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Ferrets

*Julie (GFX Ferret) is the reason I got into snakes as well. LOL
She & I became good friends & she's been a (good) bad influence.
 
nwheather said:
*I've attatched links for you*
The first breeder I would recommend is Julie, at GFX Ferretry
Most of my ferrets are from her. I contacted her beginning of 2008, being new to private bred ferrets & asked her a gajillion questions, & she was awesome about answering all of my questions. Julie is in NC, near Charlotte, & she does a fair bit of traveling, so meeting up is sometimes an oiption.
I got my first babies from her in 2008, when the airlines still allowed ferrets in cabin, & I flew out to NC to get them. I stowed them under my seat on the flight home.

Other reptuable breeders are:
Vickie JBF Ferrets

Sally Shady Hollow Ferrets

Marie Marie's Ferrets
She's not in the US, but she has the *coolest* outdoor enclosure for her ferrets, one that someday I'd love to build for mine.

Ferrets can be very expensive. Their exams & vaccinations are more expensive than cats & dogs, & if something happens to them, it costs a lot to fix.
One of my ferrets cost me over $800. He was my youngest ferret, at just over a year old. He developed bladder stones & had to go in for emergency surgery. He had at least 7 stones, four of which were blocking his urinary tract, which caused a buildup of potassium in his body, & caused heart failure during surgery. My vet told me it was a possibility, but not doing surgery was not an option. Needless to say I was devastated.

I tested the ph level in all of my ferrets (I had 8 at the time) to make sure it wasn't the food I was feeding them.
Ferrets generally rarely get bladder stones in the first place, & the ones that do, it's usually due to being on a *plant based protein* food. My little guy had some random genenetic thing, that caused the stones from the animal based protein. None of the other ferrets in his line have had this problem, it was just a fluke with him.

The whole vet bill, including to make sure the others weren't at risk for stones, cost me about $850. On top of that, my baby died.

Ferrets will also find other ways to injure &/or kill themselves. I lost another one who suffocated in a hammock. Some like to chew, & can chew a hole in the bedding, crawl inside & end up suffocating (mine was during a really warm weather period as well, which may have contributed). Theses things happen, no matter how diligent you are. I frequently check the bedding for holes, & it still happened to me.
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I understand and thank you so much for your help!!!
 
nwheather said:
The majority of the ferrets that have vision & hearing problems are not necessarily due to albinism. The ones with the white blaze on the head as well as the ones with the white hood are usually the ones affected. It's called Waardenburg syndrome. The commercial breeders know that this is an issue, yet they continue to produce them, because the public likes the look of them.

Yes, *on a quality diet* & keeping the litter box clean & the bedding clean (I scoop the litterbox once a day & change out the bedding once a week, sometimes every two weeks) & I can tell you, all six of my ferrets smell less than having one cat in the house.

Anyone who is not used to pets, is going to smell any animals in a house they walk into. It doesn't matter if it's a dog, cat, or ferret, but it easily can be very mild, as opposed to the general belief that ferrets have a strong odor.

I've had several people stand right next to my three level Ferret Nation cage, that has three litterboxes & the six ferrets & be amazed at how little they smell.

Trimming their nails can be pretty easy, even by yourself.
I put the ferret on their back, in my lap, & put some Ferretone on their belly, & while they're busy licking it off, I trim their nails.
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Well, you know much more than I do/ever did simply by having 6 of them... and with my having owned mine YEARS ago, so I defer to your information. :)

I often think of my little Chester. He died while I was at seminary - in my mom's great care. He was 8 years old. :( He really started slowing down by about 5 years old and stayed kinda small - probably because he had some illness about 6 months after I bought him. BUT he was amazing and he loved to follow me and hang out on my shoulder while I did my homework or watched TV. Boy, just thinking about him makes me wish again. LOL.
 
*Sorry for multiple posts. I'm at work & get sidetracked. I post something I want to say, then remember something I wanted to add. LOL

Ferrets are a lot of work, mine take more time than my dogs, geckos or snakes.
They need a lot of exercise & while they can be kept in a cage when you're not home, for their own safety, they need a lot of out of cage time. I used to live in a house where mine had their own room, & I had a baby gate with plexigalss at the doorway, so they could not get out, & my dogs could not get into the room.

