h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Heya!
My friend used to have some, and the best tips I can give you is...
if you have a boy then they're smellier (much like with humans )
if you have a girl, then you need to have her 'snipped' because female ferrets are apparently prone to ovarian cancer if un-neutered and not used for breeding.
Most usefully, with every ferret I have met, if you hold them underneath their front legs so their body is dangling (as is traditional) and stroke the top of their head, they always completely relax and fall asleep! So that should stop the bitting.
They seem to be lovely loyal pets, I hope you become as enthusiastic about the idea as your child and husband
Hope this helps
crumbs

thanks for your reply..amazing the www isn't it...well we have a male and quite a vicious little thing he is...drawn blood on both me and husband...

hes 10 weeks maybe a bit old really... a freind of ours thinks that anyway, he reckons by 10 weeks they can be quite tame... he is better today but now we use a thick canvas glove on one hand while handling him... and we put the glove in with him to sleep so he gets used to it.. he will tolerate some smoothing.. i held him for 5 mins yest before he bit me, so i think he gets restless.

my main worry is his biting, but with a lot of attention and handling he should be ok... so they tell me...

he won't be a working ferret only a pet....i'll probably have him castrated to keep the smell down and the sex drive at bay. if he keeps improving like this there is some hope...but i had hoped it would be tamer.... such a mobile neck can twist and nip like a snake...

still he is cute...joey as my litle girl insisted on calling him... i wanted to call him sid....vicious so wish us luck...lots of it

Blimey he sounds like a handfull.
All the luck in the world to you and your family, I'm sure he will be a valued part of it in no time!

hubby only had 3 bites today.. his hands are covered in bites...blade as we now call him is quite fond of hubby no one else dares to interact with him much yet

Hi Guys/Gals

Sorry to pop in unannounced, but I figured that the thread was at least relevant to my query..

I'll just jump in - people with ferrets as pets - have yours started moulting this early or are they still in winter coat?

I asked over at ask.. and Ðeakie pointed me towards you flakey-lady as a possible ferret-owned person so I figured I'd just come nosing on in, hope you don't mind..

cheers ismarah

hello sorry i've taken so long to reply.. haven't been checking things like i should...

the ferrets are more to do with my hubby.. but he hasn't said anything about them moulting.. their coats do still seem thick... and they had a bad infestation of fleas a few weeks ago due to the straw he was packing into their box to help keep warm...

infact i was the one to notice poor blade crawling with fleas.. hubby said he thought he had been grumpy.... he doesn't neglect them spends a lot of time with them but it was due to ignorance, he didn't think they got fleas

anyway we sprayed them.. cleared all the straw out and sprayed the box.. they have been clear since....

incidentally they have been exceptionally frisky and playful of late.. both are castrated boys coming up to their 1st year now....

have yours been full of the joys of spring too?