Hey guys, it's Haley from The Modern Ferret
and today's video is for all you, new ferret owners out there or those of you
thinking about getting a ferret and you want to get everything in order
before you bring your ferret home. In this video, we're going to talk about
basic housing requirements, food, toys, accessories and some health care
considerations, each one of these products that I'm talking about today will
be linked in the description below. Oh, gosh.
Garbage in garbage, garbage, garbage. The first item is a safe place
for your ferret to sleep. Many ferret owners, including us, opt to free roam their
ferrets throughout the day. They either give their ferrets access to a single room 24/7 or several
rooms throughout the house. However, your ferret is going to need
a safe place to sleep and be secure in times when you might
need to contain them. Therefore, it's always a good idea to have a cage on hand, even if
you free roam your ferret. What we recommend is a combination
of several hours outside of the cage free roaming throughout the house,
as well as a cage to contain your ferret. If you want an extensive step by step checklist on how to ferret,
proof your entire house. Make sure to check the video series we did on that topic linked
in the description below. We bought the Double Ferret Nation Cage to work in combination with free
roaming our three ferrets. We love the double Ferret Nation
cage because it's easy to clean. It's sturdy and it's big. I think it is even more than twice the minimum size requirements for a cage,
according to Ferrets for Dummies. Again, what we recommend is allowing your
ferret to free roam for a majority of the day and then also letting them
use a cage for short periods of time. If you want to see my in-depth review of ferret cages, make sure to check that
video linked in the description below. Oh, yeah, that's a good video.
You did it. You did good. Finding a good water bowl can be very difficult because along with flipping
bowls over, ferrets are also notorious for splashing in their water bowl
and getting everything around it soaking wet. Make sure to avoid food and water bottles
that have any rubber or silicone on them because your ferret could bite it,
chew it, ingest it and get something called an intestinal obstruction,
which could be very dangerous. What we recommend is we actually found
a spill proof water bowl that we use. It's like a combo food and water dish. And what's nice is it has a automatic
feeder water bottle attached to it. And so it fills throughout the day and fills a little
reservoir for them in the hole. And it is so tiny that even our biggest splasher Newt is unable
to splash water everywhere. So I would recommend
looking into one of those. I will make sure to link to the combo food and water bowl that we use
in the description below. Next up, you'll need a place to your ferret to go to the bathroom,
according to Ferrets for Dummies, ferrets to go to the bathroom
every three to four hours. So that is a lot of poop and pee. What we found works best for us is to have one litter box in every room of
the house that your ferret has access to. Also, make sure to place a litter box in your ferrets cage for our ferrets
litter box, we make sure to use a low lip litter pan that's large enough
to fit our ferrets entire body. We've also opted to use potty pads instead of litter because for us
it's easier to clean. I'll make sure to link to the potty pads and the litter pan that we use
in the description below. Lastly, as far as basic housing requirements go for your ferret,
you'll need to think about creating a comfy environment for your ferret
to sleep, because after all, ferrets sleep a lot and you want to make
sure that they're comfortable when it comes to picking items for your
ferret to sleep and cozy up into. You should opt for items that are easy to clean and don't have any loose cords
or parts that could be bitten off. One item that I really recommend you stay
away from is something by Marshall Pet, which is a very big ferret
brand in the United States. They have this product
called Like an octopus. It's red, has polka dots on it, these little fabric tubes.
