A ferrety update

[Flobo]

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Just thought I'd share a few pics of my boys, Sid (old man), Goose and Iggy (naughty brothers!). It turns out the brothers were only half neutered..when we adopted them we were told they had both only had one ball removed as the other couldn't be found, (sure there's a song about that!). Since seeing my vet and maturing a bit, it is most likely they both have one hiding inside somewhere, as my vet kindly pointed out that they smelt like entire boys!!..only ever having girls and our lovely Sid before, I just presumed their stink was a boy thing!! Kinda used to it by now, so hey ho.. Sid must be approaching 7 years by now and the Goose and Iggy will be 3years old this year. All rescues and much loved nutballs!
Hope you like the pics... Hard to get a pic of Goose as he's a bit quick! And yes, the brothers are wearing a black jumper my daughter made them at Christmas, Iggy quite likes it, not sure about Goose though! The one with the box is Iggy trying to hide his monkey in my box of records! Monkey gets everywhere... Oh yes and they all really loved the flippity floppity fish I got them for xmas!

 

[Tinytom]

Aw lovely photos. ...we would like ferrets one day they are such fun and so intelligent. ..thank you for sharing

 

[Whippylove]

Your ferrets are soo cute! We have thought about them but don't think the boy's would take to them lol we still have rat's which I love keeping but one day you never know we might get some.

 

[Josie]

I love hearing about what these naughty boys get up to!

 

[Hemlock]

Lovely ferrets. They lookl so happy. And yes: the boys do honk.

 

[Flobo]

They are a lot of fun and all have their favourite things to steal, Sid loves pinching the tv remote( we're down to one again as he's stashed the other somewhere!), tubs, plastic bottles, balls and the crunkley trays from a choc box, Iggy has his most treasured monkey which he is constantly moving and re hiding, plus any other soft toy he 'finds' and Goose can't resist a rubber ball, but he's a lazy hider, he uses the same corner in the front room, he's much more interested in trying to get to where ever he's not supposed to
They've definitely kept me sane in a crazy kinda way during these lockdowns

 

[Finsky]

They are lovely..oooh...who could not fall in love seeing those little button noses. Are they 'nibble free' or do you have to be careful with their handling?

 

[Flobo]

@Finsky All of our ferrets have been totally fine to handle, some have been a bit nippy when first rescued, dependent on their history. But with love and regular handling they've all come good pretty quick.
Though saying that our last girl Winnie was a bit spirited, she was attracted to red wine and coffee so I always had to be careful where I was putting stuff! My husband used to play the 'nose game' with her where he'd hold her just out of reach of his nose(or so he thought), sometimes she'd play and try and get him and sometimes she'd pretend she had no interest at all, then she would actually, totally nail him!! He has scars on his nose to this day Absolutely loved her! Mind you have absolutely loved them all to be fair! All such different characters...
This is Winnie and Sid... never in my life have I experienced an animal grieve like Sid did when we lost Winnie, it was heartbreaking beyond words...

 

[Finsky]

@Finsky All of our ferrets have been totally fine to handle, some have been a bit nippy when first rescued, dependent on their history. But with love and regular handling they've all come good pretty quick.
Though saying that our last girl Winnie was a bit spirited, she was attracted to red wine and coffee so I always had to be careful where I was putting stuff! My husband used to play the 'nose game' with her where he'd hold her just out of reach of his nose(or so he thought), sometimes she'd play and try and get him and sometimes she'd pretend she had no interest at all, then she would actually, totally nail him!! He has scars on his nose to this day Absolutely loved her! Mind you have absolutely loved them all to be fair! All such different characters...
This is Winnie and Sid... never in my life have I experienced an animal grieve like Sid did when we lost Winnie, it was heartbreaking beyond words...

Scars!? That sounds like a 'dangerous' game to play They all look so nice despite their different looks, but I do like the 'pole cat' face markings. Have you kept ferrets for many years? What got you first started with them? Have you worked with any of them? Have they all been rescues....had any litters? Sorry, so many questions but I thought I better get them out of my head as they kept popping up.

 

[Flobo]

@Finsky we've had ferrets for about the last 11 years, all rescues from the rspca, some were found as strays and some given up from other homes as the kids lost interest in them. We had Sandy, Flo, Winnie, Sid, Goose and Iggy.(with some overlapping). All neutered, so no kits, and never worked any of them, think they are too soft and spoilt now!
Prior to the ferrets I had 7 female rats, given up by their owner as she had too many! Really loved having them, but they were all about a year old when I took them in and their life span is around 3years or so, going through the heartache of losing them one by one was tough in such a relatively short space of time... hence taking in ferrets, same heartache at the end but a longer life with them, as they can go 7 or 8 years if healthy/lucky..
Thought I may as well introduce you to Candy too, another rescue I adopted in 2011, she must be about 11 or 12 years old now.

