Ferrets, Rabbits, and Guinea Pigs oh my! (picture heavy)

[kitty]

It's been quite a while since I've been in, I don't have too many new pictures of my Gu's but I have plenty of pictures of the furrier members of my family:

First up we have Ravage (darker boy), Rumble (gray boy), and Frenzy (white girl)-- the business of ferrets, they're about 3 months old in these pictures and they're about 6 months now.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/kittycatchin/IMAG1144_zpsc8720eb7.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/kittycatchin/IMAG0961_zpsa25a8850.jpg

Then we have Nimbus (gray/white boy) and Shredder (brown/white boy) Rabbits, and "bunnyopolis". Nimbus is about 2.5 years old, and Shredder is now 6 months old. As a bonus we have a picture of Shredder at 4 weeks old with my two dogs Apex and Aria.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/kittycatchin/IMAG1001_zps9a861cda.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/kittycatchin/IMAG0667_zps2804006e.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/kittycatchin/IMAG0710_zpscad730a7.jpg

Lastly, I have a couple Halloween pictures and a picture of their 2 story c&c cage of my guinea pigs Bass (black/dark brown boy) and Guinness (brown/white boy). They're both about 2 years old.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/kittycatchin/844d5cdc-4e6f-4b79-a9cb-248dbdba1bb4_zpsb37c9452.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/kittycatchin/IMAG0753_zpsdd6ecc0d.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/kittycatchin/IMAG0721_zpsd61bc65b.jpg

That's all the pictures I had on hand, I hope you enjoy!

[laurarfl]

I have two ferrets, Cookie and Forrest. Both are silver females. And I have an Aussie...looks like you do as well. ;)

I love my ferrets as much as tegus. They are so hilarious.

[kitty]

Ferrets are such a blast! I find a lot of my socks in their ferret hidey hole, and if I can't find my keys it's the first place I look-- ever have them hide anything in your shoes?

I have a border collie/shepherd mix and an aussie/husky mix, both pound puppies. :) I love my zoo

[laurarfl]

They don't hide things in my shoes, but they have tried to steal the whole shoe! One is adrenal and has lost all her hair. My daughter rescued her and another from a really bad home. The other had bad insulinoma and was put to sleep right before Christmas. Anyway, Forrest the adrenal one has a rubber Wii control cover that she carries around and hides. It is her lovey and she goes nuts if she can't find it!

Cookie is a baby that I bought right before Christmas. She is the great thief. She has snatched Ramen noodles from the pantry, potatoes, peppermints, candles. I bought a new DVD for Christmas and she has hidden it. I still can't find it. It is brand new and still wrapped. But she is also the smuggler and she lays around with the dogs which is too cute. So allis forgiven.

[kitty]

Poor baby, have you looked into deslorelin to help treat Forrest? I have mine on an implant (they also have shots) to prevent adrenal but it can also be used to help treat them. I'm sorry to hear about your loss, ): ferrets are such great creatures but they are extremely susceptible to lots of illness.

Luckily I haven't had them break into the pantry yet, they do terrorize the dogs though, my girl is used to the rabbits who just like to lay with her, but the ferrets often try to attack her paws and her nose so she usually runs and hides from them instead of trying to mother them.

[Ripkabird98]

Do me a favor...

PLEASE STOP TEASING ME WITH THIS CUTENESS!!!! :-D:-D:-D:-D:-D:-D:-D:-D

I LLOOVVEEE Ferrets! I have wanted one, but I've heard too much bad things. I may have had a change of heart :roll:

How hard are they to care for, really?

[chitodadon]

I want a pair also

from Samsung Galaxy S3

[laurarfl]

They are into everything, so they need to be watched! They can get stinky if the cage isn't cleaned regularly. Mine are paper-trained with about 80% accuracy.

Kitty, my vet doesn't care for the implants. Right now Forrest is getting Lupron injections every 6wks. He calls ferrets "living petri dishes" because they have so many illnesses, especially Marshall ferrets.

[Ripkabird98]

I like the whole gets in to everything actually (i'm weird).