And unfortunately several ferrets have gotten stuck and either suffocated
or gotten strangled inside of it. I know that's really scary to talk about, but I recommend staying
away from that product. Instead, I recommend you opt
for fleece blankets and hammocks. I'd like to mention something else as far
as basic housing requirements go, there's more and more data to suggest
that prolonged exposure to sunlight throughout the day can cause harmful
health problems like adrenal disease. What you can do to potentially mitigate or
prevent this is wherever your ferret spends a lot of their time sleeping
throughout the day, be it in their cage or somewhere throughout the house,
make sure you cover that with a dark fabric so that it can be
really dark inside that space. One item that you could opt to buy is they have these black cage covers that fit
over a cage like a ferret nation. So you could look into those. I'll make sure
to link to those in the description below. You can also build your ferret a dark box by taking a cardboard box,
cutting a hole in it, feeding a tube through it,
and then to keep it extra dark, you can actually drape a blanket over it
Our ferrets really enjoy sleeping in there. Now that your basic housing requirements are set up for your fair,
let's talk about food. So the pet industry is going through a major shift right now as far as pet food
goes, especially for dog and cat food. Now, ferret food, on the other hand,
has a long way to go, whether you plan to feed your ferret
a kibble diet or a raw prey diet that consists of muscle, organ, meat,
bones, it's important to at least understand the basic nutritional
needs of your ferret. First and foremost, ferrets are something
called obligate carnivores, and that means that they require nutrients
that are only found in animal flesh. And while they may be able to ingest plant matter, that can often be found in ferret
kibble, that doesn't mean that they actually have the proper physiology
to digest and process this stuff. I know ferret diets can be kind of confusing as a new ferret owner because
a lot of times you'll see at the pet store ferret products like food
and treats will look like this. Pictures of fruit and vegetables and grains, which should not be
included in your ferrets diet. Also, oftentimes the ferret section of
the pet store is right next to the other. Small animals think guinea pigs, hamsters, rats and other animals that are
part of the rodent family. Now, contrary to what you might believe,
ferrets are not, in fact, rodents. There are a lot more closely related
to your dog or cat, and they would like the opportunity
to hunt a rat rather than befriend one. There are so many more interesting facts I would love to teach you about ferrets
on this topic, but I will make sure to go more in-depth on that in another video
linked in the description below. Basically, as far as this food section
of the video goes, I'll say what you need to keep in mind is a basic list
of ingredients that you should avoid. Now, this list is ever evolving, so I'll make sure to link to the most up
to date items in the description below. And in the meantime, I will also link
to brands of kibble that we recommend. Now, let's talk toys, buying toys for your
ferrets is a great way to spoil them. Certain toys provide great enrichment
opportunities, which means they provide your ferret with opportunities to
demonstrate species specific behaviors. Getting the right enrichment in toys can actually improve the mental and physical
well-being of your ferret at home. We have a lot of toys
for our three ferrets. They love to stash little cotton plush toys, but we make sure to avoid toys
that have any plastic eyes on them or any rubber or foam parts that are
ferrets could ingest. Our ferrets also really enjoy cat wands. It gives them an opportunity
to stock and pounce something. And in the past,
we've also been able to do something I will call ferret fishing,
where one of our ferrets stalks, the cat wand, and as we pull it up,
the ferret comes with it. They seem to really enjoy that. Ferrets will also create toys and enrichment from items
lying around your house. For us, a big one is Roomba, because almost every morning
Albert are all white. Ferret loves to run up to Roomba and his charger and either turn him on and chase
him around the house or ride him. It's really fun to watch and I'm really
thankful that we have a toy in our house. We didn't even know we had our ferrets also loved to crawl into paper
grocery bags and explore. One of their favorite things that we do for them is will crumple up junk mail
and put it in there for them and then put little treats in there or
little different smells. This is a really fun
activity for them now. OK, as far as toys go, in general, the most important toy you
can get your ferret by far is tubes. Ferrets love tubes, ask any ferret owner, you know,
and they will tell you tubes are like their ferrets favorite
thing in the whole world. So the best thing you can
do is get multiple tubes. Oftentimes you can stitch them together,
you can intertwine entangle them. Our ferrets love when we throw a bunch of tubes on the floor and put a blanket
over it because I think it simulates maybe like a burrow or something like
that or a burrowing system. They go crazy, chasing each other,
fighting, wrestling in there. They love it.
So above all, get some tubes, I will make sure to link to our favorite
ones in the description below our white ferret Albert also loves to chase balls
that we throw throughout the house. And recently we got this electronic one called Sphero that you can control,
and he loves chasing that one. I will make sure to link to that product
in the description as well. There are so many more fun toys I could
talk about for your ferrets, both DIY toys and fun toys
you can get at the pet store. But I will save that for another video and I will link to that video
in the description below. The takeaway for this video is I would
recommend getting your ferret at least a few stashable safe toys for them
as well as maybe a cat wand or two. And lastly, please get
your ferret some tubes. They will be so happy in this section. I'm going to talk about a few items that may be helpful to you
as a new ferret owner. But before I do, if you're new to my channel,
my name is Haley and I post educational and entertaining videos
about ferrets every week. So if you're enjoying my content, now is the perfect time to subscribe
and turn on the notification bell. People who don't have ferrets
