Ferrets As Pets

ferret by connorg60
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One of the first thing a person notices about ferrets is that they are cute. Cuteness seems to be a great reason for acquiring a pet. I doubt cats and dogs would be as popular a choice for a household pet and companion if they weren't as cute as they are. Think about it, if dogs were hideous looking creatures few people would bother having them as pets because who would allow a really ugly creature to slobber all over them? Cuteness makes ferrets an attractive idea for a pet. The average lifespan of a ferret is around 8 years, which makes them an ideal pet because you won't be replacing them every couple of years like you would with something like a gerbil. They are fairly small animals and this only adds to their overall cuteness, a ferret can grow to be anything up to 50cm long and an average of 12cm high.

Another great reason for having a pet ferret is that they are extremely playful animals. Playful animals make great pets because it allows you to interact with the animals instead of just observing it. Goldfish are very popular pets but you cannot take a goldfish out of its tank and play with it. A ferret can be played with and can be held and stroked and petted.

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Ferrets share some remarkable similarities with cats, in that they are sociable and affectionate animals. If you already have a ferret in your house and you introduce another ferret into the house usually the ferrets with get along very well with each other. When a ferret reaches maturity they crave the company of other ferrets, so having more than one ferret is a good way of keeping your ferret friend happy. Affectionate creatures make excellent pets because they will happily be stroked and make their owners feel happy.

One of the great reasons why ferrets make good pets is that they can be toilet trained. This is another similarity that they share with cats. A ferret can be trained to do its business in a litter tray. In fact if you have a cat in the house, both ferret and cat will quite happily use the same litter tray. The cat will even bury the ferrets business as well as its own. The fact that ferrets can be trained not to leave their mess all over the house is one of the reasons that make them good pets. Their intelligence also means that they can, with patience, be taught to do simple tricks. It is very cute to see a ferret begging or playing dead!

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Ferrets are extremely energetic creatures and require lots of exercise. This can be a plus or a negative depending on how much exercise you, as the owner, like to do. Getting your pet ferret enough exercise is as simple as taking them for a walk. There are social ferret harnesses that you can buy very cheaply that you attach to the ferret and then go walk about with them. A friend of mine has a ferret that will fetch his own harness when it is time for a walk.

Ferrets, unlike cats and dogs, are very quiet animals. They do not bark or meow. They do make sounds but very quiet and inoffensive sounds. The noise that you will hear them make will more than likely be the sound of your little ferret friend chasing something, or jumping off something high. Ferrets are very adventurous creatures and have a cat like curiosity and enjoy climbing onto high surfaces and into small dark spaces. This can be a reason to get a ferret pet as you will be able to get some interesting videos of a ferret jumping off a high surface and upload them to YouTube. Their curiosity and adventurous nature was one of the reasons they were used by hunters because the hunter would send them into a rabbit burrow and use it to flush the rabbit out of its hole.

The smallish size of a ferret is another good reason why they make great pets because their habitat does not need to be huge. Ferret cages come in all different shapes and sizes, but the vast majority of them are a very manageable size for the modern household. Thee ferret cage is like a sanctuary for your little friend as it is somewhere that they can crawl to when they are tired and want to escape the stresses of modern living. The fact that a ferret is quite a small animal means that they are not going to cost you an extortionate amount of money when it comes to dinner time. Ferrets have a very high metabolism and require protein rich foods. Whilst feeding a ferret is relatively easy you should make sure to give them ferret specific food to ensure that they stay healthy. Although ferrets are carnivorous like cats you should not feed your ferret cat food because it does not contain all of the nutrients required to keep your ferrets stomach happy. Ferret food is pretty easy and cheap to acquire, your local pet store should stock it, maybe even your local supermarket.

i love ferrets by sunshine9898
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Ferrets make lovely pets but they do require a lot of care and attention to keep them happy. They must be entertained and exercised regularly and it is important to know that a ferret can cause damage to your house if left unsupervised for long periods of time. This is due to their curious nature; they will chew everything they can get their mouths on if left to their own devices. There is a massive range of ferret friendly toys that you could pick up and you can train your ferret not to eat everything it sees, it just takes a lot of effort and patience on the part of you the owner. Ferrets also require a certain amount of grooming and the occasional bath, but do not worry as most ferrets actually enjoy a bath. I wish I could say the same about my cat, he hates having a bath.

If you are still not sure whether you want a pet ferret or not do some more research into ferrets so that you can make an informed decision as a ferret will live to be about 8 years so it is a long term commitment.