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Post by lm84 on Aug 26, 2012 12:34:58 GMT -5
I had 6 ferrets at one time, for years, none of which ever chewed on my cloth bedding. After two had passed away, we decided to get a new little guy. He is about 7 months old and was always a little nippy and hyper. He is the kind of ferret that doesn't think twice about leaping right out of the top of my open ferret nation, and I have to catch him mid air. The nipping as since stopped, but now he has completely destroyed all of my little feet ferret bedding. 3 sets of shelf and ramp covers, beds, hammocks. He chews them up, rips out the padding and spreads it around the cage. I have to admit that they definately don't come out of the cage as much as they used to since I started working full time, so I can almost bet that he just bored in the cage. But I have found that any toys I leave for them during the day also get destroyed and it's a little scary to think they are ingesting them. So I end up going through a bunch of toys, having to throw them out day after day and not providing more. I'd like to fix this bad habit of his and give them all something to do that is more enriching for while I am not home. And then I'd like to eventually get some new bedding. When they are out of the cage and in their playpen, they get a water pool, rice dig box, ball pit balls and other toys when supervised. Any ideas?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 26, 2012 12:42:09 GMT -5
I have a cloth chewer, it subsided when I started giving him raw chicken wings and necks. They give him relief from his teething or whatever it is causing him to do this.
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Post by lm84 on Aug 26, 2012 12:54:05 GMT -5
Yeah, my guys get raw wingettes as well. But again, it can only be when they are supervised by me. Do you give them every day? I usually only do it a few times a week, because someone always decides to choke or get a piece stuck, and I need to watch them like a hawk.
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Post by Sherry on Aug 26, 2012 12:59:07 GMT -5
They learn to work the bone free on their own I've presently got 10. All raw fed. The food gets left in the cage while I'm at work and while I'm sleeping. They figure it out pretty quickly. Also, when they get it all the time the novelty wears off and they don't feel the need to eat as fast.
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Post by katt on Aug 26, 2012 13:02:23 GMT -5
For toys, use only hard plastic toys. I have a ferret with a pretty intense oral fixation - he is a terrible chewer! He ONLY gets hard plastic toys. Things like rattles, vitamin bottles cleaned out and filled with rice, etc. I also use a lot of foraging toys. This helps keep him busy during the day when I can't be home. Here is a thread on foraging toys: www.holisticferret60.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=enrichment&action=display&thread=73Also - Welcome to the forum! We need pictures of your little ones! ;D
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Post by lm84 on Aug 26, 2012 13:46:06 GMT -5
My ferrets have always been raw fed. I actually have belonged to this forum for a few years but I stopped coming on before the new forum was up and running and I didnt remember my username and password! They are currently fed Stella and Chewys and Natures Variety frozen raw, dehydrated raw and raw meaty bones, and sometimes raw that I make myself with liver, kidneys and muscle meat. My one guy ate a chicken wingette and started pawing at his mouth and drooling and making a choking sound. I waited for him to get it unstuck but I had to go in there with a q tip and get the bone unstuck from the roof of his mouth. Since then I've always sat there and watched them while they ate bones! I'll look into some more safe toys, it just seems my little guy chews everything and I don't find the pieces...so he may be swallowing them. It really scares me. I may look into attaching the rice box to the cage somehow, and when we move in a month, they can have a whole ferret playroom with a tile floor for easy clean up. I just hope that will help them out with the boredom.
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Post by lm84 on Aug 26, 2012 14:05:35 GMT -5
Here's a pic of my six right before my sable Beaker on the bottom passed from insulinoma and old age. We got him off of Craigslist when he was 6 and diagnosed him with insulinomas. We kept him alive and healthy with predisone and a good diet another year and a half before having to put him to sleep. The blaze Shark on the right is now completely white! The others are Ruby, the albino, Snoopy the cinnamon, Loofah the champagne and Bear, the other sable.
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Post by katt on Aug 26, 2012 14:14:21 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Aug 28, 2012 9:25:23 GMT -5
Maby this is off topic? But is the playpenn al the room that de ferrets have? I find it is to small. If so mayby hy is just verry much bored
In the Netherlands it is not normal to put old and jong ferrets together.
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Post by lm84 on Aug 28, 2012 16:19:50 GMT -5
No, they have two ferret nation 142 cages put together, and a double playpen with extra single panels. The playpen, when set up in a cirlcle, is maybe 6 feet in diameter or more. Could get bigger if we had more room to use the extra panels. Good news is I did find ONE durable, hard plastic puzzle type parrot toy at petsmart, after looking at 3 stores. They seemed really interested and attempted to scratch and bite at it for a long time after I placed it in the cage. I also picked up some hard dehydrated chicken breast for treats to use in the foraging toy. Tonight I plan to look for some more toys at another pet store.
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Post by crazylady on Aug 28, 2012 16:58:14 GMT -5
Hi I am surprised to read this In the Netherlands it is not normal to put old and jong ferrets together. as over here in England we always leave kits with older ferrets ( normally jills stay with there mums only hobs are separated off ) as the longer there with adults the more they learn and the calmer they are they also tend to be less nippy too I always arrange my jills into groups of kits and a older ferret or mum and pairs of sibling hobs live together unless they are part of my breeding program then the hobs live alone from around 6 months take care bye for now Bev
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Post by Deleted on Aug 28, 2012 17:50:28 GMT -5
No I'm sorry, i meant that if I have a 5 year old ferret, I don't put in a 8 week old kit. The 5 year old ferret would not enjoy the kit. In the Netherlands we give the advise not to have more than 2 years between the ferrets.
For the playpen, I have 2 playpens in my house(in the closet) but that's is to small for playtime. If I put my 7 year old Kaia in there she is bored whit in a minute. can you imagine a Kit. So I think you have the antsher to your question
chewing can also by a sign that Hy is sick, so if you don't think it is bordum than try your vet.
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Post by Sherry on Aug 28, 2012 18:44:51 GMT -5
I can understand what you mean in some cases. However, I think part of the problem here is we frequently get a good number of our ferrets from shelters and rescues, and keep them all inside together. Some older ferrets do extremely well when introduced to young kits. Since most of our ferrets here are from mills where the kits have been taken from their moms at 4-5 weeks of age, being with older ferrets gives them the chance to learn proper behaviour as well.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 29, 2012 15:31:31 GMT -5
I understand what you are trying to tell me. The age that the kits are removed from there moms is hart breaking, that's a form off animal cruelty.
In the Netherlands we say, kits can by taken away from there moms at about 8 or 9 weeks of age. We don't like ferrets in groups. 2 or 3 is good, no more than that. because I believe that ferret are like the polecat solitary, but they remain een polecat baby, so they can accept other ferrets but then the personality has to match. whit more than 3 ferret the chens that the all match is ferry small.
When i say We i mean Stichting De Fret, that's a ferret organization sins 1989. I am a member of that organization. I can not speak for everybody in the Netherlands ofcorse.
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Post by Sherry on Aug 29, 2012 16:13:21 GMT -5
I think the biggest difference is the ferrets that are removed from mom so early are also neutered at the same time. They never mature, so are kept in a perpetual kit stage.
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