games

Question
what're some fun ferret games i can play with my 3 babies? thanks in advance

Answer
Hi Mel:

There are SO many games to play with ferrets!!  Some you can do with 'normal' items you already have around your home!  It doesn't always require buying expensive toys to keep your ferrets entertained and very happy.  As you probably know, ferrets require 2 to 3 hours of out of cage play DAILY to be healthy and happy.  The more time the owner actually gets down on the floor and interacts with them, the better....for you AND for them!

Grab a sheet or blanket of any size (as long as it reaches the floor and has a few feet trailing on the floor) and just start walking thru the house with it.  Ferrets will jump 'onboard', giggling, dooking and having a blast, pushing each other off, etc.  They LOVE this!

My kids love to *help* me fold clothes warm from the dryer. Just put them up on the bed with the warm clothes and TRY to fold the clothes! LOL  You will all have fun.  For the BEST fun, be sure you have placed some way for them to get down off the bed by themselves on one side of the bed.  Also watch that they don't bounce themselves OFF the bed, as they can be badly injured.  As a double-precaution, you can place pillows or blankets around the perimeter of the bed so IF they fall off, at least they fall on something soft and hopefully soft enough to prevent injuries.  

If there are two people in your house, you can stretch any square-ish item and place the ferret in the middle (over the bed, of course) and gently bounce the ferret up and down - this really gets them going. Just, again, watch they don't bounce off the bed and onto a hard floor - lots of injuries can happen this way if you aren't careful.

I give my ferrets things like large, empty cereal boxes with the inner bag removed - they LOVE to hide in the boxes!  Big oatmeal round containers are wonderful, as are the huge hard plastic pretzel containers and the hard plastic container that red licorice comes in. Just make sure they don't eat any of those things (cereal, pretzels or licorice).  You can fill a small childrens hard moulded plastic swimming pool with children's play sand from your local building supply company (it's sterilized and bug free), but keep it damp or it will be too dusty for both the ferrets and you too!  They LOVE to dig!   You can also use long grain rice - NOT the instant type - about 40 lbs of it is awesome in a dig box; use less if you have a smaller container.  I have a (unused) clear extra heavy duty dryer hose that I got from a ferret shelter fundraiser that is 20-ft long (you can get them on eBay too) that the kids LOVE to chase each other thru. Never use any containers around ferrets that have previously contained chemicals, anything dusty (that hasn't been completely washed out and dried) or cleaners of any kind.

Other toys my kids have are the tiny beanie babies - go to a thrift store and you can get a dozen of them for about a dollar!  I use all kinds of baby toys - the kids that light up and move are the best - again, all from thrift stores.  I watch carefully that they don't have any rubber parts, or soft plastic, or anything a ferret can get his head thru or his paws caught in.  Safety is very important in choosing toys!

You can make a whole 'village' out of various sized cardboard boxes - cut holes for doors and windows (leave one side attached and bend it, so they can look out it, then they will even take their paws and close it! LOL). You can make this as elaborate as your mind allows!!  Cut holes so they can crawl from one box into the other one, then tape them together. You can stash 'treats' (healthy treats OR just a piece of their kibble) with NO SUGAR, NO FRUITS or VEGETABLES - Ferrets are carnivores and require very high protein food and treats made especially for ferrets (read the labels - not all ferret foods and treats are healthy for them, and the ones with sugar, dried fruits or vegetables are actually DANGEROUS for them!)  Again, watch about making it too high - because if they can fit out the window or door, they WILL wiggle out of it and fall. Ferrets have no sense of height or danger, so it's up to us to protect them.

Every ferret has favorite things to do, just like little kids. My female ferret loves tiny stuffed animals, beanie babies and other small,soft items she can hide (when she goes to bed I get them all out again, so she can hide them all over again). I remove any small plastic eyes or other small pieces she could chew off and get a blockage from).  She probably has at least 50 or more little things to hide!  My little boy loves stuff that makes noise, moves, or lights up. We have a remote control car that he loves to chase! It has lights and a siren, so that's even better for him :-)  A huge clothes basket holds their toys (actually three of them LOL) and they become toys themselves, when I turn them over when the kids come out to play.  It not only spreads their toys out for inspection and playing, but gives them something else to run in and out of, drag around the room, etc.  Balls with bells in them, or small golf-ball size whiffle balls (hard plastic) bounce and are still easy for them to pick up and move around.  I got three dozen of them (in the golf category on eBay) for about $4.00!  It keeps them busy just chasing them as I bounce the balls for them.

Hope that gives you some ideas.  There are groups of ferret owners/lovers online that constantly speak about new toys they have found that their kids love. I would encourage you to join one or more of those groups - on MSN they have "Ferrets" and "My Norwegian Ferret Family" (actually in Arizona, USA), Ferret Village and Commando Ferrets, which require membership, but are worth filling out the application and getting approved. They are like huge ferret loving families with ideas galore!  I hope you will consider joining one or more of them.

Lots of toy ideas and safety tips in the book FERRETS FOR DUMMIES by Kim Schilling. You can get it on eBay or Half.com for much less than in the stores, but also available at most good bookstores and pet shops.

Hope that helps. Don't hesitate if I can help in any other way.  Best of luck to you and your little ones - HAPPY PLAYING!!

sincerely,
Jacquie Rodgers
Ferret Guru
All Experts.com