This toy is cheap and easy to make yet irresistible to ferrets.  You need:

1. a wooden or metal box that’s slightly wider than your ferret and as long or longer than your ferret
2. large marbles – too large to swallow

My ferrets love to roll marbles around on the wood floor – it makes noise and they like to chase things.  If you’ve ever seen a ferret curl up in a baseball cap or a bowl, you’ll know how the box part works.  First, it has to be wooden or metal so the marbles make the required noise that ferrets love.  Second, it should leave the ferret enough room to roll and squish his body around in, yet small enough so he feels the box on all sides when he’s squirming.

Put ferret and marbles in box, and voila- he’ll writhe around on his back, grab the marbles otter-like and eve hold them in his hands, crystal ball- like, resting on stomach.  Have fun!

Bun doesn’t go out much, but whenever I take him out for an outing, it’s always about dirt.  Like any ferret I’ve met, he loves to dig.  In this case, he dug backwards and around in circles.

Ferrets know a little bit about doors and what magic they perform.   Close your bathroom door for some privacy, and a ferret is sure to appear, scratching to get in.  Why is this?  Well, they’re just so curious they can’t stand the idea that something exciting might be happening in there, and they’re missing it.

Also, doors provide treats in many forms. A case in point would be the food gifts that come forth when humans open the refrigerator door.  In a ferret’s world, doors have possibilities, especially when they go from closed to open.

After Bun’s First Outing, he sat by the french doors out of which his adventure began, hoping he’d get to go out through them again.  That one time, boy did those doors produce great things.  Bun got to rub in some real dirt, snake through the plants, and get lots of whiffs.

So, for my ferrets at least, doors are magical, powerful, and full of possibilities, all good.  So what does it mean when ferrets leave messages on thresholds of doors?  After Bun’s Second Outing, he left a message on the threshold of the door we had gone through.  He’s done it before, after someone had left for the day.  An old ferret used to leave messages frequently, at the threshold of the main door to our apartment.  It seems to be linked to having just gone through that door…today Bun seemed to be saying, I know how you get out there, and just letting you know that I know.  And I’m jealous, so here’s a quick note to remind you that I’m jealous.

It’s true, it’s like they want the door to open again, want the magic to occur, so they communicate this with a poop message.   They are posting messages right where you’ll be sure to see them when you’re exercizing your enviable ability to move between the inside and the outside worlds.

]]> http://ferret-blog.com/threshold-messages/feed/ 0 http://ferret-blog.com/wish-you-were-here/ http://ferret-blog.com/wish-you-were-here/#comments Mon, 15 Mar 2010 14:07:32 +0000 cat http://ferret-blog.com/?p=47 [...]]]> Hippie doesn’t get out much, and to tell you the truth he’s not all that interested in venturing beyond the five walls of our half-hexagon shaped apartment.  He’s a tough old guy, and he’s seen the harsh side of life.  Having been abandoned by his previous owners and left caged in the night outside the shelter in oppressive tropical swelter, he knows the dark side of life.

Anyway, we recently took Hippie to the beach, on what was supposed to be a fun outing for all.  Bun went too, on his very first excursion outside the home.  Having become frail and balding, Pig stayed home and attended to her roach army.

Like a sour old man who’s lost joy in the newness and strangeness of life’s surprises, Hippie didn’t give one s*%t about the beach.  Bun did what all ferrets seem to do when we let them loose near water: head for the hills.  So, while one of us chased Bun the other had to hold Hippie, who would also scurry inland from the ocean, after having taken a quick whiff at the water’s edge.  He’d make it as far as the tall grasses behind the sand, then have to be hoisted up by his shoulders before he tunneled away out of site.  They both hated it.   Here’s Hippie after being scooped up just before he made it to the border (i.e. sidewalk).

Pig, Fighter Against Roaches

Pig’s specialty in life is play fighting with humans.  She’s a fierce, brave fighter who’s not afraid to stand up to humans when the situation calls for it.  Very much in touch with her wildest instincts, Pig also has a hunger for catching Palmetto Bugs.  Down here in Florida that’s what they call big, nasty creepy nocturnal roaches.

Many a night we’d lie awake listening to scuffling noises in the corner, followed by the sounds of little ferret feet tearing exitedly across the floor.  In the morning, we’d find only roach legs and a gutted roach body.  Where were the insides? We feared the answer.

