Redpill me on ferrets /an/. What are they like to own? Would

>>2370466
They smell so bad most owners have to keep them outside.
Would you buy a dog just to leave it sit outside all day and night? I wouldn't.

>>2370480
Completely incorrect

>>2370529
Shhhh, just let him have this one and maybe they won't respond with anymore mind numbing inaccurate shit.
>hurr durrr most people keep ferrets outside
Wow

>>2370541
I have never seen a ferret cage inside. While my contact was limited, I noticed a foul smell and cages kept on patiospatios every time I found a ferret.

To say they don't smell bad is asinine.
Rats smell bad, mice smell bad, dogs smell bad and ferrets smell bad.
Who the fuck cares? It's the truth.
Most people who buy ferrets just throw them outside and ignore them because they smell.
I'm sure they're bros, but I was not referring to my own experience and caretaking of them.

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>>2370466

The ferret is a fine, serene pet that enjoys quiet, leisurely afternoons and long naps. The sleepy ferret is slow to rouse and excite, and can be left unsupervised without worry much like a mature cat. Gentle and peaceful in nature, the ferret surprisingly makes a fine pet for the elderly as it provides restful, placid company without the worries of a more active animal.

Instead, the tranquil habits of the drowsy ferret provide calm companionship and soothing relaxation, happy to lounge unstirring in your lap for hours, a mellow and meek friend, content to slumber days and nights alike, snoozing and dozing the days away in lazy siestas.

Get one for yourself, and one for grandma too. She will thank you for her new relaxing, comforting pet.

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>>2370466
They sleep 18 hours a day, but when they're up they go nuts. They are a wonder to watch and play with because they making you feel like life is carefree and happy.

Their personality is puppy that never becomes dog. They are also velociraptor and get into everything bad. But you are not mad because they have face with human expression and love.

They poop lots and lots and suck to litter train, and their poop smells horrible. If you give kibble you need to read ingredients because some retards put vegetables in food for obligate carnivore.

They make your life very happy, but also worry because they may hurt themself by bite wires or climb and fall, and vaccinating is annoy because if they have infection they can catch waht they are vaccinate for.
And if they are being caught canine distemper, they 100% die painful, which is sad as they have personality akin to family dog, and you get attached like it is true friend and family member.

Stinky, high maintenance, worth it.
Only recommend if person can care for with love.

Also make buy in pairs. Ferrets cannot use teeth when play with people, but love to and can use teeth when play with other ferret. Also is more fun to watch as they slink like inch worm puppies after each other and open mouths.

Never owned one myself but work in a pet store that sells them and know plenty of owners.

They do have the musk, which can be removed and also helped with high-quality food, but that's not the real stinkiness. The real stinkiness comes from their shit. Because of their diet, ferrets have phenomenally stinky shit as well as piss. The piss is extremely ammonia-y, even worse than a cat's. And they poop and pee constantly. It's true they will do it in a corner and can be trained to use a litterbox, but it WILL get overloaded on a daily basis and WILL need to be cleaned out on a daily basis.

It's better to dedicate a room to them rather than cage them due to their high energy and shit-and-piss output, as mentioned. Ferrets are intelligent, friendly and very playful, but they are prone to biting-- this is a play response-- and must be trained to stop if they bite too hard. They are mischievous and will take things from you and hide them away. They can sleep up to 18 hours a day but are basically nonstop bundles of bouncy wildness when awake and they must be played with or they will get destructively bored. Ferrets can form a bond with people but many say that they seem sort of 'loose' with it, as in they don't really show affection at all in a way a dog or cat does. Basically they just see you and everything else in the world as a source of play. They're kinda nuts.

There's a basic rundown. Ferrets are pretty cool but they're not a low-maintenance pet, they're very stinky and poopy, and they don't really 'get attached' to you like other furry pets do. Not really my thing, so I've no desire for one.

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Ferrets are great, fun, and playful pets. Some are even cuddly! (don't count on it though!)

That said, they have many quirks that make them not the best choice for everyone.

