How to make your ferrets feel at home

They also love to climb and explore. Providing your ferrets with lots of fun activities and regularly updating them will help keep your ferrets happy and healthy.

Keep your ferrets happy and occupied

Ferrets are extremely sociable creatures. They need the company of other ferrets to remain happy and content. They enjoy playing rough-and-tumble games and exploring together. In more tranquil moments, they will cuddle up together. By far the most important thing you can give your ferret is a suitable ferret friend.

Make feeding time fun by serving some of your ferrets’ food in Kongs and activity balls and by hiding treats in their bedding and boxes. Searching for their food keeps them occupied – finding it gives them a reward for their work.

Ferrets also love to explore and investigate their surroundings. They love to play, learn and mess around, so make sure you provide them with toys and activities to keep them fit, healthy and happy.

Your ferrets will enjoy:

• Pipes and tubes for running through or linking to a different part of the enclosure
• Cat toys such as fishing rods, wands, jingle balls and tall scratching posts
• Car tyres filled with blankets, shredded paper or sand to dig in
• Children’s tables and chairs
• Children’s small tents and tunnels
• A sandpit
• Shallow paddling pools with a few plastic balls for them to chase after – use during hot weather to encourage them to keep cool
• Homemade hammocks made from old bed sheets or jumpers
• Large paper sacks filled with shredded paper – they love the rustling noises.
• A cardboard box full of old socks to snuggle in. A great excuse to clean out your sock drawer!

Choosing the right bedding for your ferrets

The most suitable product to line your ferrets’ floor with is carpet or vinyl. Ferrets are easily litter trained, making the remaining areas easy for you to maintain by sweeping and washing down.

Ferrets like to have their toilet areas in corners or hidden away behind activities and toys. Offer them three to four cat or high-edge corner litter trays to choose from and line these with small shredded paper.

Ferrets can be very inquisitive and ingest some of the litter, so make sure you choose a non-synthetic litter. Place newspaper under and around the litter trays as some ferrets have a habit of missing the tray when backing up into the corner.

Ferrets love nothing more than a cosy bed to snuggle up in. The most suitable option for bedding is soft fleece blankets, old towels or even old jumpers. Place these in card boxes or cat and dog beds, or you can even make a hammock out of old sheets and pile in all the bedding for them to rummage around in.

During the winter, your ferrets will snuggle deep into their blankets. In the summer, they tend to lay on their backs flat out and often go into what’s known as a ‘dead sleep’. This is a very deep sleep that they often don’t fully wake from until you have lifted them up. In most cases, this is very normal. However, if they appear dehydrated, pale or are not responding, seek medical advice immediately.

Cleaning out your ferrets

Keeping your ferret enclosure clean is key to preventing potentially fatal illnesses such as green slime disease. Clean your ferrets’ litter trays or toilet areas and wash them down with pet disinfectant. Carry out a full clean on the whole of the enclosure once a week, ensuring that you also clean all toys, activities and flooring.

Take the opportunity to add a few new toys in the enclosure for interest after each cleaning session.