ferret eats a lot!

Question
I recently bought a new ferret she is about 8 months old, and she eats constently!!  Everytime i turn around she is back in the cage eating.  I have another ferret who eats half as much as she does.  I was just wondering if there is anything i can do to get her to not eat as much.  Thanks!!

Answer
Hello, Thank you for your question! Well, ferrets in general eat a lot, they have very fast metabolisms and have bowel movements several times a day, so they need to eat often. As long as she is within a healthy weight range (not too skinny, not too fat) it's fine that she "eats a lot". Also keep in mind she is still somewhat a baby, and growing ferrets especially eat a ton (I have a young guy right now too, he eats twice as much as my adults!). She should reach adulthood and slow down by the time she hits a year.

Ferrets are not like cats or dogs who must be given serving sizes to maintain their ideal weight usually. It is very important that they have unlimited access to food. If however she is overweight and the other is normal, or even worse, thin, then it's time to worry and put her on a diet and make sure she's not hogging all the food. (With two ferrets in the same cage it is hard to this.) But if she is not a fat ferret, please do not worry and let her be, it's nothing to worry about. (There is also a difference between an overweight ferret and a big ferret, I think they are breeding ferrets now to be all around bigger which means they eat more too.) Hope that helps, any additional questions feel free to ask :)

~sheila