Toy and Game Ideas

Toy and Game Ideas

•   My ferrets love those small animal beds found in most pet stores. They love to wrestle each other for the small space (even though they each have their own bed). In the end, they usually end up curled into one big ferret pretzel and fall asleep. Gigit (my female) is much more intelligent than Boomer (my male) so she is bored much easier than him. For an easily bored ferret, I stop buying toys. I use old film canisters filled with sand/rice, or move their favorite toy and make them find it. When they sneak it off to their hiding spot, follow them and put in a new spot. Cat toys on sticks work great. Just remove the catnip and fill with a ferret treat, they go nuts.   -Jess

•   Matrix, our 1-1/2 year old male ferret, loves to play our version of hide-n-seek. I will initiate this game by hiding around a corner and waiting for him to come along. When he appears, I will jump out and ROAR at him. This makes him run back around the corner and wait for me to come get him. If I don't appear, he will come after me. I will chase him into the bedroom under the bed. I will bend down to look for him under the bed and he will sneak up on me from behind. When I see him, I ROAR at him again and he runs back under the bed. What ever direction, I look for him at, he will come at me from behind. I can never tell what direction he will come from. He likes to "get me". He is very ornery.

•   Hiya! I have some games that Stormy and I love to play, figured someone else might like to try them out too. Stormy likes to "attack" anything that is not my hand (and sometimes if it is) so I throw jingle balls or wadded up apaer balls around the floor and she runs around chasing them and dragging them off. Or I take her sqeaky dog toy and make it "jump" on her and rub it up and down her (not too hard!) and she wiggles and squirms and bites it all she wants till she runs off to find another way to attack the toy. Those are Stormy favorite games besides attacking me if I get too close before play tie is over...so hope someone has fun with 'em too! -Spazz

•   An idea I had a while ago for my ferret was to get 5 boxes and connect them with tubes. In the largest box I bought a box of 100 ballpit plastic balls. My ferret goes crazy. He uses the biggest box as a dig box. You can get a pack of 100 plastic ball pit balls for 9.99 at Toys R us.

      Thanks,
      Daniel C.

•   1. Take a shallow plastic container and fill it with water about an inch deep. Be sure to put it on a towel if you don't want to get the floor soaking wet. After awhile Max (our boy) will try to tip it over, which yours may do as well so make sure it's plenty wide and long in relation to depth. Xena (our girl) loves to put her face in as deep as she can and fling the water every which way with her paws.

      2. Whenever they start to slow down, we put a plastic bag in the play area (we have a Great Wall), and let one or both of them crawl in, which is when the real fun begins! As soon as all 4 (or 8) legs are inside, I grab the handles and either drag it around or pick it up a few inches off the floor and swing it around in a circle. After a few seconds I set down the bag and out pops at least one dancin' and dookin' ferret!

     3. Max can be a bit of a sulker if he's not played with enough (or at least that's his perception), so I take him fishing. Actually, I have a child's fishing pole with a feather pompom on the end of the line. He loves chasing it around. Of course I let him catch it every once in awhile so he doesn't get discouraged, and when that happens, the fight is on!

    Another thing we just discovered is to throw a Cheweasel into the "Great Wall" playpen. Since we have 2 ferrets and they both LOVE the Cheweasels, this creates no end of excitement, especially since we only put one in.

   From "Bubba"

•   If you have a long piece of PVC pipe, or a smooth plastic pipe of some kind, place your ferret in one end and gently tip it up so the ferret slides down. Don't do it too fast!!! It becomes like a slide and my ferrets would slide out and run back to be put back in again!!

      Simba, Meko and Sweet Pea
      Maine

•   We recently visited Seattle (see the story on our site) and visited a no-kill shelter called The Best Little Rabbit, Rodent and Ferret House. They had a play box filled with puzzle pieces instead of rice or dirt. That's most likely what we will use, as they said the ferrets don't eat the puzzle pieces (they may steal them though), so they're probably safer than rice and definitely cleaner than sand, peat or dirt. Also, theferretstore.com has dig boxes with starch shipping peanuts (they disintegrate with water or saliva) for a very reasonable price.

      ( Bubba, thanks for the great ideas!)