I'm currently in a rental, & do not have an extra room for them, so their out of cage time is in a playpen, which is not ideal for them, but it's only for about a year, until I can buy a house with more space.

They easily can do more damage that cats or dogs do. I saw someone mention that they like to dig in the carpet. They do. They're burrowing critters. Having lots of playtime helps. I also have a dig bin for them, that I made out of a large Rubbermaid bin, cut a whole in the side, installed a piece of corrugated drainage tube into the whole (4 inch tube) & put rice in it **not instant rice**. They do sometimes ingest it, & the instant stuff with swell & cause a blockage. I have used ping pong balls in the dig bin before, & they love to play in those, but a couple of my ferrets would shred the balls, so I had to get rid of those balls.

As with our reptiles, it's very important to find a good, reputable exotic vet, that knows what they're doing with ferrets.

I would recommend you research all this before deciding to move forward in getting a ferret. They're not an animal that will easily adjust of they're passed around because someone decided they didn't want them. Ferrets can get depressed & stop eating.

Don't get me wrong, they're great pets to have, but they are not for everyone, & it's heartbreaking to see so many end up taken to shelters, rescues, on Craigslist or even just let loose, to fend for themselves (who will usually end up dying if not found by someone).
 
The_Thunderer said:
Well, you know much more than I do/ever did simply by having 6 of them... and with my having owned mine YEARS ago, so I defer to your information. :)

I often think of my little Chester. He died while I was at seminary - in my mom's great care. He was 8 years old. :( He really started slowing down by about 5 years old and stayed kinda small - probably because he had some illness about 6 months after I bought him. BUT he was amazing and he loved to follow me and hang out on my shoulder while I did my homework or watched TV. Boy, just thinking about him makes me wish again. LOL.
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:)
I had pet store ferrets many years ago, & at the time, I was just as misinformed as many ferrets owners tend to be. It wasn't until I started researching private bred ferrets almost 5 years ago, that I learned what I now know about them. Having several, also has given me a higher chance at experiencing some things that can happen, that some people do not, just having one or two.

Was yours adrenal? That is the most common issue that palgues ferrets. It is believed that the super early spay/neuter contributes to it. Pet store ferrets are altered as young as 4 weeks old.

All of my ferrets were late alter, meaning they were allowed to reach full maturity before being spayed or neutered. That in itself was an experience, & one I would not recommend to a person new to ferrets. Essentially, they have to go through their first sexual maturity cycle. The females go through a false pregnancy & can be a real handful, even if very sweet natured otherwise.

Private breeders often have retired breeder ferrets (that are 2-3 years old) that are already altered, which would be the ones I would recommend, for someone getting into ferrets, if they have done their research, & decide to move forward in getting a ferret or two.
 
nwheather said:
A big part, like I mentioned earlier is diet. Pet stores will tell you that you *have* to feed Marshall's ferret food, in order to get the health guarantee. Marshall's is not the absolute worst you can feed, but it's not a good food. The main ingredient is fish, which is part of what causes odor in them.
I have a high quality grain-free, high protein kibble (Fromm Surf & Turf) available to them at all times. They are supplemented with raw & whole prey (mice, chicks).
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I...

I think I love you. *hug*
 
nwheather said:
:)
Was yours adrenal? That is the most common issue that palgues ferrets. It is believed that the super early spay/neuter contributes to it. Pet store ferrets are altered as young as 4 weeks old.
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No... Chester's issue was intestinal. Somewhere along the line, he got some infection in his intestines which led to mega diarrhea and weeks of antibiotics. I was just starting to work at the time (a car and a ferret were my first purchases) and I didn't have lots of money saved, so my mother came to my rescue and paid for his vet bills... around $600. He recovered nicely after about 5 weeks, but stayed small... MUCH smaller than his bigger brothers at the pet store.

Yes, Chester was a "pet store" purchase... but back then, there were only a few resources available (no internet) and while I did do my research, looking into private breeders wasn't an option for me. I bought him from a pet store in Las Cruces, New Mexico and brought him to live with me in El Paso, TX in 1989. He died in 1997.
 
