Ferret Proofing Part II

 

     If you think ferret proofing and child proofing are the same, you’d be half correct. Child proofing is only the start.

Check all appliances before use.

     Ferrets have a knack for getting into small places and places where they should never be able to get into. The refrigerator or a standing freezer are good examples. How many of us stand in front of these two items trying to decide what to eat?

     Ferrets want to know what is inside and because they are small they aren’t often seen getting into these places.

     The refrigerator might give them a better chance of survival because its not as cold as the freezer. Knowing where a ferret is the best prevention.

     Washers and Dryers are also bad places for a ferret to end up. A ferret that ends up in the washing machine tub unnoticed can drown with the laundry.

      Dryers that open in the front are low and easy accessible to a curious ferret. If it isn’t seen when the wet laundry goes in it will become a static free corpse.

Electrical cords and outlets

     Some ferrets love to chew on cords or stick their paws into the tiny slits of outlets to see what is inside them. Child cap the electrical outlets and spray the wires with a thick coating of a bitter tasting agent such as bitter apple unless you have a ferret that likes the taste. I do

his name is James. 

 

   

Fans/Heaters

     Ferrets want to catch moving things and you can imagine what a spinning fan blade would do to a ferret in a matter of seconds. Heaters can burn a ferret just as easily as it can a child.

Printers

     I wouldn’t have thought about this one and never have found mention of it on any of the sites I have read.

  Lance showed me just how inquisitive a ferret can be. He climbed up to where the paper comes out after it is printed and tried to climb inside through a small opening. I don’t know if he would have made it but I would have been devastated if I had gone to print something and didn’t know he was in there. The printer is now up higher and no other incidents have occurred with the printer.

Vacuum Cleaners

     Some ferrets love to attack vacuum cleaners and others are scared of them. You have to watch where they are while trying to vacuum around them if you don’t put them up. The other problem with vacuum cleaners is the challenge of getting inside them.

Desks

     Take a look at your desk what is on it? If it is anything like mine there are several pens, a bottle of wite-out ®, envelopes, a cup filled with your drink, and maybe some knick knacks, and the cordless phone. There is more on mine but you get the idea. A ferret’s determination to own everything you have touched is overwhelming at times.

     Pens are easily grabbed and taken to the hidey hole not really a problem unless it is one of those pens that have the rubber grip. Ferrets love to eat rubber and it can cause intestinal blockage which is life threatening.

     Some ferrets are adapt at opening bottles. Wite-Out® is poisonous to a ferret.

Galahad would go to great lengths to get my coffee. It isn’t good for them but I found it easier to give Galahad his own cup. I used a doll’s tea cup and he got a cup a day it was better than him spilling mine onto my keyboard.

     Watching a ferret grab the phone from its charger and trying to drag it to the hidey hole is like watching the three stooges in a single body. This is Gweny's favorite game.

     One has to be constantly diligent in watching where and what these amusing little creatures are doing to keep them out of harms way.

 

Jo