Precautions are essential to take into account before the pet ferret arrives at home. Just as it would be done for example with the arrival of a child. The reason is very simple, ferrets have such extreme curiosity that they can exceed their own survival instincts.
Precautions
- When they do not have access to any window or hole through which they access the outside or to some dangerous area of the house such as a backyard. Both because of their height and because they can climb over a nearby object. Such as a chair or armchair, for example, to reach the ledge.
- That they have no access to any place too high from which they can hurt themselves. Ferrets have mediocre eyesight. But as their eyes are less frontal than other carnivores, they mostly have a poor perception of depth in space. Therefore, they do not always have a notion of distances and height when jumping.
- They shouldn’t have access to any corner or hole from which we cannot rescue them. As we have said before, ferrets are very curious. They can follow something that is interesting to them and not know how to return or get trapped.
- Nothing should tip over that can crush or damage them. For example, a bicycle leaning against the wall, an unstable board, a large glass vase, etc.
- Beware of fireplaces, heaters, or objects that they can burn themself with, there is not much to explain here.
- That their resting place is not exposed to drafts, both between windows and a jet from an air conditioner or heater.
- That they do not have access to prohibited foods. In almost no case, the pet ferret will eat our food. So, by default, it cannot have access to it. We have to forget about the thought “they instinctively already know what they can eat.”
Preventing your pet ferret from swallowing/biting objects
- There should be nothing that they can swallow, including objects that can release small particles. You must know your pet ferret to know if it has a predilection for something. Pay special attention to anything that may be bitten and is susceptible to tearing or dislodging. They may be swallowed unintentionally. A bowel obstruction is a VERY serious thing that almost always requires urgent surgery.
- Derived from the above, that the toys, when apart. should not be containing toxic contents. They shouldn’t be dismembered into small parts that can be accidentally swallowed. For example, some toy figures may have glued plastic eyes. Your pet ferret might probably tear off the first day. There are many toys designed for cats that ferrets like a lot. It does not matter what animal it is designed for if in the end. If they like it, we only choose with caution and common sense, and even then, we watch.
It is very easy to step on them because your pet ferret can be as silent as a cat. In addition, they move in many times unpredictable trajectories and some cases are frequent:
- Your pet ferret can get tangled in the legs when walking.
- Be much more careful also if we are playing running. It is not uncommon for them to stop suddenly or change their trajectory unexpectedly. Additionally, we are not able to stop in time so as not to step on it or hurt it.
- Also, if we are crouching on our toes, it is not uncommon for us to want to smell the sole of the shoe. Therefore, we must be careful not to step on it when standing up.
- If the sofa has a cover or they have access to the bed, it is very likely that your pet ferret loves to go inside to explore and even to sleep. We have to mechanize a new protocol for every day, inspecting strange lumps before we sit down.
- Watch the doors for drafts. As you can imagine, this can cause the doors to slam shut, crushing them if you are unlucky enough to be by the doorway at the time. The simplest thing is to get used to fixing the doors every time we open windows or there are drafts.