LOL Vicki, thanks.

The_Thunderer said:
No... Chester's issue was intestinal. Somewhere along the line, he got some infection in his intestines which led to mega diarrhea and weeks of antibiotics. I was just starting to work at the time (a car and a ferret were my first purchases) and I didn't have lots of money saved, so my mother came to my rescue and paid for his vet bills... around $600. He recovered nicely after about 5 weeks, but stayed small... MUCH smaller than his bigger brothers at the pet store.

Yes, Chester was a "pet store" purchase... but back then, there were only a few resources available (no internet) and while I did do my research, looking into private breeders wasn't an option for me. I bought him from a pet store in Las Cruces, New Mexico and brought him to live with me in El Paso, TX in 1989. He died in 1997.
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ECE is the first thing that comes to mind in reading your post.
It may not have been, but it sounds possible, especially if it affected him his whole life. I'm glad you were able to give him a good home. A lot of people now days would rather get rid of an animal than spend the money to take care of it.

Yeah, private breeders weren't very common back then. I'm very happy that I found Julie. Two of my ferrets are from a breeder in Spokane, the other four are from Julie.

Ferrets will leave lasting imprints on your heart. They're cool little creatures for sure, but definitely not for everyone.
My first baby (Mystic) from Julie passed away about a year and a half ago, when she choked on kibble (Evo) before I had switched over to Fromm. I found her in the morning, in the litter box (she always liked to eat in the litterbox).

I hate feeding kibble at all, but with my schedule, it's best for them to have it on hand, & Fromm has much smaller kibble pieces. With the help of Julie, we researched all kinds of kibble, as soon as we found out that P&G was buying out the company that makes Evo.

The food had to be high protein, low carb, human grade ingredients, natural Vit K (synthetic Vit K can cause liver problems), animal fat (not canola oil), are some of the main criteria we were looking for.
Mystic was special to me, & will always hold a special place in my heart. One of my planned tattoos is to get her pawprint, with her name. (She is also the reason I chose "Mystic Exotics" for my hobby breeding.)

Sorry for the rambling. LOL
 
Sarah1228 said:
Mwheather....what is the best food out there for them and where can I get it?
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I keep Fromm Surf & Turf available at all times, & I supplement whole prey (mice & chicks) raw, occationally canned food (Before Grain, grain free food).
One advantage of private bred ferrets is many breeders raise the babies to recognize raw/whole prey as food.
Most pet store ferrets are used to kibble (pet stores feed the babies a kibble mush...kibble soaked in water). Some babies can transition to raw/whole prey if started right away, as babies, but not always.

Raw & whole prey really is the best for them. With my schedule, it's tough for me to do,as they need food available frequently, so I leave the Fromm S&T kibble available at all times.
 
Sarah1228 said:
Just so I'm not mistaken, I just googled it and Surf and Turf is cat food?
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Fromm has both Surf & Turf cat & dog formulas. IMO, there is no decent ferret kibble out there. Evo was the only ferret kibble that I would feed, but since they got bought out by P&G, I expect they will or have already changed the quality of the ingredients. I know one formulat that had like five differnt meats in it got cut down to two or three different meats. P&G is all about the money & they cut quality in order to make their money.

I would rather feed a great quality cat formula, than a crappy ferret formula.
 
I wouldn't feed either of them to any of my animals. It would be like living on Bic Macs your whole life. Crappy quality ingredients, fillers, lots of chemical additives...no thank you.
 
Ferrets are totally worth the constant cleaning, if you have the time to commit to them. I never noticed my ferrets themselves smelling bad... I dunno, it's been a while since I had them, but they are wonderful little troublemakers, constant laughs. Probably best if you don't have any other high maintenance animals. Especially rodent types. I had a dwarf hamster escape and even though my two ferrets were in their cage they found him and skinned him.
 
I work a set schedule in the morning and have the afternoons and a majority of my nights free. Plus my off days. I am looking for a little companionship, and I figured they would be perfect since I don't see myself having children anytime soon! Lol
 
Ok we'll at least I know I can get it online. And what about feeding the ferret real Chicken? Would it have to be raw or cooked?
 
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