Then one day a confused roach ventured out during daylight hours and we got to see Pig in action.  Yes, she would hunt the roaches, kill them, and for a gruesome finale: eat their insides which consisted mainly of cloudy white goop.

This was horrifying to us, but after some consideration we were extremely proud of our Warrior Ferret.  It was actually the most badass thing we’ve seen a ferret do, in real life.  (Check out youtube for some truly grisly badass things ferrets do…just type in “ferret eating mice” or “ferret meets red squirrel”).

Pig has learned that the sound of rolled up newspaper or a shoe hitting the ground hard means a human has discovered a roach.  When she hears that sound, she comes running from even the remotest corner of the apartment, and even if she’s deep asleep inside a drawer.  She tries to get in on the killing and steal the body out from under us.  Our battle against the palmetto bugs then takes on a secondary aspect:  keeping Pig from eating the nasty thing.  She will grab and run, though, and sometimes she will win.  That’s because she has her own personal Roach War.

Taking Notes

An opportunist is someone or something that seeks out new environments and situations in case there’s a good chance of something good happening.  Ferrets are opportunists, which means they constantly have their eyes and (espicially) their ears open.  They take notes and store the info in their small brains for later use.

The main way I’ve observed my ferrets making use of their stored data is in remembering sounds.  The sound of the spoon scraping against the bowl is the sound of an upcoming snack of leftovers.  The sound of the closet door opening is possibility of entering the forbidden area.  The sound of the fridge opening is yet another chance to explore this mysterious place with so many wonderful smells.

What makes your pet ferret such a great pet is his attunement to your activities.  Ferrets will adjust their sleeping patterns so they’re awake when you are.  They’ll greet you every morning if they’ve observed that good treats are given out first thing of the day.  They’ll watch you intently to get your attention if the food bowl is low, or if the water needs changing.  Or sometimes they’re watching you for signs of a good play session about to begin.

This is bun, watching me.  He’s taking notes inside his head and will later use it against me!

Hippie Emerging from a Couch Nap

If you love your couch, you will need a Couch Protection Plan.  The couch is your pet ferret’s perfect environment:

1. dark
2. soft
3. full of hidden corners
4. comes with digging areas

To your ferret, the couch represents one humongous extended burrow, into which he can dig, tunnel, and excavate.  Oh yes, he will excavate your sofa.  First he’ll break through the fabric layer covering the bottom of your sofa.  Then he or she will explore upwards into the innards of the sofa.  Any padding will be dug out and end up on your rug or just laying underneath your couch.

Your pet ferret will squeeze between any wooden frame structure, in search of napping spots.  They may get stuck and you will have to turn your sofa upside down and coax your weasel out.  He may not want to come out, or he may be stuck.  It’s hard to tell.  And you can’t just grab his head and pull, of course.

Eventually, the ferret will break through and surface between the sofa cushions, when you are least expecting it.  Plan for a ferret head popping up next to you as you watch TV, to your dismay as you realize where he’s come from.  Now your couch has been ferretized.  It is no longer your couch.  It belongs to your ferret, and he will make it his home.

This is Hippy, emerging after a long couch nap.  Not yet fully awake, he’s still in a half dream state, in part made possible by the dark innards of the couch environment.

But he was very persistent about getting into the fridge.  Come to find out, he was after our cheese supply.  The cheaper the cheese, the better.  His favorite is American singles.  A few weeks after that, he learned that begging will bring him cheese.  Yes, it’s our fault we have begging ferrets, just can’t help it.

Now Hippie keeps tabs on our every move, knowing just when to come bounding into the kitchen after us.  He knows the sound of the fridge door opening, just as Bun and Pig know the sound of the spoon against a bowl when we’re eating cereal (soup is such a disapointment!).

Because Hippie is larger than life in so many ways, (just look at him), he does everything to the max, including begging.  We call this the “Strong Beg”.  It’s so intense you can feel his beady eyes boring a hole right through you.  He’s trying to look you directly in the eye and comminucate: Cheese Please!

The Strong Beg

Cheese Please!

Macchi's Strong Beg

Bun's Beg Isn't Very Strong

Anyway, he’s so clumsy sometimes it’s hard to believe he can get anything done in his life.  When he runs, his feet push out sidewards with every step.  If you watch him from behind, it looks like he’s roller blading, but in fast forward.

I placed him on the windowsill for some fresh whiffs and look what happened.