up to have a peek into who was in the lower level of the FN cage. She lost her grip and fell, landing badly hitting her spine against the shelf under the FN.....it broke her back. I tried to fight for her but as the muscles started to atrophy, twisting her spine and causing her intense pain as the muscles contracted, shortening I had to make the decision to let her go. She was no more than a baby but I had to make that decision. She was so young, so full of life and I had to tell the vet to take her life and watch the light go out. Please, do not let your ferrets climb, jump and be silly. They have very poor depth perception, they are tunnel dwellers, not tree climbers like mink and martens. Their coordination doesn't even come close. We had a lady on here who posted a video of her wee lad jumping from the sofa to a coffee table. He missed but in the next shot he made it. It appeared funny. She cleaned the room and the table was not put back exactly where it had been, he missed, slamming his jaw on the coffee table, breaking his neck and he died instantly. These warnings are not idle or done to make anyone feel badly......we're trying to save some heartbreak. ciao
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Post by olenka on Mar 4, 2018 7:55:57 GMT -5
Thank you all for your inputs! If ferrets have such a bed judgement, how can they survive in a wild? I am not questioning those horror stories. They are heartbreaking. Just trying to understand how a wild animal can hunt having crappy depth perception?
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Post by olenka on Mar 4, 2018 8:02:35 GMT -5
LindaM: Ruby just likes any soft toys. She is not attracted by eyes and noses. Her favorites are fruit plushies from IKEA.
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Post by abbeytheferret6 on Mar 4, 2018 9:42:42 GMT -5
Ferrets have real crappy depth perception, and don't use their brains to think of the risks. Read more: holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/24176/stop-fuzzy-stashing-meat#ixzz58n4PQ0DlYou are so correct. We had a young male sable who got on my tall bed. He was so excited to be there that when my husband passed by he took a running leap at him. Hubbie caught him before he hit the floor---- it was hilarious but a big wake up call.
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