So I'm thinking, give it a little time, start looking for a new smoking buddy eventually. Another good "guy" dog, no fru fru thing.

Last night, she gets a Ferret, new cage with all the bells and whistles.

Me - "What is it?"

Her - "Cute"

Me - "What's it do?"

Her - "Plays, it's fun"

Me - "Can I eat it?"

Her - Tries to burn a hole through my head with her eyes.

Me - "Didn't work, WTH?"

Her - "It's name is Bandit"

Me - "sigh"........she already named it.

Good news - I think I can train it to guard the humi and nip at the neighbor when he gets close.

They are very playful, need frequent bathing, have short lifespans, and are serious hoarders. I loved them, but, they can be worse than a pack rat. If things start to go missing all of a sudden, the ferret is the likely culprit. This isn't a serious problem, if you can find the hiding places, and keep up with them. Good luck!

They are beyond cute and SO much fun...nothing I have ever seen in my life is as charming/adorable/hilarious/endearing/etc., as the "weasel war dance." (You'll know it when you see it LOL).. but they have weasel-stink. SERIOUS weasel stink. (Yes, they're mustelids not weasels. Polecats are mustelids, too. There's your stink.) Wash them all you like in sweet-smelling anti-stink ferret shampoo. They will still stink. So will your house. The whole thing - not just the ferret room.

They can and will escape ANY cage you put them in, and you canNOT keep them confined to the cage for their entire lives - they NEED interaction and stimulation. They also require a LOT of exercise, to the tune of 3-4 hours of supervised play a day.

They WILL escape when you take them out for interaction and stimulation. No matter how fast you retrieve them, they WILL, in that brief moment of time, find a hidey-hole and secrete at least seven stolen items in it. They can and will steal and hide ANYTHING they can carry...and some stuff that they can't, but it's completely hilarious watching them try to drag it under the sofa (into the hidey-hole that they, unbeknownst to you, dug through the bottom lining and into the main frame/stuffing area of the sofa.) They WILL have hidey-holes EVERYWHERE, and they acquire them FAST. You won't find them all unless you raze the house and disassemble every piece of furniture you own.

Ferrets have no decent immune system to speak of. They are also EXTREMELY prone to diabetes, adrenal gland tumors and several kinds of cancer. The only way to deal with the tumors is to have the glands removed. Get vet insurance - you're going to need it. They are not particularly healthy animals, but they are so endearing, and they're a PET, so you want to make sure they have the (constant and expensive) medical care they need. Both of our ferrets had adrenal gland tumors. Both had the glands removed. Both went bald from the tail forward, halfway up their body from it. Both eventually died from complications related to the tumors. Ferrets can't sweat. They have no sweat glands and will die of heat stress at anything over 80-some odd degrees. It will need air-conditioning. Human respiratory ailments can be passed to your ferret - flu, cold, etc.

Lola and Kahlua were the sweetest little girls ever...

Never again.

Amongst all the other stuff you have said in here that would deter me from getting one that is a scare right there. I have a dog that my daughter asked Santa for a few years ago and I love him but I don't like those vet bills and he hardly ever has to go. Now she keeps asking me to get her a chinchilla which I don't want any more pets at all but I know she is going to ask Santa again.

On the flip side my daughter has a friend that has ferrets.... in the past 3 - 4 years they've had maybe 6. They really don't last long and you get REALLY attached. It's not like having hamsters or gerbils who live about the same length of time. Ferrets are funny and adorable and become part of the family. It's a shame your wife only got one though.... they really do need a companion.

I actually have a little bit of experience with chinchillas, too LOL. My second/surrogate-family in HS had a chin. They are adorable...and they do NOT make good pets for young children. Most of them DON'T like to be held. They just aren't that kind of animal. They are also nocturnal - they aren't usually awake when you are and they will keep you up all night, every night leaping on their wheel (they NEED a wheel for exercise, and they don't run - they bound.) They make a horrible mess with the special volcanic dust that they need to bathe in, and they become depressed easily. They will get stressed out if it's too noisy and all their hair will start falling out. They just aren't animals that are meant to be pets - they can't be let out of the cage because they really can't be house-trained, they chew EVERYTHING (which could also poison them) and they need running/exercise time but don't like to be held and played with...but they are also prone to becoming depressed and moody being confined to a cage every day for their entire lives. Well, who wouldn't? Some things just aren't meant to be. Pet chinchillas are not meant to be, IMO.

So far, this thing is pretty dayum funny and entertaining. Lisa is home all day so it will get plenty of attention. Hasn't started to smell....yet. When it gets tired, it gets in it's little hammock and passes out. I mean, like trying to wake the dead kind of passed out. It's just a baby but it's funny how nosey it is....hey look, a shoe, must be something in there, wait, what's in that drawer, can I fit in there?, squirrel!!!!!, oh my.

I'm still wondering how they taste sauteed in butter and garlic.......hehe

In the early 70's . . .

An old g/f of mine back in the late 80's had a ferret. They'll crap in every corner of your house.

Repeatedly . . .

#-o

is that true or did you just blame the ferret for your own lazy habit?

(((shrug)))

I have nothing against it... it's just that I think some animals are suited to being pets and others aren't. Still others are suited to being pets...but definitely not MY pet.

I had a black and white hooded rat in college - Justin (a la N.I.M.H.) was a wonderful pet. Box trained, small, no smell, VERY low maintenance, easy to contain when he came out to socialize, VERY personable and affectionate, napped on my shoulder while I did homework...the only problem I had was the high susceptibility to upper respiratory issues (died of pneumonia) coupled with an already short natural lifespan.

Something to be mindful of when you deal with critters that are known for their high reproductive rates...they probably aren't particularly hardy or long lived, or we'd be overrun with lemmings & the like. I think some animals make good companions because of how they bond and interact with you. You get very attached...it's really hard when they have that "disposable" lifespan. That's the only reason I'd never have another rat - they just aren't with you long enough.

Our bunny (not a rodent, but same concept) is a good pet, too. He's house-trained, VERY gregarious, doesn't smell, fastidiously clean, and will - hopefully - be with us for 7 - 10 more years.

Yup - their natural instinct is to go in a corner. Makes it easy to box train, but that's probably why Jet had trouble with the ferret pooping in all the corners. Rabbits do the same thing - look for a corner. Make sure that you put a triangular litter box or newspapers in a conspicuous corner, put some of the critter's droppings in/on it and make sure critter checks it out. Our bunny box trained in a day, and the ferrets in under a week. (I don't think the rabbit is necessarily any smarter - he just doesn't have ferret ADD.)

It wasn't my animal ... It was an old girlfriend's. Besides, that was 25 years ago. I never liked the damn thing. I don't like cats, either. I really only like dogs & horses. That's about it.

But I did threaten to wrap it in bacon. Best behavior since then.