Greetings!
 
I have just joined the Ferret Mailing List and am a first-time ferret
owner. Our family's newest member is a 6-week old female ferret.
She lives in the family/TV room. I have covered a 3X2X2 dog cage with
chicken wire and after 3 weeks, she is box trained and comes when I
call her. I try to let her out for at least a couple of hours a day
(in the ferret-proofed family room).
 
Her name is "Baby". I guess it's kind of like the Indian thing.
It will change when she gets older or "tells" us what her name is...
Baby for now.
 
She still chases my 5-year old boy around the room (he is terrified of
her unless I'm holding her). My 9 year old daughter is getting used to
her, but still get surprised some times. I'd like to hear some
discussion of important things to do while they're young to make sure
she is friendly. (I wrote the previous Friday. We had a very good
weekend, the kids are quickly getting used to her and she was
noticeably gentler Sunday evening!) The one thing I don't like is
lunging/striking towards the kids faces with mouth open when playing.
Any suggestions here?
 
We're considering a kitten for her to play with. Any misgivings about
this? The cat will probably have the run of the house while the ferret
will be in her cage a lot. From the discussion I've seen, it seems like
a losing battle to get a ferret to use one box like we've trained a cat
to do (in the laundry room). We're not too hip on having poop boxes all
over the house. Not to mention little piles in every corner! <g>
I'll have to say, she's doing very nicely as far as going in the box
in her cage restricted to the one room she's allowed to run around in.
She happily sleeps under a towel, drinks from a bottle and we're
gradually putting more things in the cage, just made a little hammock.
 
I'll have to say that the couple of ferret owners we have had contact
with have been very helpful as you Listers also seem to be. We really
appreciate the FAQs. Also, having so much experience and variety of
members.
 
I have had several pets over the years, including a rooster. My last
pet was a cat I had for 13 years. She died of cancer last fall after
being sick for a few weeks. Pretty devastating at the time. Anyway,
I decided we needed another pet and had seen the ferrets in the pet
shop. A few weeks ago I was in the shop, saw a new batch of ferrets,
held one that was biting the crap out of me! Picked up another one
who just enjoyed me holding her. After a few minutes, I knew it was
decision time. I whipped out the Visa and was on my way home with a
young ferret!
 
One problem I have is my wife had a more negative reaction than I
thought she would. We had discussed getting another cat. I thought
she would like the ferret. She seems to equate her with the rodent
family which she does not like. Hmm. Anyway, she is helping out and
thinks she is cute. Doesn't want to touch her much. She'll probably
come around. Any suggestions?
 
                        Jon Hagee
                        Lexington, Kentucky
                        [log in to unmask]
                        KY Explorer BBS
[Posted in FML issue 1013]