The Ferret Experieince

This is my latest surprise. Some of you may have read about it on tweets or in the forum. I've been trying to find time to blog about it for weeks now. One day, this ferret just appeared in the basement. It is really hard to get a photo of her as she doesn't stop moving but for one iota of a second. Her name is Cone.

I've been very patient trying my hardest to allow Cone to stay. I want to be a fair mom. However, I've never had any experience with a ferret and I'm not sure I really wanted to have any experience with a ferret, but it has been invoked upon me.


My son slowly introduced me to Cone. First, she stayed in her cage only for several days. Then one day when I came home from work, she was out and about in the house. I immediately wondered if ferrets would nibble on things, maybe chewing up electrical cords or ruining other items. I wondered if ferrets would poop and pee all over the house, in hidden spots unbeknown to me.

I was assured that she was litter trained.

She is really cute running around. I have to laugh as she has this hump on her back and it stays up as she runs. Sometimes she runs sideways. Then she will flatten herself and go right underneath anything with an inch or so opening.

I asked that she only be allowed out of her house whenever my son was home to watch her, but then put right back in the house (cage) when he left.

My son obeyed me. Sort of. He would come home and let her out right away and then go off to his room and leave her to have run of the house, ignoring her.

I was left trying to explain that there were further stipulations. He had to watch her every second that she was out of her house.

Nope. Sometimes you cannot tell teenage sons anything. Feeding and watering an animal is not all that needs to be done to be considered a responsible pet owner. Young pets require a lot of attention in order to train them of their boundaries, what is allowed, and where they can poop and pee.

One morning I went to the bathroom for a shower and Cone was immediately at my feet to play. My son was asleep. What! I picked up Cone and took her to my son's bed and exclaimed at him, leaving the animal there and closing the door behind me. Upon return to the bathroom, there she was at my feet again! Yep. Cone cannot be confined to one room in our house as she goes right under the doors!

After several incidences of poop and pee finds, and the continued icky smell wafting up from the unfinished basement where her house was located, my patience ended.

Cone herself always seems to smell. When I hold her, my hands and shirt always stink afterward. It's not enjoyable the least bit. I tried giving her a bath in the tub. She floats and turns around in circles. It is quite funny to watch.

Cone is very independent. When I put her in the living room to play, she won't stick around me. She has to explore every little crevice and then try to be the escape artist to get to the other rooms.

Hubby helped me move Cone's house outside. I tried to hold Cone in my lap and hands for a very long time as hubby bleached and hosed down the house.

This was when I learned what the term "weasel your way out" really means. She was hard headed and determined that she was going to get away from me and tried to weasel away from me in every manner imaginable. The only way I could totally control her was to hold her in my hand up in the air. Even then she tried getting out by climbing up my arm. She kept showing me her teeth as if she were hissing at me, but there was no sound coming out. She never bit me, which I was surprised and thankful for, but her fangs look menacing. Her claws look scarier than they feel.



Cone lives in this two story house. Since we moved the house outside, we have been able to observe and learn more about her manners and behaviors.

She poops and pees in one corner of her house and sleeps in her red litter box. Ah ha! So she is not litter trained!

However, the way she backs up into the back corner of her house to do her business and how she puts it all in once place does tell me that she likes to have her space clean too. She just doesn't know where we like her to have her do her business! I'm certain she could be trained, but I have no desire to do it and Cone's owner doesn't seem to want to spend the time to do it either.

Therefore, Cone has to go. I'm willing to be patient and try if my son were just working at it, but since he's not, Cone has to go. I am anxious for the stink to be off my carport now!



The upstairs of her house is her bedroom and kitchen. It comes complete with a hammock, stuffed animal, food bowl, and water bowl.


The lower level (I call it the basement) is her play room and bathroom.


She does sleep in her hammock often and that is cute.


Isn't it cute how part of her hangs out when she sleeps in her hammock? Sometimes she is in a ball like this and sometimes she is stretched out in the hammock.

First it was the kitten he brought home. I tried that for two days and made him take it back. I can hold and pet cats, but I just cannot live with their attitude and how they climb all over everything and knock it down.

Next came the gerbil. I could tolerate the gerbil. The constant running around in its wheel making noise that was heard through the other side of the wall in my bedroom was not enjoyable, but tolerable. The gerbil lasted a few months and died.

Now we have this ferret.

What next?

Only time will tell.

But I tell ya, being a parent is not easy! I don't enjoy making him remove these animals and making him sad or mad at me, but hey, he could at least ask permission before he brings them into the house and show us a little respect first! Doesn't he know by now that he has the best chance in my saying yes if it's a small dog? Nope. He'd rather put me through all this stress and then think I'm a bad mom for making him get rid of these pets. I can't win sometimes when it comes to parenting.