First of all, there's the ferret musk. But! With a good diet, ears cleaned regularly, litter boxes cleaned out daily, and all blankets/bedding washed weekly, the smell isn't nearly as strong. It's tolerable to most, and some ferret owners even grow to like the ferret musk.

One more thing on that--don't bathe them unless they get into something gross and NEED it. Baths may seem to help them be less smelly at first, but in reality this is only a short "benefit" and they quickly go back to smelling--and worse, too. If you bathe them too often (once a month bath is the MAX you can do) their skin overcompensates for the oils being removed. It's not good for them and you will have a stinkier ferret. Letting them swim or play in plain water (no soap) is fine all the time though, and many of them like it.

They sleep for ~18 hours a day, but when awake they are curious, playful, and active, so they need space and time to play outside of their cage (cages should be large and cozy to begin with, but they still need time out of the cage,) or some people have an entire room(s) dedicated to their ferrets so they have space to run around all the time, whenever they feel like it.

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(continued from >>2371023)

They steal and hide things. They are curious and persistent, and may get into trouble because of it--"ferret proofing" thoroughly enough to keep them (and your stuff) safe can be difficult.

They can be litter trained, but it isn't like litter training a cat and most ferrets will not have the "accuracy" with it as a cat will. Litter training a ferret is a matter of patience, placing the litter boxes in their favorite corners to poop in, moving them to the box if you see them backing up into a corner you don't want them to use, and rewarding heavily when they use the box. You can also place soft blankets and things in places you don't want them to go, as they will not want to poop where they sleep (or eat, for that matter.)

Speaking of litter boxes, ferrets like to dig. If they don't have another outlet for this (a bin full of biodegradable packing peanuts, shredded paper, or dry rice, for example,) they will dig in the litter box and fling litter everywhere.

Ferrets are social and do much better in pairs or groups. You CAN keep a single ferret, but this is much harder because they will need a LOT more attention from you since they don't have a buddy to play/cuddle with. They bond to each other very strongly and love sleeping in cuddle piles. Social bonds with other ferrets are so important to them that if one ferret dies and leaves a companion behind, that remaining ferret can get depressed, stop eating, and die. Because of this, it's best to keep 3 ferrets in my opinion--if you lose one, the remaining two have each other for comfort.

They cannot tolerate hot temperatures (80F and above.) They are very sensitive to the heat so you need to be careful not to let them overheat. Temperatures over 90F can very quickly kill them.

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(continued from >>2371024)

Maintenance care for ferrets is cheap, but getting set up can be expensive. And emergency vet care can be very pricey. Ferrets are prone to certain cancers that something like 50% of them die from, and the treatments for these (and complications from them) are expensive; so vet care when they get older can get very pricey. It's not always easy finding a vet who is knowledgeable about treating ferrets, either.

So there you have it. In conclusion, they can be great pets; they are so happy, playful and spunky they are guaranteed to make you smile on the daily. But they are also troublemakers, and their care is not low-maintenance.

Source: Have owned 4 ferrets in total; I currently have 3.

>>2371006
>ferrets have phenomenally stinky shit as well as piss. The piss is extremely ammonia-y, even worse than a cat'
Have not found this to be the case at ALL. Shit/piss will stink regardless of what animal it's from, but ferrets fed a good diet don't have excrement THAT stinky. Cat piss/shit is 1000x worse imo.

Ferrets smell good to me.

Rat owner here, been thinking about getting ferrets as my heart can't take ratties' short life spans.

When you say ferrets sleep 18 hours, who is that broken up in the day? Rats are perfect for me because they're up in the mornings/evenings when I'm home, and sleep when I'm at work. Are ferrets similar? Not much good me getting a pet that's only awake when I'm not at home.

>>2370480
Uh,, dogs belong outside?

>>2370554
Maybe the people yo u know that have ferrets, should take better care of them?

so what the reason for a carnivore to smell strongly? Seems counterproductive...

>>2371058
Yeah, I feel you on the short life span thing... I love rats and they seem like such great pets, but I know I couldn't handle those short life spans, so I went with ferrets instead.

