Reptile & Amphibian Forums

we have a large group of animals, including cats, parrots,dogs and run a reptile rescue. the reptiles are all in a room to themself upstairs, the dogs are only downstairs, the parrots are downstairs, and well the cats go anywhere they want cuz who can tell a cat what to do? we were thinking of putting the ferret downstairs the cage near the parrots and only let him out when we are home. the parrots are large, not huge but have fended off one of the cats when he was a curious kitten, and even the dogs are afraid of her. we had just started to think about getting a ferret when a rescue oppurtunity fell into our lap, we are going to meet him today (he was surreneder to a friends vet clinic, im an RVT)
just want to know if anyone has any hints about introducing a ferret to a new home, cage prefrences, and is it possible to litter train an older ferret? any recomended web sites to hit for research? we are really going to think this thru, we have a bit on our plate now, but we live for our animals, we have no human children and never will, we prefer to rescue animals with our lives, not add to the planets overpopulation issues!
thanks for any thoughts!

I've just found a great article about caring for ferrets. You can check the article at http://exotic-pets-info.com

Hey . I can only answer some of the questions. Hope it helps tho . It its possible to train an older ferret . I used to have 7 and we rescued them all most where around the ages of 3 and it worked perfectly . Mostly just found there fav vorner to go in and put the box there and it worked . Caging is pretty simple and wire cage will do really . Im sure you know this but anything they can fit there head threw there body can go threw as well . Most that I have got lonely very easily . They love to have another ferret to snuggle up to . Well at least some . lol .
Hope it helped a little bit
~Steph~

Hi There Po!

In your post you didn't say where you had been housing the ferret before, did you have them in an upstairs bedroom?

Personally I wouldn't put the ferret cage close to the birds, as ferrets are prey animals and might consider one of your birds as dinner. A ferret is an expert climber and will generally do what they need to, to get up on things.

Secondly, you need to ferret proof the area your ferret will be living in, as someone has already said, if they can get their heads through, their body will follow.

Now for the cage. A lot of folks use a cage like the super pet cages, but they are difficult to clean, so I would recommend a ferret nation cage, or one similar to it, for ease of cleaning. It has 2 large doors on each level that open wide to remove the tray for cleaning. If you use a regular wire cage, ensure that you cover the bottom with something like linoleum or carpeting, as the wires are hard of ferret feet and other body parts.
Both can be attached to the bottom using wire ties. When you need to clean them, simply remove the ties and clean, then let dry and return to the cage.

Hope this helps! If you have any further questions, please feel free to post them here.