bin feeder

Question
Hi, I have a ferret that's about 7 months old, and I can't seem to get her calm when outside her cage. Whenever I let her out, she goes crazy and only sometimes does she actually play with me. Most of the times she tries attacking me and tries to bite me. Also, I am feeding her through one of those bin feeders where you put in a lot of food, but my ferret keeps digging out all the food from the bin, is there any way to stop her from doing that? This wastes a lot of food and her cage is filled with food everywhere. I used to have her eat out of a bowl, but she learned how to get it off the holder and flips the bowl spilling all the food. And now she is digging out most of the food from the bin feeder. Please help, and thank you.

Answer
Ferrets are very playful and full of energy!  Often this isn't helped if a ferret spends a lot of time alone or in a cage.  They do really well with playmates and needs lots of time out of the cage to play.  She may not want to play with you if she only gets a hour or so out of her cage a day or she may need some time to ferret around and explore before wanting to play with you.  There are some great articles on-line or in Ferrets magazine by Bob Church on ferret enrichment that could help you play with her in a way that she wants to play.  Ferrets dig, its what they do.  Their wild cousins live in burrows and they are designed to dig into a tunnel or dig their own tunnel.  You can try feeding her in a heavy ceramic dish, but she still may dig the food.  Additional time out of her cage could help or you may give her something to dig in that is ok.  Children's play sand can work well as long as you check it often for insects and poop!  Again, there are some other ideas for digging from Bob Church in his enrichment articles.