Hi Carol;
 
I have a household of free roamers and I can say that a free roaming ferret
does not in itself constitute weight loss per say.  Naturally, ferrets go
through two distinct weights in the year: chubby in winter and slender in
summer.  At least that is what I have noticed with my group and they have
been free roamers for many, many years.
 
The change that I saw physically occurring between being out of a cage
only a couple to 4 hours and having access to the whole house whenever they
liked, was that it made my ferrets stronger and bulkier.  I believe Bob
Church wrote about the benefits that free roamers have and how it changes
the density of their bones.  I give my ferrets things to climb, to slide
down, to dig in, to swim in... this last one is not always by my choice.
The vet made note of how strong my ferrets were, and how muscular, without
being fat, they were.  They also were more calm as a group - one of the
most well behaved groups he had ever seen.
 
I like the fact that in having 10 ferrets, that you see a ferret pretty
much every hour.  They have their individual sleep routines, and play times
and that is fine by me, but this is more of a side benefit to having a
household of free roamers.  Some mornings they are all up and other
mornings only half the group comes down for breakfast.
 
The ferrets have access to food all the time, and they eat when they are
hungry.  They stash a lot too... My ferrets don't stick to the 2-3 hour
clock either... sometimes they will eat only twice in a day.  But when they
do eat, they eat alot.  Keep in mind that some ferrets, just like people,
will eat when they are bored, and use it as a form of activity.  But in
terms of taking a ferret from situation where they do not have full access
to a variety of activities and then putting them into a situation where
they can climb, run, jump and other physical activities, will make a
difference in weight initially.  As they adjust to their surroundings, the
weight will maintain itself.
 
My experience with ferrets has also made me note that ferrets that are
caged the majority of the time, sleep longer and play for less time when
put into a situation of allowing them free roam status.  It's like they
don't understand that they can sleep when they like, and play when they
like.  Many times I have seen people mistake this forced time clock as the
ferrets' natural state of behaviour.  It takes time for the ferret to
adjust to the new situation and sometimes it may take many months to make
the connection.  This I have noticed with abused ferrets who have spent the
majority of time in a cage and had very little time out, if any at all.
 
I hope this helps, and as always, this is only my humble opinion.
 
Betty and Her Blur O'Fur
[Posted in FML issue 3010]