There is hardly anything cuter than a baby ferret. But are you prepared for one? Hard as it is to believe these cute little balls of fluff can be a lot of trouble and responsibility. The upside of buying a ferret as a kit is pretty obvious. They are more adorable, playful and trainable, but this also means more responsibility for you. Often times people aren’t really ready for all the work attached with a baby ferret but find them too cute to resist and then end up getting unnecessarily frustrated with the experience of raising one.
So I’m going to tell you what to expect.
First, of all baby ferrets need to be litter trained and trained not to nip. This can be frustrating as they have a very very sharp set of teeth (sharper than adult ferrets), which are almost like little razors. Don’t worry their jaws are usually pretty weak at this point. But the sharpness of their teeth can still make training them not to bite a pain literally, as they are born with the instinct to nip at anything and everything that comes near them. This instinct will diminish somewhat as they grow older though. A lot of people handle a baby kit for the first time say oh my God! I can’t deal with this animal he bites like crazy! If only they knew that this is just a passing phase. And once he is old enough to start understanding things there are ways to teach him that biting hurts. You can read more about nip training here.
Second, you will need to litter train your baby ferret. This isn’t really hard as baby ferrets have an instinct to poop away from their food and in corners in particular. But what you need to understand is that ferrets aren’t as picky as cats about where they go. They will naturally choose a corner but teaching a baby ferret to always go in exactly the right spot in that corner can take some work.
Next baby ferret require special housing to protect them from just about everything. You must take extra precautions to make sure your baby ferret’s cage is safe and does not have spaces where his head or feet can get stuck. When he gets old enough to be released from the cage you must be extremely careful at first and only let him have very limited, supervised excursions outside his cage. This is the case with new older ferrets to some extent but with babies you have to be extra careful. If there are older ferrets in the house you must keep your baby sequestered from them because sometimes older ferrets act funny around new babies. They mite see the baby as a threat and bite. Even if they respond positively they could hurt the kit just because they weigh so much more. Ferrets like to snuggle and lie on top of one another. Ferret babies have extremely fragile bones which can easily be broken by an adult putting too much weight on them.
Baby ferrets also have special medical needs. You must inquire when buying a baby ferret what shots or vaccines he has been given so your vet will be able to know which ones he still needs. Normally eight weeks is the age when kits get their distemper shot. A booster is then given at eleven weeks. Then a few weeks later is when the first rabies vaccine is given, which is also followed by a booster a few weeks after that. Also if your pet is not spayed, neutered or descented you must have these things tended to yourself. Most breeders neuter and spay all their kits before selling them but it’s still something to inquire about because female ferrets that are not used for breeding can become seriously ill if they are not spayed.
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