February-
Dogs are quiet, too quiet. I look around. The Husky and Beagle are sharing a toy upstairs? I call them and they come down, toy in tow. At the foot of the stairs, the Husky drops the toy. Upon inspection, the toy turns out to be my little one's pet hamster. Doh! I break the news, she bawls. I tell her she'll get a replacement that weekend. Six pet stores later, no one has the kind that she had. Guinea pig? No
Rabbit? No
Chinchilla? No
Ferret? YES

$500 (potential gun money) later, the kids have 2 ferrets with all the accessories. The male is younger and smaller but is growing quickly. In no time he catches up to and passes the female. He's bigger, much bigger. Now it's obvious that the female has taken ill and has lost a lot of weight.

First thing next morning, I check on the female and she's dead. Doh! When I come back with a disposal bag, she feebly lifts her head. Decision time. Spend more money on the vet then she cost, just to try and save her. Put her down and buy a new one. I bite the bullet and tell the little one that the female needs to go to the vet. $100 and 2 weeks worth of twice a day treatment later, we have a revived ferret.

Today-
Take the ferrets out while laundry gets sorted and folded. Laundry done, I lay on the floor to play with the critters. The male poke his head in my pant leg. Flashbacks of the ferret/nutsack story, prompt me to block him out.

The female gets on my back and plays with my ear rings. Next thing in know, I hear a pop and pressure on my ear. She bite clean through it! I go to get up and realize that she's still clamped to my ear and hanging from it! I pry her off, put them in their cage and go to stop the bleeding. The things men put themselves through, for the love of their daughters.

You're a devoted dad. [:)]

BTW, I was in a petstore once and of course they had the ferrets out for everyone to play with. So I picked one up and the little bugger bit me on the finger and hung on tight. It left a pretty noticeable mark....
... on the petstore wall where I flung it. [}:D]

Ferrets are illegal to keep as pets in California. They're almost as dangerous as .50 Caliber Military Assault High-Powered Sniper rifles.

We wouldn't want these things getting out and competing with all the feral cats for food, now would we?

This thread is officially hijacked

Proof positive that the only thing --- repeat, the [b]ONLY[/b] thing --- a man should be allowed to have pierced is his ear.

cynic

I wonder how well a ferret can hold on to a tire?

This is a situation some of us older men would have never been in....We told you kids about earrings....

[:D]

My huskie ate my cousins hamster when my little cousin tried to introduce them....one bite and a shake later my young cousin was in tears....lesson one, never leave a huskie and a rodent togeather unless you want to get rid of said rodent.....

Believe me, my first thought was to to put the little shit down (like I should have in the first place) and move on. All I have to do was open the door and let the dogs (5)in the room. Four of them are hunting breeds, the huskies just don't like small animals. With 2 Jack Russells, a Beagle, a Dashound plus the Husky, it would have been messy, entertaining, but messy. [chainsawkill]

I thought it best, not to give them childhood memories of dad stomping the ferrets guts out. Plus, I showed them a few things:
Any animal with a mouth can (and will) bite
Don't panic (scream, cry etc)
Presence of blood doesn't mean you're mortally wounded.
Every wound needs to be cleaned
Not every wound requires Band-Aids
Reason why no more ferrets after these go




I'm old enough to know better... too young to care. I am not alone though. Out here, I know parents/grandparents (40s-50s) getting piercings and tattoos. (We need a pierced/punk smiley)

I used to have Ferrets until my allergies got bad. BTW they ate two Gerbils.

Wait until the little suckers get inside your couch. Had to slit the back of mine open with a razor blade and fish the little guys out.

One thing to watch for is the "happy dance". They stand on their back legs and jump in circles. Its funny as hell and they look like their on crack.

Only had 'em for about a year though. One thing I do remember is the smell. Try not to put 'em in a room with anything you dont want to smell like "ferret".

Oh yeah one last thing. The females can flatten out and fit under/around/through spaces as small as 1/2 an inch. No one belives this at first but they can. They will get INTO EVERYTHING unless you put up barriers that they cant get through. You might want to watch your dogs. One of my ferrets got on my beagle/lab's (he was a funny looking dog) back and hung on until I finally grabbed him. Funny thing is thought that the dogs (had 4 then) never went after the little guys. Kinda like mutual respect.

AZGunner....I just KNEW all that metal on your head was gonna get you in trouble!!!!!  I just had no idea that it would be a FERRET, of all things, that would get you there!!!!

 Hope that ear's ok!!!!

Ferrets rock, my wife and I have had ferrets for about ten years now (shelter).
If you get tired of them, give me a call and we will take them off your hands.
We used to have a wolf shepard mix that just loved them, he would let them do just about anything to him.
Their favorite game was to get on the couch and wait for him to go by, then pounce like he was their prey.

Carpet sharks are great pets, but are very high maintenance.

Remember that they like shiney things and communicate a lot with their mouths.  A little bit of training will go a long way in the nip dept.  Head on down to a local pet store and pick up an issue of Ferrets magazine and subscribe.

You may also want to jump onto a couple of the internet lists as well.

My ferts (Tenchi and Lady Ayeka) are 5 years old.  Only lost one due to extreme illness.  Once it hit the lymphatic system, that was it for little Ryo.  She cost me about $2500.  My roomie has a fert that she has spent over $7K on.  It has been worth it, the little guy is like a kit again (he's also 5) and is really fun to play with.

As for smell, only bathe about once a month, if that often unless they get into something.  If you try to bathe them all the time, it will get worse.  I use old towels for bedding and change them out every couple of days.  I also use Yesterday's News litter and scoop that a few times throughout the day.  Hardly any smell, and I have a total of 9 in the house.

Hope it wasn't the wrong ear that got pierced

Carpet Sharks - LOL

Badredfish

You were sold an illegal "Assault Ferret"!

Damn! There ought to be a law to protect the "average guy" from these dangers.