by debferret

CHOOSING THE RIGHT SIZE CARRIER FOR YOUR FERRET!

Congratulations. You are on your way to pick out your baby ferret. You will need to invest in a carrier to bring your baby ferret home. Ferrets grow very fast and that baby ferret at 6 or 7 weeks will be full grown size wise by 16 weeks or 4 months! So plan ahead and purchase a carrier that will be suitable for your full grown fuzzbutt!

Some carriers are not suitable even for a baby ferret of 6 or 7 weeks. There is not enough floor space and very poor ventilation.

suitable for a hamster; not big enough for a rat, guinea pig, hedge hog and definitely not big enough for a single ferret never mind 2 ferrets!

This is an inside view of the space your ferret would be forced to endure

The ventilation on the side and back is a tiny mesh and does not allow much air flow. Now cram 2 ferrets in there and the ferrets will overheat from being squished together. I know this from personal experience with 2 surrendered ferrets that went into heat exhaustion and almost died.

So, now you know not to purchase this carrier. If you have one or two ferrets but NO MORE than 2 ferrets the next carrier would be very suitable. Good floor space and best of all great ventilation!

Width is 7 1/2 to 8 inches, suitable for one or 2 ferrets

hard plastic carrier suitable for 2 ferrets, good ventilation

hard plastic carrier for 2 ferrets, back view

Hard plastic carrier suitable for 2 ferrets, inside view

Hard plastic carrier suitable for 2 ferrets, 16 inches in length

Hard plastic carrier suitable for 2 ferrets, width is 8 and half inches

Hard plastic carrier suitable for 4 ferrets, has great ventilation

Hard plastic carrier suitable for 4 ferrets, back view showing great ventilation

Hard plastic carrier suitable for 4 ferrets, length of 18 1/2 inches

Hard plastic carrier suitable for 4 ferrets, width is 14 inches

This is a what ferret owners call their travel cage. Sold as a critter cage; ferret owners, can put in a litter box, food and water clamp on dishes and they can hang a hammock as well. Suitable for an outing for 2 or 3 ferrets! Have more than 3 ferrets? There are several sizes of critter cages that easily fit in the back seat of a car and are very portable.

view of travel cage with blanket and litter box

Travel cage suitable for 2 or 3 ferrets; length is 23 1/2 inches

travel cage suitable for 2 or 3 ferrets; width is 15 inches

You will notice I have not shown carriers made of cloth with plastic mesh. We have found ferret owners complain that the cloth carriers do not retain their shape. Worst of all, a bored ferret can easily chew the plastic mesh and escape into the car.

Bottom line is that you want the largest carrier possible so that your ferrets have plenty of ventilation and will not overheat.

03.10.16

by debferret

2013 Christmas Ferret Frolic

Every year the Manitoba Ferret Association holds an annual Christmas party. Although this post is from a few years ago, and it’s not the season, currently Winnipeg is cold and windy so close enough!

Santa

Christmas 2013 was both Turnip and Radish’s first. They met Santa, learned snow was cold and enjoyed playing with their brothers and sisters at the shelter. Radish and his brother were adopted out to two members, I adopted Radish and another member adopted his brother, because of this they hadn’t seen each other since late October/early November.

Don’t be surprised by their short attention span, ferrets are very intelligent animals, there was a posting I read on Reddit the other day of someone’s ferret who escaped and ended up at her work (she took them to work often).

During the frolic I placed Radish in the baby room, at this point he was maybe two months old, immediately his brother came directly for him and played for hours. It. Was. Adorable.

Brothers

Starting out Radish was half the size of his brother, last time they met he looked to be about twice his size!

(Animal safe) Packaging peanuts

The MFA Winnipeg branch is run out of a lady’s home where she has a room set aside for ferret play, pictured above, it has multiple cages surrounding secured on shelves. Below the shelves have ferret hanging beds, along the walls venting is secured for ferrets to run through. There’s multiple litter boxes, tons of toys and right in the middle for the party they placed a kiddy pool with (animal safe) packaging peanuts. (I would just like to say again, these are not just any packaging peanuts they are specifically made to be safe for animals).

Mommy cuddles

The frolics go for a few hours and at times Bandit and Turnip get a little tired from all the action, Radish… he never gets tired. Ever.

All my babies

One of the ladies husband dresses up as Santa and we all get pictures of our Monsters with him. If you are lead to believe ‘Bird People’ are strange – here’s a quick reminder they aren’t alone.

02.18.15

by debferret

Valentine’s Party Was a Blast

The 2015 members only Valentine’s Party was held on February 15th. The first human game “Steal Your Hearts” had folks picking up candy heart with CHOPSTICKS and transferring them into a dish. Sharon beat out everyone else with 12 candy hearts in 30 seconds. Sharon actually picked up 2 hearts at once and that put her in the lead from Sue’s 9 hearts. Sharon won a stuffed Frog for her fuzzies.