If they are cleaned every day how bad are they?

[kitty]

Honestly, if you are decide to get ferrets get more than 1, they're so interactive it's best if they have a friend-- otherwise they'll terrorize you 10x more than they would if they have a friend. Mine are litter trained, so I just scoop the litter in the morning and in the night, if their litter box isn't clean they'll find a clean corner /: very fun.

When we say they get into everything, we mean EVERYTHING I've found them in couches, in cabinets, and if they're females they can easily fit underneath doors, if the head fits so will the body! (mostly at least)

Their playfulness is between kittens and puppies, incredibly fun, if you can handle letting them run around for a few hours every day and making sure you keep their litter clean I'd say go for it.

Laura, all 3 of mine are Marshall ferrets, so I'm taking every precaution to keep them healthy-- feeding raw for the most balanced natural diet (since I have tegus it's really not that much more upkeep), getting the deslorelin implants, and I decided to get a trio since my last pair, when one of the girls died her sister passed away soon after, she was perfectly healthy then her health rapidly declined immediately after her sister passed-- granted they were 8 when they passed so they both had nice long lives (they were Marshall ferrets as well).

[Ripkabird98]

I'm home 12 hours a day except on Tues. and Thurs. when Im home 9 hours.

Maybe make a cage in the office, never close it, and let them run around my house. Spend like 3 days and $150 on PVC pipe to cover wires, plates for vents, etc, etc. Buy them a cat tree too, lol.

[chitodadon]

Si y peoplesay its hard to have then I can deal wit the running and poop I have a catvand tegu olus 3 kids

from Samsung Galaxy S3

[kitty]

They do sleep about 18 hours every day ;) but plenty of people let them free roam (or have a ferret room), I even know a lady that lets them sleep with her! They love PVC pipe, they use the larger ones frequently as tunnels, you can also buy dryer vents (clear ones would be ideal).

So long as the cat, tegus, and kids can get along, I would say a pair would be great. I've had my ferrets play great with cats before, although they did gang up on the poor cat.

[Ripkabird98]

Well. One cat is blind, the other has a paralyzed right front leg, from when he was thrown out of a car on a highway. He is from the pound, the other was already blind when we got her, so neither of them are a problem.

I'm 15, no siblings, kids check out.

Tegus.... that is to be determined, haha. Loki is still WAY too young to tell.

I can't decide though. Would I rather free roam my Ferrets or my Tegu?

[laurarfl]

I don't free roam my ferrets, but they come out for a couple of hours every day. And they have a huge cage. They have all sorts of toys to play with, the dryer vent tube is a favorite, as are paper bags, and pretty much anything on the floor. I do recommend getting them in pairs for company. They are like twins with their own ferret speak and ferret games, lol.

My cat blinded my ferret in one eye, so they don't play together. Forrest is also deaf and doesn't really respond to social cues from other animals. She has no fear and just went up to the cat. We always keep them separated, but the ferret had gotten into my bedroom and went up to the cat. The cat just smacked her on the head and the claw happened to lacerate the eye just right. So Forrest is my deaf, bald, skinny ferret who is blind in one eye. :/ But she is my super sweetie who always give my little ferret kisses and runs everywhere at full speed (Run Forrest Run lol).

I don't feed a raw diet, mostly because both of mine are so darn picky. But I do feed them the highest quality grain free diet I can find for them: Zupreem, Evo, Wysong raw cold-pressed. And I'm going to start cookie on yearly Lupron injections to try and keep the adrenal issues at bay. I also keep them where I can regulate their light cycles a bit and they can stay darker.

[chitodadon]

Im looking to adopt two of them now my wife likes em

from Samsung Galaxy S3

[laurarfl]

Watch to see what they were fed in past. Ferrets fed a grain diet are far more likely to develop chronic issues like insulinoma (low blood sugar) and adrenal disease. Adrenal disease is more likely linked to incorrect photoperiod and early spaying though. Not much we can do about early spaying in the US.

[chitodadon]

Thanks

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