Bubba
California Bandit #1
www.angelfire.com/fl5/calibandits

•   Fill a box a few inches deep with white rice and add some toys and the fun

     starts (just make sure your ferret doesn't eat the rice).

•   A visitor sent this wonderful game idea with photos! Aren't they adorable? Ferrets LOVE to dig and tunnel in dirt and sand!

"Our ferrets have endless fun when we get a grow bag ( peat ) and cut a hole in the top, stand back and watch the dirt fly."

•   A visitor named "Kevin" suggested this elaborate and creative game. Take a box fan and place it on a table out of ferret reach. Loop a king sized sheet over the box fan and table, making a tent. Place heavy books on the corners of the sheet to keep it secure. Then, turn the fan on to make a "wind blown" tent for your ferrets to play in! Be sure to supervise your ferrets while playing this game to avoid any accidents.

•   Cut the legs off of an old pair of jeans or sweat pants to make tunnels for your ferrets to play in.

      You can even hang them in your ferret's cage.

•   Place a bunch of plastic or crinkled paper grocery bags in a cardboard box or laundry basket, add your ferrets and watch the fun! My ferrets never get tired of digging through the bags. Make sure you cut the handles off of the plastic bags and tear openings in each of the bags to prevent suffocation. Of course, if your ferrets tend to eat plastic or paper grocery bags, this game may not be for them!

•   Purchase your ferret small sturdy stuffed animals (make sure there are no pieces a ferret could chew off and swallow) that make a sound when thrown or hit against something. My ferrets' favorite toys are what we call "giggle balls." These are small, round stuffed animals that make a giggling noise when you throw them. The eyes, noise and mouth are sewn into the ball, so I don't have to worry about them chewing pieces off. All I have to do is make the ball giggle and my ferrets will run out of any hiding place to fetch them! Stuffed animals made for infants are often safe for ferrets.

•   Put your ferrets in a clean bath tub and trickle water from the tap. You can also put some toys or plastic bags in the tub with them. Keep the drain open for the first few times, then try plugging the drain and allowing the front part of the tub to accumulate a small puddle of water. My ferrets love taking a drink and splashing around in the paw deep water. Be sure to supervise your ferret while he or she is in the tub. The water should never be deeper than the top of their paws, and the bottom of the tub should never be completely covered with water. Ferrets can drown in as little as one inch of water.

•   Have two people hold opposite ends of a blanket or comforter so that it makes a hammock. Put the ferrets in the middle and gently swing or bounce them around (not too hard!). My ferrets love to get onto the couch and jump into the middle of the "hammock." Just be sure to have it far enough off of the ground!

•   Ferrets, especially kits, love to chew on tightly braided cotton or nylon rope dog toys (of medium size). It's a great way to help keep tarter off their teeth. You can also tie a long piece of rope or attach a leash to the rope toy and drag it across the floor to encourage chasing during play time.

•   Give your ferret some rolled up socks to play with, Add a few "jingle bell balls" inside the balled up sock and you will have a great toy they will carry around and hide.

•   Fill a box, plastic storage bin, or mini swimming pool with clean, damp sand. Hide some ferret toys and watch your ferrets dig them out.

•   Take some empty boxes and cut "ferret sized" holes in the side. You can then connect the boxes with play tunnels, such as the Ferret Freeway or large PVC pipe. Ferrets love to tunnel and play in boxes!

•   A visitor named "Missy" suggested using plastic wrappers that "crinkle" to help find a ferret that is missing, or to get a ferret to come when you call it. Most ferrets love the sound of plastic bags, treat bags, cereal bags etc..

•   Take your ferret for a ride by dragging a blanket across the floor! Most ferrets will try to jump on the blanket while you are dragging it around the room and you can give them a ride around the house. If you have a spare blanket, you can keep your ferret very happy during play time! Ferrets love to play under blankets, take rides on blankets and swing in blankets made into hammocks (by having one person hold each end of the blanket and putting the ferret in the middle)! You can also entice play by shaking the blanket up and down on the floor. My ferrets love to try to jump on any air pockets created by moving the blanket up and down on the floor.

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The information provided in this section is not intended to be used in place of proper veterinary care. This web site contains the opinions of the writer. The reader of this site must use this information at his or her own risk.