Q:"My ferrets seem a lot more bored than my cats.  Is this normal?"
 
A: You are asking *ME* if something is normal?  *I* don't have a baseline
for comparison....
 
Ferrets are actually very intelligent little creatures; more than one
researcher has pegged them at about as smart as small primates.  This means
that they have active little minds, they can solve problems and plan
actions; not unlike people although to a lesser degree.  Ok, better than
the CaCa Land Fishing Gestapo, but thats another story.  What this means
is, like people and most other animals, ferrets require new experiences to
keep their mind active.  Ferrets are easily bored, and it shows in their
actions; they don't play much, they develop neurotic behaviors (like hair
pulling, biting, chewing objects), and they seem to be more muted in their
responses when compared to ferrets living in an enriched environment.
 
These symptoms have long been noted in zoo animals.  I can remember
visiting a small local zoo when I was a child (back in the stoned age) and
watch the animals pace back and forth in front of their tiny concrete
cages.  These animals didn't reproduce well, they died early, and they
developed numerous neurotic behaviors.  Sound familiar?  They were
suffering from cage stress and mental boredom.
 
I have noticed three areas of concern regarding ferrets and cages.  First,
ferrets evolved as hunters that searched large territories in hopes of
making a living.  Cage living tremendously impacts the ferret's ability to
perform this physical activity (humans suffer from the same problem, which
is a major reaseon obesity is so common in our set-on-our-butt society).
Second, unlike cats or dogs who might use smell to track prey but vision to
hunt it, ferrets use their noses for virtually the entire hunt.  Hell, they
are are so nearsighted that stuff more than a room away is to burry to make
out clearly anyway.  They hunt with their noses, which means they evolved
to run around with their nose to the ground, searching any possible place
that might contain food.  Third, because a lot of their prey likes to hid
in places most predators can't go, such as holes, burrows, and--apparently
in England--men's trousers, they have this deep sense of curiosity.  WHile
curiosity may kill the cat, it only insures a ferret will have the
opportunity to get enough to eat.  This is why ferrets have an irresistable
urge to go into dark holes and tubes.  They can't help themselves; its
their nature.
 
Now cages (or boring homes) are not inherently bad.  What is bad is not the
cage, but the *environment*.  A cage that stimulates the mind and body of a
ferret is as healthy as any other environment, bar none.  Reaching that
state is the difficulty.  Cages--even large ones--are limited in space.
Any ferret will memorize a cage and it's contents in a very short time.
Some people will object, saying the ferret has a toy, so the problem is
solved.  Wrong.  Thay may play with that toy because it's all they have to
do, but that doesn't mean the environment isn't boring.  What is required
is exactly what is solving the problems in all the world's zoos.  Its
called, simply, "enrichment."
 
Enrichment means you have changed the immediate environment in a manner
that stimulates the ferret's mental and physical abilities, which reduces
boredom and cage stress.  (Ever wonder why no one has been able to figure
out exactly why ferrets seem to have so much adrenal disease?  I think the
researchers have overlooked cage stress in their studies.  Here are some
ideas to enrich ferret environments.
 
1) Who said ferrets have to eat in the same place?  When you feed your
ferret outside the cage, each time do it in a new area.  Don't show them;
let them search it out and find it.
 
2) Who said easy is good?  Make your ferret work for their treats.  Put a
raisin in a small paper bag, then crumple it up so they have to work to get
to it.  Or inside a plastic Easter egg, so they have to figure out how to
open it.  Or under a box.  Or inside a tin.  Get the idea?  I bought a few
cardboard mailing tubes with snap lids.  I fill the lid of a film container
with a treat, toss it inside the tube, then snap the lips in place.
 
3) Who said ferrets are delicate?  Physically roughhouse with them as often
as possible.  Ferrets are like 10 year old boys--the rougher, the better; I
guarantee they can take it better than you "I-hate-to-get-nipped" wimps.
Physical activity is one of the best ways to reduce physical stress.
 
4) Who said unchanging environments are good?  Move stuff around, take
stuff away, move new stuff in.  Understand?  Change is good.
 
5) Who said you can make it up tomorrow?  Ferrets have no concept of
tomorrow.  There is no tomorrow; once missed, its missed.  Sometimes that
can't be helped, but you could at least minimize it.  Ferrets in cages are
like little kids outside the playground, with their cute little faces
pressed into the chainlink, begging to be allowed inside to run and play.
 
6) Who said stink is bad?  Buy some of the scents used by hunters to train
dogs, and stink up some toys, bags or boxes.  You should have seen my group
the first time they got a whiff of red fox.  Cool.  Talk about bright eyed
and bushy tailed!  Even the sick and old ferts were bouncing.
 
There are more rules or ideas, or whatever, but you get the idea that
ferrets evolved to live in a constantly changing, demanding environment.
They need the physical and mental challenges of their evolutionary past
to remain healthy and alert.  If you don't believe me, prove me wrong.
Try some of these things for a few weeks, THEN tell me I'm full of crap.
You'll find the same thing I did; my ferrets are far more active, far more
interested in their environment, and far healthier than ever before.
 
Bob C and 19 MO' Carpet Sniffin', Tube Crawlin' Fools 'o Ferretdom
[Posted in FML issue 2611]