I have the kinds of ferrets many of us have... when it comes ot water,
they love to splash around and snorkel in it, and half of it ends up on
the floor where they happily lap it up.  There is something about water
having to be in motion that makes them like it better than the boring
stand still type of water.  I am so afraid that more water will be tipped
out of the bowl and then more easily evaporated, that I set out a number
of water bottles as well.  It's always better to be safe than sorry.
 
But in the meantime, I have discovered a couple of things that help me
keep the spills to a minimum, and bowls from being overturned.  Firstly,
I use one of the cat combo scratcher and play toy where the ball rolls
around the outside but never pops out, and the cardboard insert in the
middle can easily come out.  I fill a heavy ceramic bowl with water and
put it where the cardboard would sit.  The bowl sits loosely inside, but
allows for the ferrets to do what they love to do best and puddle around
in the water.  The water is caught by the inner well, and the outer circle
where the ball rolls around in.  Sometimes I fill the outer circle so that
they can push the ball around and get the water moving that way as well.
They seem to like it and is very popular with most of my ferrets as
sometimes I have to fill it twice a day, especially in the summer.
 
Secondly, I use a large rectangular plastic container and cut down the
front for easier access.  I put my ceramic bowl in this container and any
water that is pushed out, is caught by the larger container.
 
Ferrets love to see water move, and I personally would never discourage
this form of play, or need.  I tend to think that the preference of
drinking moving water comes from their ancestral past to drink from
moving streams.  Since some mustelids are known to fish, I wouldn't be
surprised if the snorkeling was some form of searching underwater for the
next meal...
 
betty and her blur o'fur
for the love of ferrets
missing Bella and Lace
[Posted in FML issue 3750]