 

[Finsky]

@Finsky we've had ferrets for about the last 11 years, all rescues from the rspca, some were found as strays and some given up from other homes as the kids lost interest in them. We had Sandy, Flo, Winnie, Sid, Goose and Iggy.(with some overlapping). All neutered, so no kits, and never worked any of them, think they are too soft and spoilt now!
Prior to the ferrets I had 7 female rats, given up by their owner as she had too many! Really loved having them, but they were all about a year old when I took them in and their life span is around 3years or so, going through the heartache of losing them one by one was tough in such a relatively short space of time... hence taking in ferrets, same heartache at the end but a longer life with them, as they can go 7 or 8 years if healthy/lucky..
Thought I may as well introduce you to Candy too, another rescue I adopted in 2011, she must be about 11 or 12 years old now.
View attachment 111979570 View attachment 111979571 View attachment 111979572

Wow....what sort of is she? How big?

 

[Flobo]

She's a beautifully chilled out cornsnake.. I reckon she must be getting on for six foot long. There's something incredibly relaxing about sitting holding a snake, or that may just be me!

 

[JoanneF]

She's a beautifully chilled out cornsnake.. I reckon she must be getting on for six foot long. There's something incredibly relaxing about sitting holding a snake, or that may just be me!

I get that. About 30 years ago, I was in a pet shop and someone behind me said ”could you please hold this for a sec”. Instinctively I said ”sure” and turned round and the shop owner placed a snake in my hands. Obviously he expected me to have a meltdown, awful on many levels (not least for the potentially flying snake). But I'm fairly chilled about most living things, apart from wasps, and jellyfish which should be completely and utterly eradicated; so I actually rather liked the snake. It was lovely and warm, and almost massaging on my hands.

If anyone thinks they can persuade me that jellyfish have any value on this earth, please, by all means go for it. I understand wasps have a role, I'd just like if they performed it more than 3 metres away from me at any given time.

 

[Finsky]

I get that. About 30 years ago, I was in a pet shop and someone behind me said ”could you please hold this for a sec”. Instinctively I said ”sure” and turned round and the shop owner placed a snake in my hands. Obviously he expected me to have a meltdown, awful on many levels (not least for the potentially flying snake). But I'm fairly chilled about most living things, apart from wasps, and jellyfish which should be completely and utterly eradicated; so I actually rather liked the snake. It was lovely and warm, and almost massaging on my hands.

If anyone thinks they can persuade me that jellyfish have any value on this earth, please, by all means go for it. I understand wasps have a role, I'd just like if they performed it more than 3 metres away from me at any given time.

Ooh...I would love if somebody would ask me to hold their snake. I've only once hold one, and that was baby grass snake I rescued and placed it down on more secure place but that's it...not much bigger than a pencil, so there is not much to 'experience' with. But something bigger and ideally non-venomous, I'm all for it
Rats...'umm...nope'...though I am not totally against nibbly rodent types..I've had some in my younger years. I've handled friend's ferrets, but they were bit unpredictable...I survived all fingers intact.
Wasps I've learned to respect and they are really interesting creatures...comes as 'side effect' with beekeeping. Jellyfish...ummmm....like a beautiful blobs of snot I suppose they are important part of food chain in the marine ecosystem. As long as they don't sting me...I don't mind.

 

[Finsky]

She's a beautifully chilled out cornsnake.. I reckon she must be getting on for six foot long. There's something incredibly relaxing about sitting holding a snake, or that may just be me!

Wow...6 ft! Do you feed it with day old chicks and/or mice etc? I've seen those being sold on various sites, so I assume that's what they are for?

 

[Flobo]

@Finsky she eats mice...I have one drawer in my freezer dedicated to the mice and a variety of meat for the ferrets(and Vinnie!), the rest of my freezer is pure veggie!.. Sid also loves a mouse to munch on sometimes, the boys tend to just hide them in their bed!

 

[RGC]

Lovely ferrets. They lookl so happy. And yes: the boys do honk.

Honk?

 

[Tinytom]

Honk?

Means they stink

 

[RGC]

Means they stink

Thanks for that, Tinytom. Haven’t come across that expression before in connection with ‘fragrances’ - obviously we don’t get out much. Where you at the 1970 Isle of Wight festival singing “Tiptoe through the tulips” and accompanying yourself on ukulele?

 

[Flobo]

As I don't have my own canine companion at the moment, I thought I'd give you all another random ferret fact!

Did you know ferrets wag their tails when they are happy and playing?? It is the cutest thing ever, the brothers do it a lot when playing in the tubes, you can hear their tails going bang, bang, bang on the inside at a rate of knots, as they anticipate the chase!