Audrazii
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- Joined: 8/22/2015
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How can I help my ferret?
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Saturday, August 22, 2015 10:32 AM
I have a male ferret, named Max, who is almost 6 months old now. The older he gets, the more difficult he becomes, and I don't understand why. He still has all of his habits that he had back when he was a baby, and I've tried almost everything I can do to train him. First of all, his playtime area is my room. I have all of my exposed cords blocked off and I actually put in the time to screw boards to the frame of my bed so he cannot get underneath it. It's not perfect, but it works. The rest of my room is free for him to roam under my supervision, ALWAYS. During playtime, I will pull out all of his toys, some of my hoodies for him to travel through, cardboard boxes for him to hide in, squeaky balls, and even some treats to spoil him. It's pretty ridiculous how many new toys and treats he gets all the time, actually. In fact, whenever he is thirsty during playtime, I will hold a water bottle, with ice in it, for him so he can drink out of it. He's pretty darn spoiled.. Well as this used be enough for him, it seems as if it's not anymore. During playtime now, he won't play with his toys anymore. He will just hide the newer ones and leave them alone for the rest of the time. Then he will either scratch at the corners of my bed until the carpet is raw, scratch at the door, bite the corners of my dresser, or knock things over. He doesn't play at all, he is just destructive all the time. I'm not sure why this behavior developed, but I can't seem to shake him out of it. I have scruffed him an uncountable number of times, told him "no" in a stern voice, and even put him in a cat carrier with nothing in it as a time out session. After being scolded, he will either go take a nap somewhere, or just carry on with whatever he was doing. Then after playtime, when he starts showing signs of being sleepy, I will put away all of his toys and literally tuck him in bed. He will curl up and act like he is going to sleep, but then 10 minutes later, he jumps up and starts rattling the cage. I've actually gone to the extent of cradling him to bed like a child, and he will just repeat the process. It doesn't make sense to me. I tried putting that "Apple Bitter Spray" on his cage to stop the cage biting, but he seems to have a reaction to it that doesn't make me feel right. Plus, there is a little bit of toxins in that stuff and it's just unsettling with me.
I've thought about buying him a playmate, but the risks scare me. I worry about him rejecting the new playmate, or further down the road, one of them passes away before the other and depression will effect the one left. Plus, I would want to buy a bigger cage for them to both live in. The overall price of another ferret and cage is adding up to be a lot. I'm really running out of choices here and I'm at a loss of words. Could someone please give me advice on what step to take next? I refuse to give him up or let him be upset like this forever. This needs to be resolved.
<message edited by Audrazii on Saturday, August 22, 2015 10:38 AM>
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