weird obsession

Question
I recently adopted a ferret for the first time... He has a strange behavior related to any containers that hold liquid. He will knock over water bottles soda cans ect, but his favorite is beer bottles. My boyfriend brews his own so we always have big carboyls in our kitchen. I have tried using the TIME OUT spray around this area and doors where he scratches to get near this. it doesn't affect him, he smells it, sneezes and continues scratching and will head right to our bottles. Any suggestions for training him not to scratch as well as keeping him bottles? i really don't want an alcholic ferret

Answer
Dear Vickie,

I got quite a chuckle when I read this question!

Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of fuzzies, my darling.  I will tell you honestly right off the bat - once your ferret decides he's interested in something, there's little you can do about it.  This is what we refer to as "ferret-proofing" the house, or at the very least we put ourselves on damage-control, ha ha.

Does he scratch OBSESSIVELY for more than 10 minutes at that door?  If not, then your ferret is normal.  If you see him digging, its simply a matter of distracting him from the mission.  Get down and play with him!  A bored ferret is a destructive ferret and will knock over anything and everything just for some attention.

About the bottles: simply put, don't keep them where ferret can reach them.  Period.  My ferrets knock over cans, glasses, vases, and candles if they are on the table.  So I learned "ok, if I don't want my vase broken, I won't put it where the ferrets can get it".  

Unless you want to watch the ferret every second that he's roaming the house, you can't detour him from something he loves.  You have to prevent him from getting to his object of desire.  If you must, keep the bottles behind a closed door and put a plastic mat on the floor if ferret wants to dig there!  He already knows where the beer is and he won't give up!  

Stephenie