Re: How much playtime?

~Shelly~ wrote:

> Hi, new poster here.  My daughter got a ferret about a year ago, and a
> couple of months later, we were given another, so now there are two.
> As we had never met anyone who kept ferrets before, we have been
> playing it by ear.  Each ferret has a cage, aproximately 1.5x2x2 ft

That is a pretty small cage.  What kind of cage is it?  Does it have 
more than one level?

> in, we had to keep them separated at first because the male would play
> too hard with the female and we didn't feel she should be harrassed
> all the time.  Both are up to date on shots, are fed Iams Kitten food

Ferrets do play ruff.  They will determine who is the "boss".  A good 
general rule:  If they aren't bleeding, or pooping themselves in fear, 
they are playing together just fine.

> and whatever 'people food' they like (as long as it's healthy for
> them).  Their cages are kept clean and we try to rotate toys so they
> don't get too bored.
>
> The problem?  I think they need more time out of the cages and more
> time to roam.  Currently they are only out for one hour a day, and are
> sometimes put in one cage together now that they play nicely together.

Would it work to only let them out in one room?  There are various 
methods to keep ferrets in a single room.

> These little critters have given me such pleasure, I really want them
> to have an exceptionally happy life.  Our house is small, and people
> are always coming in and out, so we have to lock the doors when the
> ferrets are out.  The female is a little escape artist and has gotten
> out several times - once she even stopped traffic on a busy nearby
> street!  Luckily a super-good-semaritan found her and took her to the
> local pound, so we could claim her.
>
> I want both ferrets to have good lives, but a single hour a day out to
> play seems like way too little to me.  Should they have an outdoor
> run?  My husband says he'll build one if we figure out how it should
> be done correctly.  I'd like to have a little 'ferret-door' to the
> outdoor pen, and keep them both in a larger cage inside so they have
> more room to roam and more things to do.  But our vet says that
> ferrets aren't smart enough to come in out of bad weather due to 'too
> much domesticity'.  He says we'd be killing the ferrets if we tried to
> build them an outdoor pen.

--
Brian

http://members.cox.net/p0nykiller/ferret