I don't want to buy a ferret

[Arachno-capitalist]

Hey small furry lovers-
I bought my guinea pig a couple weeks ago and I'm loving him to no end. I want to rescue either a new guinea pig or a ferret. I've always wanted a ferret due to their intelligence and cuteness coolness. However, my idea of ferret was that you could let them roam like a cat for a period of time. Recently I've heard that they require extensive care and daily maintenance  (which isnt a big deal, I do take care of four cats after all). I was just wondering if anyone has had experience with ferrets and what they are like to care for.

[pmcd9]

Ferrets may be cool.  Ferret owners are ultra dweebs.  Reconsider.

[side_show]

I watched a feature length documentary on ferrets and ferret owners a couple weeks ago.  The owners were predominantly scary ultra-focused folks, but the ferrets were cute.  They all seemed to agree that the ferrets need about 4 - 6 hrs of attention/engaged physical activity per day.  Also they all kept their ferrets in large cages due to their tendency to chew, steal things and put themselves in danger.  They let them out while they played with them though.  i knew a guy who walked his ferret on a leash.  All my personal experiences with ferrets tell me that they are fairly smelly, an therefore not dorm material, but that is just me.  The ferret owners in the doc proudly proclaimed that their ferrets gave off a popcorn/musky odor, one even had sweatshirt of ferrets and popcorn on while noting this.

[pmcd9]

I saw that documentary.  Maybe not all ferret owners are like this.  I mean, not all dog owners are like the people who put their dogs in shows.  All parents aren't like the parents that put their children in pageants.

[linnea]

Ferrets smell horribly. People might say they're litterbox trained, but all the people I knew who had them ended up with ferret piss and shit in every conceivable nook and cranny due to the ferretlike ability of the little dudes to get anywhere. Even if they're "de-scented" they still smell terrible. Maybe the people that I knew who owned ferrets were terrible housekeepers, but their houses smelled like crap.

Also, Ferrets are predators. It would not live happily with your guinea pig. I'd get another cavy, hoss.

[V-Adore]

I agree: get another guinea pig. There are two main reasons:

1) You already know how to care for a guinea pig and know that you like them. Don't let yourself get overextended on pets you may well not enjoy anyway.
2) You know that your cats get along with a guinea pig and that a guinea pig will get along well with another one. Ferrets are a wildcard.

[KeithHernandez]

no, just no

[Doc]

Iguana

[jay-ell]

Ferrets do smell, and in my experience (rather, that of a die-hard ferret-loving friend of mine), they are prone to illness, which can be expensive. 

I don't think all ferret owners are weird, but they are certainly more work than your average guinea pig.  And forget letting them roam.  My friend who had several at any given time always kept them in a cage because if they got lost they'd never find them.  They did let them out for nightly playtime, and they also had cats (who both pretty much avoided the ferrets). 

The older one (who died last year) was named Nicodemus.  Quite possibly the best name for an elderly rodent ever. 

[side_show]

I saw that documentary.  Maybe not all ferret owners are like this.  I mean, not all dog owners are like the people who put their dogs in shows.  All parents aren't like the parents that put their children in pageants.

Yes, I agree.  There are crazy ________ people, then there are regular _________ owners.  I've known a few actual people who've owned ferrets, and though they are generally clean people, their houses and their clothes had a distinct smell that I found highly unpleasant.  It's an animal smell.  They are really cute and the ones I've been around are smart and didn't bite.  But there is no way that smell belongs in a dorm.  I mean, that smell can't be tamed.

The funniest part of the documentary was the end, when it was noted that there was around 298 ferrets entered in the ferret show, and that something like 307 awards were given out.  Everyone was awarded something.  The SO and I were laughing, and I was saying that I should enter the ferret show with our one cat that has markings like a ferret, and just get all crazy when the judges point out that he'd a cat "No.  Noooo!  He's a ferret!  Now give me my ribbon!  He's a ferret!  I don't care what you say!  Where's my ribbon?  Where's my ribbon?!"

Anyway, A-CAP, I'm super happy you have a nice guinea pig!  Maybe you could get a guinea pig of the opposite gender to yours and let the fun begin!  My friend showed me a strange video of singing guinea pigs, singing about their good lives, eating timothy hay.... it was cute but weird.  I don't remember where she found it though.

[Arachno-capitalist]

Thank you all for steering me away from a potentially horrible decision.

[wombat]

Maybe you could get a guinea pig of the opposite gender to yours and let the fun begin!  ..

Please don't do this - there are plenty of guinea pigs in shelters and rescues already.

I am glad you've already been convinced, but for future reference, I think a really good way to ask a question like this is to contact a rescue organization for the animal in question and ask them what kinds of pets they make and how much time you might have to devote.  People who work in rescue - although they can be a little fanatical - know the reasons people give up their animals, so they are the best people to warn you about what the potential problems might be.

[Nabubrush]

Never get a rodent breeing pair of any kind. Actually, never get a breeding pair of any kind of animal, pretty much.


I suggest getting some sort of raptor, like a hawk or a falcon. They play relatively well with guniea pigs, or at least that's my understanding.

[wombat]

Iguana

Oh no, not an iguana. Did you know that if you manage not to kill your iguana it will eventually grow to be six feet long?

[Nabubrush]

Be a real man - get a fuckin' Komodo dragon!