The first ferret related game was “Pick your Own Treat” We had 6 paper plates set in a circle. Each plate had a different treat on it. Bandit Chicken, Raisin and Bacon, Ferret Chews, Ferretone and Chicken Temptations. You placed your ferret in the circle and guessed which treat he would not just sniff at but actually eat! Both of Rena’s ferrets Jack and Baby chose her guess of the Ferretone. Sharon’s Sara correctly chose the Chicken Chew stick and her Diago correctly chose the Ferretone. All the correct guesses went into a draw and Sharon’s Sara won a stuffed Bear holding a heart!

Our next human game was the Left/Right Story told by our Melissa. You had to pass the gift to the person on your left or right as the story unfolded. You would think this is easy but after a bit, left became right and had you confused as hell. The gift ended with Andy who took home a stuffed puppy and a crinkle toy.

The Most Kisses in 30 seconds was hilarious in that only 2 ferrets deemed their owners worthy of kisses this year. Rena’s Jack gave her 5 kisses however Zoe’s Radish bestowed a whopping 25 smooches to win a stuffed Tiger which he promptly clamped on to and wouldn’t let go of!

Our net human game, Cupid’s Arrow turned out to be much harder than it looked. You had to BLOW a Q-Tip through a straw into a Valentine Pot. Zoe and Leslie sitting on the love seat behind the coffee table ended up “shot” with the Q’Tip arrows over and over. Dare I say everyone was full of hot air and overshot the mark! Melissa managed to get one Q-Tip arrow into the pot to win a Happy Face stuffy and mouse toy!

The Lightest ferret went to Dan and Melissa’s Bellie at 1 pound 07 ozs slipping past Nibbles at 1 pound 09 ozs and the Heaviest ferret went to Zoe’s Turnip at 3 pounds 06 ozs skipping past Duncan at 3 pounds 03 ozs.

The next game should have come with a warning to use the bathroom before we started. The game was very simple. Place cookie on forehead and move the cookie into your mouth. Easy Peasy! RIGHT! The facial contortions, the tongue antics, the shoulder wiggles, the desperate rolling on the floor trying to keep the cookie off the floor; honestly, you had to be there. If our wonderful photographer had taken a full length video, there would be much bribing to keep the video of the net!! Much laughter till some of use almost peed ourselves. All the successful cookie grabbers names went into the draw and Brandon won the squeeky bird and cat toy.

The final game of the day was pin the lips on the Heart Valentine. Brandon cleaned up by placing his lips almost on top of the lip outline!

Adrienne brought a lovely tray of cookies and tarts, Sharon had crisps and dips and Deb provided the tea, coffee, pop and potato chips.

All in all, it was a terrific party. All the ferrets socialized with only a few spats. Fred took lots and lots of pictures and we invite you to view them on our Flicker account.

12.19.14

by debferret

2014 MFA Christmas Party

20 ferrets and their humans came out to the members only Ferret Christmas Party. Our Christmas party has always been a very low key affair. There are no organized games. This is an opportunity to visit with other members, share your silly ferret stories and be with like minded crazy ferret people. All the ferrets get a chance to meet other ferrets on neutral ground and territorial disputes are confined to “get out of my pet carrier”!

Every year Andy willingly (that’s what we tell ourselves) dresses up as Santa. Members are welcome to take pictures of their ferret(s) with Santa. This is free! Every year several ferrets want to see what’s under that long hair and beard. Really, Andy is a very good sport because some ferrets seem to have a personal grudge against Santa. Maybe they didn’t get that extra large bottle of Ferretone for Christmas last year!

picture with Santa!

After picture taking, we all enjoy the delicious spread of pot luck finger foods and sweets that members brought. The hot apple cider provided by Deb is always the first thing to go! Bridget always spoils us with an assortment of homemade finger foods and homemade pickles!

Once our tummies are full, it’s time for the gift exchange. Everyone that wants to participate brings a $10.00 gender neutral wrapped gift.
We have had to limit the Christmas gift steal to “once” only as that bottle of Ferretone can change hands multiple times and cause some teeth gnashing! This year the candles, ferret paws blanket, ferret bed passed hands as did the Ferretone, the bottle of wine and candles, cookies and treats.

Our president Danial choosing a gift from under the tree

Once the gift exchange was done; we had a very special visitor.
Ferret Santa aka Newton pulling his specialized cart arrived bearing a sack full of treats for all the ferrets in attendance. I’m not sure but I think Santa Newton was strutting his stuff for all the girl ferrets and I think I saw a wink or two exchanged! Much thanks to Fred for creating the whole ferret Santa event. Trouble is, now he has to do this every year! We all loved it so much.

Look mom, it’s Santa Newton with presents!

Every year, we take a group Christmas picture. Some years back , folks picked out a paper sack that might contain a dress, pantyhose, a lumberjack shirt, a bra, you name it. You have to put the item on for the picture. The wardrobe of assorted clothes was starting to look like Value Village so we changed course a few years ago. Now, you match your number to the “silly hat”. Much easier to put on and I must say as I house all the MFA stuff in my spare bedroom, it is much easier on me too!

