Hello All:
 
A few weeks ago someone had posted that they were spending an awful lot of
money on toys for their ferts.  I wanted to add my two cents.
 
I have been a ferret mom for a while now (3 years) and it's kind of like
the Luvs commercial on TV when it comes to toys (I think it goes: Live,
Learn and then get Luvs).  I have purchased a ton of expensive toys from
pet stores only to have them sniff them once and never play with them
again.
 
Our ferrets love the 'rice box'.  When we first got it, friends would come
over and ask what the heck it was.  'I'm stocking up for Y2K' I'd reply.
It's pretty cheap and they play in it every day...to make it even more fun
we cut a piece of cardboard tubing (like you get in a roll of carpet) and
laid it lengthwise in the box.  We then filled it 1/2 way up with rice.
The babies go nuts trying to dig out all the rice from inside the tube
(they don't understand that while they are at one end digging out the
rice, we're on the opposite end throwing it back in!)
 
When we first got Hayley, we found out that she liked Dixie Cups.  I
thought my husband was using a lot of them, as I was filling the dispenser
a lot.  We then caught Hayley getting up on the bathroom counter and
stealing the dixie cups right out of the dispenser.  I then looked under
the headboard of my waterbed and found about 80 cups.  That's her favorite
toy.  She enjoys moving her dixie cups around to her favorite hiding spots
and it's very entertaining for us to watch her.  They are safe & cheap
(200 for $2.00).
 
I brought home a few catnip toys for my cats a while ago, but my Jewel
decided that she needed them worse then the cats.  They are very simple,
just a small square 'pillow' filled with catnip.  She carries them all
over the house.
 
My babies also like to ride in a box.  I took a cardboard box, attached a
rope and made the 'weezil express'.  They love it when I pull them around
the house in their little box.  They try to boot each other out & 'jump'
the train when it's in motion!
 
A few other toys they love:
 
2 liter pop bottle - I took the label off the bottle, put a little water
in it (about 1/4 full of water) laid it down on its side and they love
to push it around the kitchen with their nose.
 
Pant legs are always popular in my house.  My hubby sewed 3 legs together
and they think it makes the neatest hideout.
 
Mylar balloons.  I tied some milk rings (make sure to always cut milk rings
to make sure that your fuzzbutts don't get them caught around their neck)
to a helium balloon (mylar-the shiny metallic ones).  I got it so the
balloon was just heavy enough to be within fuzzbutt reach, but would bounce
up once they let go.  As it gets older you can adjust the number of milk
rings.  When the balloon is just about cashed, Hayley decided that she
could really have fun with it.  She jumped on it (but it was too full, so
she'd roll right off!) and would grab the bottom and try to take it under
the headboard of my bed.  Was the funniest thing I've ever seen, I was
standing in my bathroom and saw a flash of silver out of the corner of my
eye, looked out the door and there was Hayley running away with this
balloon!
 
Ferret toys don't have to cost a mint to be entertaining.  Be creative,
chances are your ferts will play with something you've put together longer
then anything store bought!
 
---
Bright Blessings,
 :o)
Cyndi
Weezie, Hayley, Jewel & Sammie
Thelma in spirit
 
http://home.earthlink.net/~cynthiahulst/
[Posted in FML issue 2820]