Ferret drinking

Question
hi.i have two ferrets and they are great.they just got of a water bottle with a ball inside and went to a new one with a button they push down with there tung and water comes out.the girl can drink from it but not the boy.they are both four months old.im asking you if you know how i should train him to drink from it. thx ,Giana

Answer
Hi Giana,

I'm so sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you! It has been very busy around our house lately.

May I ask why you switched the water bottle? I just mean, if they were drinking out of their other bottle just fine, why change it? I don't mean to be snide or mean or anything, I was just wondering. Was the other bottle too leaky?

Anyway, to answer your question, the way we got our kids to drink from their new water bottle was to show them how to do it. We would push on the ball in the water bottle, offer our fingers to our kids to show them there was water on it, and when they started to lick the water off our fingers we would just push the ball in again and show them that is where the water is coming from and they had it down in no time. That could be something you can try with your kids. Just show him that is where the water comes from and he is supposed to do it and he should pick it up in no time. In the meantime, though, I hope you've been offering him some other type of water source. Just be patient and watch him to make sure he is drinking and getting enough water. You may have to show him how to do it a few times, but he should get it eventually.

Good luck and if you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask!

Sincerely,
Emilee Andrews