He is SO loud!!

Question
I got my ferret a few weeks ago from a petstore and he is very young around 9 weeks.  The lady at the store said that he was about 7 weeks old when I bought him.  He is very sweet and loves to play.  I totally adore him but I am having some trouble with him.  

He is out of his cage the majority of the day with me.  He has roam of my small apartment except for the laundry room and my bedroom which are the only two that I couldn't fully ferret proof. I take him on errands with me and he loves riding around in my purse when I go for my walks.  

But when it is time for bed or if I have company or if I have to do something that would prevent me from keeping an eye on him I need to put him in his cage and he freaks out.  He will scream and whine and growl and grab ahold of the bars of his cage with his teeth and hands and shake them untill I am sure he is going to hurt himself.  He will do this untill he literally falls asleep chewing on the bars.  

He will go in there on his own during the day to use the litter box, eat and drink but as soon as I shut the door its like I am killing him.  As I am sure you can see this kinda makes it hard to sleep, have people over or even talk on the phone.  I feel like I am constantly having to yell over him.  

I rotate his toys in his cage and he has plenty of room but he doesn't seem to care.  If he is locked in his cage he trys to get out untill he falls asleep.  I have actually asked my husband to turn off the tv so that he doesn't wake up the ferret =( and whats sad is my husband turned it off as fast as he could and said "oh my god he is still sleeping right?"

The other issue is he acts like he is deprived of food all the time.  It reminds me of how my cat acted when he had food agression.  It is kinda scary filling up his food dish in the morning because he will charge at my hands and snap at them to get me away from his food.  Before I got my new trashcan with a lid he would get in there and get ahold of food that would make him sick and I have to scruff him and pull the food out of his mouth and the whole time he is growling and trying to bite me.  I was eating some eggs and he tried to get it from me and bit my finger so hard he made me bleed.  He doesn't try to bite me when we play or anything so i know it is just the food thing.  So any help you could give me would be awsome.
Thanks


Answer
Thanks for your question. All baby ferrets cry when they are seperated. It is the same when a new puppy cries in the crate at first. It is a little more intense with your ferret because he is with you most of the day. It is very important to let them have a nap in the cage midday. Don't let him nap outside the cage during the day, he needs to understand that the cage is a good thing, and it means sleep time. You also want to make sure he has time alone to learn to play and entertain himself. While it is great that he is so bonded to you, it would be the same as holding a new born baby all day.It will eventually turn into him not wanitng to be left alone. They need to learn to away from you for short periods during the day for naps, play etc. He will definitely out grow this. Make sure he has a lot of soft fluffy things in his cage like a hammock he can tunnel in, and a ferret blanket etc.  He may cry like this for a couple of weeks, but he will grow out of it.
The food thing may be do to a growth stage. When ferrets go through growth spurts, their appetite increases. Try feeding him an extra small meal during the day. Or if you feel comfortable, leave the food out all the time in the cage. This is what I did. He will eat at his leisure. If he still continues this behavior after a couple of weeks, s you may want to get him checked by your vet for worms.
Also I strongly suggest you buy a book called
"Ferrets for Dummies" by Kim Schilling. It is a good book for first time ferret owners.
Congrats on your new pet, and let me know if you need any more help. good luck!
amy