Living with whole ferrets, smell control

[nanjferret]

Hi all, I've been asked to do a general post about things to consider when having whole hobs and also ideas I use for smell control as all of my crew live in my house. I run a ferretry and generally have around 7 to 10 whole hobs in my group. My setup is having a large second back living room for the ferrets which is partially blocked off to use the room as a play area. It is open to the rest of my house. My kids also get play times out in the main house. The absolute best solution I have found to control smells is I get one of those window fans from say Walmart that have two small fan units in it and put it in a window with the air flow pulling from the house to the outside. I tape it into the window and every year replace it for a new one. The fan runs 24/7 all year long. What it does is create an airflow that pulls the air slightly from the rest of the house though the ferret room to the outside. As far as hobs go they are very stinky when in season. Bathing helps for about one day then they just produce more oil as they consider the stinkier and oilier they are the more attractive they are to the jills. Washing bedding as much as possible helps sort of. There are things like 8n1 coat spray conditioner to use to help some. Really, trying to keep the whole hobs from smelling is a losing battle.
The other things to consider about whole hobs is how they act. They will stay sweet in temperament with you but remember there are raging ferret hormones going on which makes them do unusual things. One is they will have only one thing on their mind from early spring to around October and that is girls. They basically worry themselves all the time. They slow down eating, they pee on everything to mark their territory. Each is different genetic wise but in general they will lose weight and muscle and by October look like a concentration camp refuge. Like I said, each one is different as to how bad they get. I've seen some that would be skin and bones by the end of the year. Then they go out of rut and will become fat, fluffy bears over winter till it starts all over again. What I also caution people about is understanding how a hob thinks when in season. The big thing is territory. They need to be the alpha male and will fight sometimes to death with another whole male if the two accidently get together. If two males are fighting it is silent, they make no noise, and it is very intense. If you try to break them apart realize they are in fight mode and basically not in their right mind. They will keep trying to fight and if your arm or whatever gets in the way of the other male they can latch onto you instead of the other male. When they grab and hold they are in a total zone of holding on no matter what and it can be hard to get them to let go. Their eyes glaze over and they are just not thinking normal. The easiest way I've found to get them to release and come back to their senses is to take the hob attached to you and put their nose next to a jill in her cage. He will suddenly let go , look at her and go "hey there pretty". Now he is back to his old self. Whole hobs will be aggressive with other ferrets and try to mate anything that resembles a ferret so they will need to be kept by themselves. Old hobs do settle down and can live with spayed jlls usually. So, it is not completely necessary to have a boy neutered but living with them whole inside your home can be difficult. Just a few things to note!

[Heather]

Thanks so much for this post. As many of us have discovered the only real way to beat adrenal (at this time) is to keep intact animals (or DES which is unproven in long term studies). Keeping an intact fuzz in your house requires special care and a total change of thought pattern. Hearing from breeders how they negotiate through this rough patch with their wee ones helps others decide if they can actually play this game or not. Finding ways to assist those who've chosen this path, to live with their stinky, hormonal boys is gratefully appreciated. Having breeders step up and tell us how to look after or things they've found work in dealing with these wee ones (especially those that live with their ferrets in house) will definitely be helpful.
ciao

[Sherry]

Agreed. More and more of us will be hopefully living with intact ferrets for their long term health, and the more we can understand upfront, the better!

[Deleted]

Have you ever tried an air purifier or carbon filter?

[Deleted]

LOL!!!! ROFL!!!! There's nothing quite like a greasy stinky hob spreading urine all across the universe

Hey, Nancy, your post is great - reminds me of the early days with the boys.

Also air filters are minor weapons in a major war.
-jennifer

[Jeremy's Boggle]

Thank you Nancy. Sounds like a hob is not in our future. ;D

Do whole jills have smell issues as well? I'm considering getting one.

[Heather]

Now, there is the fact that the jill requires a jill jab, once or twice a year right? She's going to season too and I believe their smell intensifies too but just not near as bad as the hobs. If you're going to use DES on the jill (which you can) they won't smell any more than the hob does. A hob on DES doesn't smell either, in fact according to the studies actually smells less than an altered male ferret. Unfortunately, there are no long term studies about putting ones ferret on birthcontrol for the rest of their lives. They found some horrible things happen to humans but maybe ferrets just don't live long enough for that to happen to
ciao

[Jeremy's Boggle]

We would be using Des for what every whole ferret we adopt. So I guess it doesn't matter unless a hob needs to go through a season to be healthy. There are no breeders close enough to us have a jill jab available.

[Heather]

A jill jab would be obtained from your vet. You would make arrangements with your vet to have this on hand for when your little girlie came into that time of her season.
ciao

[Jeremy's Boggle]

;D ;D ;D I was thinking about something else I had read I'll have to investigate that as our ferret vet are not fabulous but a great one is considering moving to our area

[crazylady]

Hi all but four of my ferrets are whole ( well really all are as the four who arent are vas hobs lol) over the years I have found jills smell less than hobs the only time the jills tend to stink is if you leave them too long before a visit to a vas hob or jill jab ( they release potent hormones from there neck area which looks bright yellow in albinos and golden in sables ) with my really stinky hobs I simply dust them in french chalk or baby powder and then brush it out really well ( it helps absorb excess oil and stink) they also sleep on shreaded soft paper ( like tissue paper ) this also absorbs oil/smell and is easily changed every other day and recycled which means no stinky laundry lol take care bye for now
Bev

[Deleted]

Bev, Nancy, Joan, anyone else who cares to chime in:

How much difference in smell is there between a hob in hit first rut and every other year after that?

I had heard that the first rut is the worst, but is there a noticeable difference in smell? Or are they just really stinky every rut?

[crazylady]

Hi mikey yep first rutt is normally the worst there hormones go into overdrive ( take my kits from last year the hobs are stinking grease balls with tiny balls of oil hanging on the hair shafts lol ) my kit jills have already had there first visit to the vas hob my adult males are nearly all in ( kits have been in 3 months now!) and my adult females are comming in slowly normally once they hit 2- 3 the smell lessens but as I said each hob is diffrent lol take care bye for now
Bev

[nanjferret]

The shredded paper sounds like a great idea! I don't know, I think they stink every year, the hobs. The hobs all stink and grease out different though. I've had one that was so bad years ago you could only hold him at arms length and within hours of changing all the bedding it was all coated with pee and oil again. I was soooo thankful when he was neutered! The jills not much smell, at least not to me. The DES does make them smell good, really. It's very strange. Bev, they don't lick the baby powder much? Sounds like another good idea. I've also had the jill jab not work, tried the two most popular. In that case a shot of Lupron will do it or a DES implant which both do the same thing. I have air filters running too but you have to watch the ozone ones as they are not good for health from what I've been told. the window fan reversed to blow to the outside works best.

[Deleted]

Is there no benefit to the ferret being neutered once his hormones level off at an adult age, as opposed to neutering them as a kit? I would think they would be stronger and more developed, neutered after they mature. I am clueless as to the whole subject of adrenal issues. That is something I have to do more reading on.