Ideas for a digbox

[1]

Oct 21, 2010 11:52:33 GMT -5 josiesmom said:

watch the corn starch peanuts- they are sweet enough that some ferrets WILL just eat them. Yes, they dissolve but they usually are dyed green - and this makes for interesting and scarey deposits! Also the corn starch is NOT a good idea for insulinomic ferrets. I've used them in the past, but have eliminated them because I want to avoid starches in their diet.

My ferrets have access to multiple dig boxes:

Marbles, rice, plastic eggs, balls, shredded paper, fake leaves, thread tails, blankets and occasionally a swim bin!

Thread tails bin is ONLY allowed under direct supervision! Threads could pose an ingestion nightmare so ANY ferret with an inclination to chew is NOT allowed this bin.

A plastic wide three drawer bin (15.00 from Wal-Mart) houses some dig bins. Pulling the drawers out onto the floor gives the ferrets a great play space and offers a fairly compact space for storage.

Offering a drawer or two on different nights makes them think they've just discovered a new toy!


The rice is in an under bed bin that fits on the bottom of the ferret nation. A hole cut into the lid retains MOST of the rice and gives them privacy for their fun. Cut the bottom out of an oatmeal canister , bury it in the rice and they have a short tunnel to dig through, defend and wrestle over!

Regarding the suggestion of human hair and used shotgun or bullet casings:
I wouldn't!

Ferrets have enough issues with possible blockages from licking their own fur which is short and soft. Cut human hair will have a sharp end that can scratch eyes and depending on the length could wrap and twist a bowel.

Gun powder residue will be present on the spent shells. Often lead is used or antimony - neither of which needs to be part of your ferret's environment and can lead to problems for the eyes, lungs, heart, stomach! Not to mention the brain!

These problems can take a while to show up and the damages they cause won't be reversible.

Dig boxes are always fun for ferrets - use your imagination for the contents and keep your video camera nearby to capture the antics!

Cheers!
Kim

I shoun't even have mentioned the hair idea, as for the shells, anything being left over completely slipped my mind with that reminder i won't even bother trying to clean them! next idea is sea shells but their to sharp and stupid, I'm out of ideas for now.

[josiesmom]

actually sea shells make great dig box items. They offer individual tones and textures when the ferret digs through them. They also work great in a diving pool. Some ferrets cannot resist diving for them then stashing them. I would recommend that if you collect your own shells from the beach that you boil them and then air dry them before letting the ferret play with them. Boiling will kill any small critters residing in the shells that while they may not cause the ferret any harm they'd smell awful when they finally died in the dig box!

Cheers,
Kim

[caicaixprincess01]

I have two one i used long-grain rice, and the second i used those ball pit balls they enjoy both the same. I used about two big bags of rice for my rice digbox