Ferrets spends all out of cage time under my bed

[psychopomp]

And it makes me feel like he doesn't like me

I've had him for a week now, and for the first few days me and my whole family were amazed at how loving the little guy is. It felt as if I had him for much longer than that because of how well we clicked. He was dooking around and playing with me a lot, however, two days ago he noticed that while the area around my bed is blocked, there must be an etrance somewhere, he just had to find it! And so after a biting and scratching spree he finally managed to get under my bed through a few spots, some being quite dangerous for him. I gave up and removed all the ferretproofing i've done under the bed and just let him explore there freely and a bit more safely. Now, the area is quite tight. My bed is sitting in between three walls, so it's hard to see what he's doing, and it's on very low wheels, so i can't even put my hand under it.

Turns out the guy loves it. Whenever I let him out of the cage (which is most of the day) he heads straight for under the bed, ignoring me completely. He doesn't want to play at all anymore, just goes there and scratches on the carpet and the bed itself. A lot of the time he also naps for hours. Not only it makes me sad that he'd much rather sit in a dark place and ignore all my attempts to play with him, but also, i'm worried that he will catch his nail on something and i won't be able to help him, since the bed can't really be pulled out. Same worry goes for cleaning up any potential poop.

No food or toy gets him out of there, once he's under, he's not leaving for the longest time possible. Once he does, he goes to eat or use the litterbox and rushes straight back. I try to catch him and stop him, but he runs and runs and runs there until he succeeds or gets tired and falls asleep. I guess i'm going to block it off from him again, though i'm worried that if he's been there at times already, he's going to dedicate all his powers to destroy the ferret proofing and try to go there again.

Please help, anyone? There's no way of distracting him from going under the bed. I don't know what's so interesting about it, but it's kind of a pain in the butt.

Also i'd like to add that he has a lot of dark places in my room to hide in which are a bit
more convenient for me, but he doesn't go into them anymore, all his time awake goes to eating and hiding under the bed. I'm going a bit nuts.

[abbeytheferret6]

Sounds like you got a little darling there.

I have our bed mattresses laying directly on the floor. Mine liked tearing holes in the fabric of the boxspring  and crawling in there, so i just put them on the floor.

I have these bins on the floor. I got one from the Goodwill and one from Walmart. They are dark. I pad the insides with a baby blanket and generally throw an extra one in to cozy in. Besides their FN cages and bins, i find them in in a bottom drawer, which i line with a softy blanket .

[caitmonster]

They do enjoy their dark cramped spaces. You might try abbey's suggestion of removing the frame/boxspring entirely, if that's a possibility for you, and sitting the mattress on the floor. Then you could provide other hidey holes that are more acceptable for your situation--dryer or drainage ducts, for example, or some cardboard boxes with holes cut out on the sides and put together to form a maze. Dig boxes are great, too. Burrowing into and under things is an inherent drive, but ideally that need can be met in a way that satisfies both of you.

Just to clarify--has his activity level dropped noticeably, or is it just that he's so interested in being under there that he doesn't interact with you? I saw from your other post that he's about 3 months old.

[unclejoe]

idk if it's possible to put the bed on the floor, but it would be a good idea. my first ferret slept inside the foundation, and used it to stash a world of treasures. eventually the liner was destroyed. After that, no more bed frame. Also-don't be surprised if he uses that space for a litter box...

[psychopomp]

Thanks for your suggestions. Unfortunately I can't remove the wheels as it's a custom made bed and overall very hard to work with as it's sitting tighlty in between walls. Think of sleeping in a cubboard.

Since my last post i've ferretproofed it at the bottom completely, and though he did get into a digging fit, I think he's starting to get bored of it. I still need to watch him though as he's trying to get on the bed and slide down the side. He has a lot of tunnels, hide sleeping spots and tight spaces that imitate tunnels, but are easy to access if anything were to happen. He seems happy and very lively, but still doesn't enjoy playing with me that much. For now he mainly likes salmon oil off of my fingers, so at least that's something.

[Charlie]

Ferrets tend to be more active at dust and dawn then find a place to curl up and sleep. Ferrets do spend a lot of time sleeping. Try using cat toys like those sticks that have something on the end to chase. Maybe you can get him to interact with you more that way.

They are excellent at finding those tight places and are good at getting themselves in trouble that's why we have to ferret proof everything. lol I wouldn't be surprised if your ferret has dug a hole in the underside of your bed and climbed in there. Mine has done that to my bed as well and has even stashed stuff in there. He's done that to my couch too but that's fixed. With the bed I will most likely just take off the fabric off the box spring so he can't go in there any longer. It's like one giant hammock to him. lol They can dig holes in carpets and through the under padding right to the floor! Mine did that to get under the dresser. Try to keep him occupied so that he doesn't dig up your carpet!