Ferret owners, help please!

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PingPongPony

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Hi all :) Gavin and Stacey doing really well, but are now getting bored of the rooms they're allowed in, so now that they have explored them all, they want to go to the ones which they haven't explored yet. They are scratching the carpets like mad and its driving me crazy! 1) house is rented so if they wreck the carpets we will have to replace them all and 2) when i let them out, i like to have a play but mostly let them explore so i sit on the sofa, go on hh or tv whatever, so you can imagine how frustrating it is when i have to get up every 5 min to stop them from scratching! So any ideas of how to stop them from doing it or just how to save my carpets?? We put mats in front of the doors but they just dig at the edge of the mat instead :/ Help?!
 
You won't stop them.

Ferrets always want to be somewhere else, especially if you really don't want them to.

Try playing with them more - have you tried lots of distracting toys? Containers to climb in and out, old boxes, tubes, boxes full of polystyrene chips to dig in but minimal mess.

Can you leave the doors open so they don't dig up the carpet. I ended up with my house ferret having the run of the house in the end.
 
^^^ THIS !!

ferrets ALWAYS want to be where they aren't, and are always looking for the next adventure ;)

I went to put my puffa on this morning (drying on the radiator) and picking it up it was sooo heavy - first thought I'd left something important in the pocket, but no - it was Lydia asleep in the sleeve, with her head popping out. If ONLY the camera was charged !

i do recommend them being shut in their cage to sleep, so that play times are special. I had a lovely girl called Natasha who, left to her own devices, decided my kitchen cupboards (the wood) needed refurbishing. That wasn't my house either (blush).
 
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I'm afraid that AFAIK you can't stop them. My 3 boys have the run of the house

I expect you'll just have to interact with them when they start digging to take their mind off it - and try and tire them out somewhat :)

Sorry not much help :/
 
Ferrets are IME extremely tenacious . Build some ferret toys out of cardboard boxes with holes cut in them at different levels put strings with balls on them around them tie socks what ever you can think of to amuse them you can link the boxes with bits of flexi drainage pipe and build a ferret amusement park .
We had an hilarious time with ours my OH built all sorts for them.
I think you could try clicker training with them to keep them thinking, we never did ,but we taught them to come to the call and towards us tapping on the ground .
You can hide bits of food in their cardboard city and they go and seek it out , it sounds like they are bored with their rooms, they feel draughts and go towards them so you might be able to reduce the scrapping by putting draught excluders on the other side of the doors but ferrets are very good at training people I expect they will have the run of the whole house before long.
 
One thing i can't do it to let them have the run of the house :( Bathroom is too dangerous with razors, slippery surfaces, chemicals, toilet etc etc. Dressing room is my mums and its got a cream carpet, so she wont let them in there, they're not allowed to go in my brothers bedroom because we will never find them cuz its such a mess, plus they have already chewed some of his lego so he's locked it all in his bedroom :o and my parents bedroom is out of the question too. Thats the only rooms they're not allowed in, the kitchen, halls, porch, stairs, my bedroom, lounge and dining room are all open so they're allowed in all them :) Yesterdays favourite game was, when they scratched i went to pick them up and put them in a different room with something to distract them, so then they'd both wait untill i turned around and bolt to the door and start scratching again, after 5 times, they stopped scratching under that door but would bolt to it and wait for me to get there, jump up and down hissing and climb up my leg :rolleyes: they do get to play with me for at least an hour and when brother gets home (he's only 8) they run around the house with him for 2-3hours every night! the toys they do have, they're not interested in, they'd much rather steal my dogs toys :rolleyes: we might have to make a little assult course for them, and hide treats etc. Thanks everyone!
 
^^^ cardboard boxes with random holes in, a few nuggets hidden in them, and maybe a jumper to curl up in are your new best friends ! I always give the girls any boxes, or pick new ones up at the shops.

I bought them one of those cat "stacker play thingies" which has gone down like a ton of hot s*** - apart from the bit where they can get in and sleep. DON'T spend money on ferret toys ! Apart from the extending tube they have no toy has been much use - apart from changing boxes.
 
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