New in NY with 2 ferrets

[ashacresfarm]

Hi,

Just recently acquired two new ferrets, about 4 days ago. Off of craigslist(private owner). They are very quiet compared to a ferret I use to own(about 15yr ago).

They are a male and female. They are about 1yr old and was told they are Marshall ferrets. The male is twice the size of the female.

They aren't as playful as the ferret I use to own. One thing I noticed about them .. at times they slither along the floor.. why? or they walk along and then just flatten right out for no reason. What is this behavior? They rarely hunch their backs and play at all. They walk around alot and look to see what they can get into and that is it.

The female(pictured) has no interested at all in playing and hisses at the male when he attempts to initiate any type of play. I was thinking about getting another ferret to maybe be a playmate to the male. Add some zest to their lives. ;o) What do you think? If I were to get another ferret how do you introduce them? Does it matter what sex , if I were to get another ferret.. I was thinking another male ( of course altered and descented )

They currently are on Marshall kibble( I thought was good), and I give them a pasty vit supp they lick off my finger. I bought "dusk soup pwder" but have not used it yet.. is that a good product to use? I would like to convert them to a better diet.. Thinking about the raw diet.. so please info me of how the process would go. I would assume that there are less health issues when they are on raw diets? Oh the female seems like a very picky and private eater.

I look forward to learning so much from this forum.

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[ashacresfarm]

Sorry I meant "duck soup" and here is the male

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[Heather]

Hi and welcome
Please feel free to prowl the forum and read through the various threads....ask questions. Everyone's friendly and you will find a wide variety of knowledge and experience.
Marshals ferrets are specifically bred to be very docile. A change of home is also very stressful for them. I would suggest a visit to the vet for a "health and wellness" check. You can also confirm age (unfortunately, that and health are 2 of the biggest fibs in rescue) Were your little ones housed together at their old home? Ferrets making friends with others of their kind can be a bit of a "crapshoot"....most times it works out but there are those of us who have ferrets who cannot tolerate certain other parties and those that just do not play well with others. I went for years with only one play group, being able to add other members at will. The last few years I haven't been so lucky and have a number of playgroups.
Marshals is not a good kibble and has a tendency (heard through the grapevine, as I've never used the stuff myself) to make ferrets smell bad and their litter smell worse. Take a prowl through the nutritional section on this site. It is broken into different sections to cover everything from raw frankenprey to whole prey and how to raise the prey to feed them. I hope that I will be seeing you around the site, photos are always appreciated.
ciao

[sunnyberra]

I just recently rescued a ferret myself, and was told that he got along well with other ferrets. Upon bringing him home, I realized that his social skills are very poor. As a result, my established male and the new guy are having a rough time of it. So, yeah, it's more like a hit or miss thing with them. Just make sure that you have a separate cage for the new guy and can be there to supervise introductions and playtimes until you know if they'll get along.

With my first pair, I had a male and female and my female, though bonded with my male, would hiss and run away a lot, simply because she learned quickly that he was spoiled and always played too rough. They'd sleep and eat and *explore* together, but very seldom would she wrestle with him.

When I first became a ferrent, I used Marshall's food (because my babies were Marshall's and that's what they were used to). It wasn't long before I switched to another brand. Marshall's *is* bad. The fish content, among other things, is really high and that can make some stinky poos (plus their coats will become 10x better looking if and when they get off Marshall's kibble).

What you're describing (the exploring/laying down thing) is what is known as speed-bumping. Generally, they do that after exhaustive play/exploration (way to get a bit more energy). If they do it frequently and after not-so-exertive activities, it could be that they are unused to ANY exercise (they were caged more than was healthy) or something could be up, healthwise (stress or something more serious).

[sherrylynne]

Hi, and welcome! Like Heather mentioned, please feel free to ask anything
To be honest, I'd wait a while before trying to introduce a new playmate. They need some time to settle in. No idea how much interaction they got at their old place with that owner, but they might be a bit depressed as well. They become very attached not only to each other, but to their people as well.

[rarnold18]

Hi! Welcome to the group. Your babes are cuties! Definitely look around the nutriton section some ferrets are easier to switch than others...and I think somewhere there is a post about better kibbles if you choose to go that route. Once your babes get more time out and exercise more they will build up their energy and stamina...the more time out of cage they get the more mucle tone they will devlop, the stronger they will be, and it will take longer for them to tire out...a diet change will help with their energy levels too.