always ask me, do ferrets smell? And the answer is, yeah, a little bit. Honestly, no more than a dog
or cat or a hamster rat. But if the smell does bug you or if you
have a particularly sensitive nose, I would recommend getting
a pet safe air filter. There's one that we really like and I will make sure to link to that one
in the description below. The next item you should have on your
shopping list is some kind of travel carrier for your ferret,
this is going to be when you need to take your ferret somewhere last minute or you
need to take your ferret to the vet. Another item that could be used in its
place is a ferret backpack like this. We've had a lot of fun taking our
ferrets on adventures in one of these. Next up is an item if you plan to spend
a lot of time with your ferret outside of your house, this would be
a playpen for your ferret. So we have a particular one that we
found a lot of success with. I will make sure to link
to that in the description below. If you end up looking at other brands,
I would recommend don't look for ones that have a lot of horizontal
bars that they'll easily climb. Also, don't look for ones that are made
for rabbits or guinea pigs because it's going to be really easy for your
ferret to escape and get out of those. Next item, if you plan on taking your ferret outside, a lot is getting
them a harness and a leash. But keep in mind, if your fare is relatively young, say,
under a year, especially under six months, that harness may be too big
for them and they could slip out. But the older they get,
the better it's going to fit. So I would recommend getting one. Now, a random item on this list I want to talk about is getting
yourself some nail clippers. Your ferret is going to need to have their
nails clipped every two to three weeks. So you need to have those on hand. We have used cat clippers in the past, but you can also use
human nail clippers, too. I have a video that I made on the quickest, easiest way
to cut your ferrets nails. So make sure to check that video link
in the description below as well. Now, I want to talk about a couple first aid related items for your ferret,
so keeping your ferrets safe and healthy, of course, is one of your top
priorities as a ferret owner. Now, there's a couple items that I really wouldn't want to be without
with our three ferrets. Number one is Vaseline, believe it or not. So Vaseline for us has helped potentially prevent intestinal
obstructions with our ferrets. So at some point in time, they've ingested something relatively
small but still kind of dangerous. And in order to help that item pass through, we've given our ferret
a little bit of Vaseline. Now, you don't want to do this
all the time or regularly. It's not a supplement by any means, but it
is good to have on hand in an emergency. The next item on this first aid list
would be flavourless Pedialyte. So flavourless Pedialyte is something you're going to want to have on hand
in case your ferret gets sick and they don't feel quite up to drinking
as often as they should be. Dehydration is a huge risk with ferrets, and it's something that could
be easily avoided. If you have something like flavourless
Pedialyte on hand, make sure not to get any flavors, any ones
that have sugar or anything like that. You just want run-of-the-mill
flavourless clear Pedialyte. The third item I want to talk
about is first ferret. First aid items goes is
something called Carnivore Care. Carnivore Care is a product by Oxbow Animal Health and it's
basically this nutritional supplement. It comes in a powder form
and you add water to it. And basically it's something to have on hand in case your ferret gets so
sick that they can't feed themselves. When we first got Moose, he came down with the flu. It may have even turned into pneumonia. He was so sick he couldn't
even lift his chin to eat. In my opinion, had we not had this kind of liquid paste nutrient thing for him,
he would not have survived. So I really recommend having
that on hand as well. I will link to that in
the description below. Lastly for this video,
I want to talk about a couple important health care considerations
for your ferret. They're not exactly items to have in your
house, but there are a couple of things you really should have in order
before you bring a ferret home. Number one is you need to find a vet
that treats ferrets in your area. So at this point in time, ferrets are still considered an exotic
animal, even though they're very common. So even though a local vet may see cats and dogs, they may not feel
comfortable seeing ferrets. And what's really scary is you may have an emergency and you go,
I guess I'll just take them to the closest vet and they say, sorry,
we don't treat them. And you get stuck in a really tight spot. So the best thing you can do is find a vet well in advance of bringing
your ferret home. Number two is you need to have
an emergency savings fund. So something that we unfortunately learn the lesson of was that ferrets can be very
expensive and actually go into this in another video,
which I will also link below. But ferrets have a lot of health problems, unfortunately, and they can also get into
trouble in different, dangerous ways. Our first ferret Moose within his first
six months to a year of life, there was a couple of incidences where
we needed to rush him to the vet. It was really helpful that we had
an emergency fund to pull money from so that we could afford
the best care possible. So I would recommend, in my opinion, if you can have about five hundred dollars
set aside to pay for a surprise vet bills. Now, this is outside the cost of your cage, food, accessories, toys,
any of the other stuff we talked about on this video, this is
a separate savings account. The best thing that you can do is prepare
for proper health care for your ferret. All right, those are my top essential items as a new ferret owner,
I hope you found this video helpful. If there's anything else you felt like we left out, make sure
to leave a comment below. And if this was weaselly, the best video you've seen all day,
make sure to like, subscribe, leave a comment and turn
on that notification Bill. All right.
Bye, guys. I'm a weasel, he's a weasel, he's a little weasel man. These are my weasels,
I love my weasels, look at these sneeze weasel man oh sneeze, sneezing weasel, sneeze a weasel weasel man sneeze a weasel, wease a sneeze a little man
oh, my gosh. Little puck kisses. Ok let me know when you are ready.