Anyways, ferrets do wake up periodically throughout the day, to eat/drink/poop/whatever (they don't sleep in one solid 18 hour chunk.) But they generally adapt well to your schedule, so if you're home in the mornings/evenings and those are the times you have available to play and interact with them, they'll get used to that routine--they'll sleep more when you're at work because it's boring, and wake up when you're home because they know it's play time!

Also, they don't ever mind being woken up to play. Ferrets sometimes sleep very deeply* but once you've woken them up, if you take them out to play they are all for it.

*Another note on the deep sleeping thing: they sometimes sleep so deeply that they go completely limp and nonreactive, seemingly comatose. It can be hard to wake them up from this because even poking or shaking them will not wake them up, they're completely ragdoll! Many a ferret owner has gotten scared thinking their ferret died or went into a coma, but they were really just doing some deep ferret sleep.

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>>2371006
>Ferrets can form a bond with people but many say that they seem sort of 'loose' with it
My ferret was almost over-attached. He would slink up to my legs all the time and just look up at me until I gave him attention or played with him. He was like that to pretty much everybody actually. He had a really good temper, the most mellow and tolerable I've ever seen in an animal.

My mom had a ferret, but I'm not a fan. I'm more of a rodent guy.

But it was pretty nice and playful as far as I remember, and didn't stink.

>>2370466
I go ferreting with mine.

my friend had one and it was digging in trash and chewing cables and destroying plants

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He likes to sleep on my bed and won't fall asleep until I tuck him in

>>2370480
>>2370554
I will say ferrets have a very strong and distinct smell, but maybe its just because I grew up around them but I always loved the smell of ferrets.

>>2371150
I've met a ferret like that. Just one though. It was so sweet and cuddly and loved to lay on people, it was like a really friendly cat.

That seems unusual for ferrets as most are just balls of energy and don't seem particularly affectionate. Even the owners of that chill ferret said they'd never had one so cuddly. Is that pretty rare? I'd love to own ferrets if they were all calm and lovey dovey like that one.

>>2370554
>Rats smell bad, mice smell bad, dogs smell bad and ferrets smell bad.
>dogs smell bad

Sounds like you're just a shitty pet owner.

>>2371881
He's still right.

>>2371881
Dogs do have a smell, though. Even clean, well-cared for dogs. Same applies to ferrets. Obviously the clean, well-cared for ones will have less of a smell and it will be a lot less objectionable, but the smell is still -there-. That said, whether or not it smells "bad" is a personal thing. I don't mind the smell of clean dog or clean ferret, personally. But cat smell, although I find it tolerable, I dislike. It varies from person to person.

>>2371935
Seriously cannot smell dogs, and that goes for others as well as my own. Most I've known are indoor/outdoor, which might be why. That or my sense of smell is just fucked.

>>2371973
you're used to it because you're a dog owner.

i hate dog smell. yes, even perfectly clean ones. it's gross

>>2371973
My dog is an indoor dog (goes outside in the yard to play or do her business, and gets walked/taken on hikes as well, but she lives in the house with me) and she definitely has a doggie odor. It isn't a bad smell (personally,) and it isn't very strong, but it's there. I actually kinda like her smell.

Maybe your sense of smell isn't as sensitive, and/or you're just very used to dog smell? I'm not saying that dogs have an offensively strong smell or something, just that they do have "a smell" like any other animal.

>>2370466

They smell. They just do. They have a very musky sent and if you have them expect whatever room you stick them in to just smell like ferrets. Washing them just makes it worse.

They are lovable and fun overall, and each seems to have their own personality, but they all have a really mischievous and exploratory predator side that some people love and some people will absolutely hate. They can fuck shit up and kill themselves, which is why most people dedicate a room to them that has been ferretproofed.

Heat will fuck them up. Store ferrets at room temperature.

They sleep a lot. They poop in corners. Make sure when you wake it up to play with it that it poops before you let it free, otherwise it will eventually just go find a corner to shit in.

When they get old after a few years they can swiftly develop a lot of health complications, which vets love because they get to rape your wallet. You have to know when to cut the lifeline, and due to a lot of shitty breeding practices, this is often sooner than most people would like, which leads to wallet rape.