[ashacresfarm]

thanks for the welcomes!!

These guys were housed together in their last home. They were actually in a cage for a rat, but she told me that she let them wander in a big room at night.

Emma the girl, just has that "I am too good for you leave me alone" attitude when she is out and about were Ash the male really would like to play. They do cuddle up together in the cage and don't have any problems being next to each other.. Emma just does not want to play.

I will go searching around some more.. this site seems to have a wealth of info.

I bought some jarred baby food.. chicken, going to introduce them to that and see how that goes.. also went out and got a bowl.. did not know that bottles were not good.

i saw bathing them is not a good thing.. just because of the soap getting rid of the oils?? its okay to let them just go in water correct??

[bluemoose]

Welcome to the forum

Yes, just water baths won't have the same oil stripping effect as ones with shampoo.

[sherrylynne]

The problem with the bottles is they can't get enough water from them. And since kibble keeps most carnivores on the edge of dehydration anyway, that only compounds the problems.
When you do get a bowl for them, try to get something like a croc-loc. It attaches to the side of the cage, and you can put it up a bit higher, so there is less chance of them getting their "elbows" into the whole thing. Some(read most) ferrets seem to have this undying belief they need to free all that wonderful water from it's cruel imprisonment
Most will quit digging at it quite so much as they get older

[ashacresfarm]

I did go get them a bowl .. I had to get a dog sm to attach to the cage.. I could not find a croc lock dish. The ferrets LOVES the water and it seemed like they were extremely thirsty. Neither one played in though.. not yet.

Question.. if I do not do raw diet or want a kibble to add to their diet what would be the best. Replacing the Marshall food the are on> I seen Evo... what other high quality food is there?? I was told that feeding cat food to a ferret is not wise.

And for curiosity is it true that if a ferret is bonded to another ferret. if you remove one of them it can be fatal??

[sunnyberra]

They can grieve very strongly. My Pixie did when her littermate, Yew, died. She ended up with stomach ulcers and an infection, on top of that. I introduced Yogi, my established male, a little over a week after Yew's passing, and I think he's one of the main reasons Pixie ever became lively again (Yogi and Pixie are now very strongly bonded and go by the nickname "Lovebirds.")

When it happens, it's one of the saddest things I've ever seen, that's for sure.

[sherrylynne]

They can, and do, grieve themselves to death. When their friend(or human) that they are very closely bonded to is no longer there, they can just give up on life. Here's a link on shelter shock. It's very much the same thing they can go through when they lose a cage mate they are bonded with:
holisticferret.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=medicine&action=display&thread=5243
As for the diet, what you want to look for is meat/meat based products in the first 5 ingredients. Avoid corn in kibble like the plague. Avoid as many grains as possible. Starches are the next no-no. Unfortunately, you cannot have kibble without at least some of the above. It's what binds that stuff. Here's a chart on kibble: moredooks.herobo.com/search.php?chart=ferret
It's still being updated, so keep checking if that's the route you choose to go

[katt]

Hi and welcome! Your fuzzies are cute, and it sounds like they need to be taught how to be ferrets. There are several threads in the enrichment section of the forum about teaching rehomed ferrets how to play like real ferrets again. There is a lot of info all over the forum, and people are always willing to answer questions so don't be afraid to ask anything, even if it seems silly. We have all asked "silly" questions at some point or another.

[ashacresfarm]

I have doing some reading and have found some games to do with them.. I think they will love it.

On a positive note they are coming out of their shells. They are starting to act spunky like what I remember. They were even quiet when I saw they at their previous owner.. but that is all starting to change. We do love their personalities!! found a page of games to play with them. Cant wait for the house to wake up to try them out.

Question.. was reading there is a difference between "biting" and "nipping". do you tolerate the "nipping" and scold for the "biting" and whats the differences? I read that nipping is a request for whom ever they are nipping to come play with them. I don't want to scold them if they are just using their social means to interact.

[Heather]

Depends what you are doing with your ferrets if you allow nipping or not. My guys are in the public all the time, nipping is not allowed. A lot of my guys are rehabilitated biters, again no nipping allowed. If they want to play they all know all they have to do is put their front paws on my leg and we will play. When they are picked up, being held they are not allowed to use teeth. Some people allow play nipping. Deafies don't play nip, they bite and it's not fair to discipline them one time and not another. So, here they're not allowed teeth. It's a personal thing
ciao