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Post by kibumi24 on Oct 6, 2011 22:15:17 GMT -5
Hallo, I am Lauren a.k.a. Kibumi and I am here to emerge from my lurker life stage cocoon to become a beautiful forum-butterfly! Come tomorrow at 11am I'll be the new ferret Mom of an albino that my friend's friend can not keep. I have learned many things looking around this forum and I know I'll enjoy learning the real life ups and downs of being a ferret Mom here with you all.
I've always wanted to have a pet ferret since I was little. It wasn't till this past summer that I started re-researching them and finally setting my heart to getting a pet.
I'm a college student majoring in fine arts painting. I live with my Grandfather who was surprised at how happy I was when I asked if he would allow it and he said yes to my getting a ferret.
I already have a Ferret Nation 141 that my Sister found for cheap and it's set up, ready for when I bring him home. I want to have him switched to a raw diet as soon as possible but I do not have a blender to make soupy, which is what I have seen you all starting with mostly.
If there is any advice you could give me I'd love to hear it! I'm always looking to learn new things.
~Kibumi
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Post by Heather on Oct 7, 2011 1:52:42 GMT -5
Hi and welcome on board...and welcome to being a new ferrant. There is a huge learning curve but...oh it's so much fun and you can get a ton of help on this board. Everone's friendly and always willing to offer a suggestion or advice. In regards to diet, you may actually want to prowl around the various sections in the nutritional section. You can check out the mentoring threads too, read through them there is a ton of advice there, you just can't post to those threads. You can post to the newbie's questions though.
You will have to post some pics of your wee 'bino baby. They're one of my favourites. I have one, Odin, he's a senior citizen who's around 9 yrs old.
ciao
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Post by Deleted on Oct 7, 2011 4:26:16 GMT -5
Hi and welcome  For the soup, I don't have a "real" blender, but I did pick up a small ... chopper, at my local store for about $13, and it's worked wonders, and can handle decent sized cubed meat. I don't know how old your guy is,, but with the older gents and gals, soup generally is the easiest/best switch method. As for tips - it might be a good idea to have some Bach's rescue remedy on hand. Sometimes ferts have a bit of a rough time transitioning from one home to another, and need a bit of help getting over the bump. Also, just a general reminder about ferret proofing (no soft materials to eat, no places he could get his body/head stuck, no high places he can get to, etc). Please post pics when you get him. We LOVE seeing fert-faces around here  |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 7, 2011 8:24:20 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum! Please post pictures when you get him. |
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Post by Sherry on Oct 7, 2011 9:33:46 GMT -5
Hi and welcome! So glad you decided to come out of the lurker closet Please, feel free to browse, post, ask questions, etc. For the initial soupy, you could even just start with ground meats and water. Use a fork to blend them up as much as possible  And if you've been lurking for any length of time, you KNOW how insistent we can be over pictures ;D |
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Post by kibumi24 on Oct 7, 2011 12:11:22 GMT -5
Thank you all for such a warm welcome!  I just got him and he was a dear up until I got home and tried to put him in his new FN. He bit me hard enough to break the skin and held on for about a minute while being scruffed, my attempt to get him to let go.  He's now exploring his new home; eating, drinking and already taking a poo. I'll post the photos I managed to get of the wiggly one in the other forum. ~Kibumi |
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Post by Sherry on Oct 7, 2011 12:48:42 GMT -5
Did the previous owner keep him caged a lot? If so, that would explain his behaviour. He'd be afraid he wasn't coming out again.
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Post by kibumi24 on Oct 7, 2011 13:19:37 GMT -5
She had them out in the computer room when i came to pick him up, I'm not sure how long they got out to play everyday. I let him out to explore my bed for a bit and when i wasn't looking straight at him he came up to me and nipped my upper arm. I scruffed him for a bit then let him go explore again. He tried nipping again so i put him back into his FN after a scruff.  Could he be fear biting because he's in a new environment? ~Kibumi |
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Post by Heather on Oct 7, 2011 15:09:09 GMT -5
Sounds to me like he's trying to initiate play. Does he bite and hang on, or just nip? By the way neither is acceptable, it's just a ferret fear bite is often a bite with a shake. Minion will now come up and bite my toe (he still has a bit to learn about nip vs bite) and then do a fast reverse...he's trying to get me to play. Sometimes, he will even hiss when he's going in reverse but it's a game. When I first got him, he would bite, hang on, set his teeth and then either shake or gator roll....hurt like a daemon and if it was a toe or finger, that would set his teeth to the bone. Minion blamed everyone for his pain and his abuse, we're still getting over that but he's learning. He loves to snuggle, you just have to be careful because he believes "love hurts" and he will bite your chin, nose or lip. He doesn't hang on any more but the damage is still there and it hurts. Your wee one could be nervous and nipping to see what you're going to do about it...testing. Older ferrets I prefer to use a time out in a cat carrier with nothing else in it. It takes a bit longer, but it works and it's less traumatic than the scruff thing. Never leave them any longer than the 2 or 3 minutes. At first it feels that they're spending more time in than out but they get the hint eventually  ciao |
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Post by kibumi24 on Oct 7, 2011 18:21:53 GMT -5
The first bite, when I was putting him into his FN, was a minute long hold with head shaking but no hiss bite, this one drew blood. When he was exploring my bed that one was more of a nip but I think he only backed up because I yelped with the pinch of it, that one didn't draw blood. I just came home from grocery shopping and I was going to try him on some ground chicken, pumpkin and olive oil so I took away his kibble that came with him from his old owner. He stared at me for the longest time with a " You did not just take my noms," look on his wee face. Went down stairs to get dinner on and came back to a watery poo outside of the litter box, in the corner near the doors. He was innocently sleeping in his tube when i found it too. ~Kibumi |
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Post by Sherry on Oct 7, 2011 21:35:29 GMT -5
Oh, gotta love those protest poops ;D Naughty little beggar! I now use time outs as well. Doesn't seem to take that long for them to begin to understand that biting/nipping = boredom!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2011 13:35:41 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum, and yeah, ferrets a just FILLED with attitude (& revenge, lol) -- but they're still the finest animal in the world when you get to know them!
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I just got him and he was a dear up until I got home and tried to put him in his new FN. He bit me hard enough to break the skin and held on for about a minute while being scruffed, my attempt to get him to let go. 