Merry Christmas 2014

The party wound down at this point. Those of us that hadn’t left early due to other commitments were spoiled with a very special movie. Sharon purchased Santa’s Little Ferrets DVD. There are 3 short stories on the DVD. This movie with ferrets is professionally done. The outtakes after each set were hilarious! Trust ferrets to bring their own version of how things should be done. Sharon has left her DVD with the shelter and we will host another viewing at our upcoming annual Valentine’s Party!

Kathy and Bridget each won the raffle of a beautiful split hammock, Christmas red with glow in the dark eyes. Fred S. made these hammocks and donated them to raise money for the shelter. The ferrets get to watch for Santa on Christmas Eve.

Glow in the dark eyeball hammock sewn and donated by Fred S.

The draw for the StryxNB basket was won by Chantal L.

Please check out all the pictures from the party. Go to Manitobaferrets.ca and click on the flckr icon.

10.31.14

by debferret

2014 Ferret Halloween Party

Human Games:

Musical Pumpkins

Witchy Ring Toss

Suck it Up Foamies

Ferret Games:

Best Begging Pose

Paper sack escape

Shape Shifter Escape

Ferret Costume Parade

Sock it to ya

The Ferret Party was a Howl!

The party started with Musical Pumpkins. There were some pumpkins that slid across the floor “accidently” and in the end Kevin was left standing on the last pumpkin!

Our next game was Paper Sack Escape to get the ferrets going. Each of the ferrets got stuffed into paper bags and on command the bags were placed on the floor. Some ferrets investigated the inside of the bag, one furry decided to go to sleep. Chantal and Kevin tied desperately to stuff their 4 ferrets; Oscar, Borshie, Fargo and Charlie all at the same time. With a little help they got stuffed! There was a nose to nose finish but Bella blasted out of the paper sack to win.

We then played Longest Begging Pose. Rosalie, Meeka, Sarah, Borshie, Oscar and Charlie had no interest in begging for Bandit treats or Ferretone thank you very much! We only beg at home.

Deb’s Molly has no pride and begs daily. His time of 4.3 seconds was the best time with Chantal’s Fargo at 3.6 seconds and Sharon’s Sarah coming in third with 2.42 seconds.

We let the ferrets have a break and the humans played Witch Hat Ring Toss. Sounds easy, right? Well some of us couldn’t even get one ring on the hat! Kevin, Adrienne, Zoe, Melissa all scored one ring so their names went into the hat and Melissa won.

We woke up the ferrets to play Pick a Hole. The long narrow box had 3 round holes; each numbered. The ferret was inserted into the box and their owner had to choose which hole the ferret would stick his nose out of. The results were hilarious and some of us should learn from this and never gamble!

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Turnip and Radish (Zoe) Belle (Melissa & Dan) Zipper (Colleen) Meeka (Sharon) Oscar (Chantal & Kevin) were on the same page! Their names went into a hat and Zoe’s Radish won.

We decided to do the Costume Parade before all the ferrets decided they didn’t want to play anymore!

Sharon’s Sarah and Meeka came as road kill

Zoë’s Radish came as a bat, Turnip was a flower in a plant pot and Zoë looked lovely as a Cat-meow

Dan & Melissa’s old sweetie Belle wore Bunny Ears

Dan & Mellissa’s spunky Sara finally agreed to be the pumpkin but she was hoping for a frownie face

Bridget’s Bella and Jace joined forces with Bella as an M & M and Jace as a Candy Kiss

Colleen fought with her furries and sort of won when her boy Baby was finally turned into a baby and her little girl submitted to being Mrs. Skeleton

Deb’s Molly with his ongoing gender issues, rode in as Godiva on his pony

If I missed some ferrets it’s only because we were all laughing so hard, we forgot to take notes!

It was time for another human game – Suck It Up Foamies. We had a bucket of foam Halloween cut outs; skeletons, pumpkins, Zorro mask, witches and lots more. Some had sparkles on them (note to self remove the sparkly ones so we don’t kill someone next year) this game sounded so easy. Using a straw, suck up a foamy and move it to the bucket; moving as many as you can in 30 seconds. Most of us made 5foamies, Kevin and Melissa managed 8 foamies but our Danial using some real fancy toe dancing sucked up 9 foamies to win! Kevin won for most sparkles sucked down his wind pipe or so he hacked at us!

We ended our party with a nice quiet game. Put 4 homemade ferret socks on your ferret and keep them on for one second. You would think that pooped out ferrets would be too tired to keep yanking one paw then another pulling the sock off. Lots of laughter and some mild cursing and Kevin with one of their brood kept the socks on for one second! You all have one year to practice “socking” your ferret!

Andy and Adrienne had a huge pile of leaves for the furries to play in. Molly was the first to dive in!

There was a lot to eat with lots of contributions to the snack table. A special thanks to Andy and Adrienne’s son who saved Deb’s bacon when she forgot the pop. Rhys donated a 12 pack of Coke.

Overall, everyone had a great time and all the ferrets (and humans) went home totally played out!