Jelly bean was waiting on her soupies and got this photo of her.

New ferret mom here. I got two ferrets, one is skinnier than the other, she eats, poops, plays and seems happy and content. Is she too skinny? Shes ab 9-10 weeks old. She looks especially skinny while picking her up.

I did everything I could to take care of him and make him comfortable for the last few days that I could he was sweet and crazy and one of the best boys we had he's with his brothers and sister/business now ❤😭

i made a dig box and she’s literally stealing mouthfuls of the macaroni and making a pile on my floor, is there some other substrate i can use that she cant cache?? 99% of her playtime is just her stashing things it’s her purpose in life and i support her in that, id so let her take the macaroni but that’s just not possible

I live in Canada so by the end of October it can be close to -5° at night, I was really hoping to dress them up for Halloween and go trick or treating with them because they LOVE being outside and meeting new people, but I’m worried it would be too cold for them. I’m still very new to ferrets and small animals in general as I’ve always just been around horses and large livestock that can handle the cold so I’m not sure if that’s on the table as they’re a lot smaller lol. Any advice helps :)

she had an irritated eye a few weeks ago, which was treated and is no longer the case, but i noticed that the swelling in her cheek never went down? its squidgy to the touch. she doesnt seem to be in any pain/discomfort, shes eating/drinking just fine and as playful as ever. i asked google and it said it could be something such as ‘Salivary Mucocele (Sialocele)’

any thoughts?

ps. i tried to get pictures but she hates being held still for too long 😭

This is the best video I have because he stops every time I get my phone out lmao. Since the day I met him any time he has a ball or something that’s a texture he likes he sits on top of it and pulls it backwards, it kind looks like he’s a bird putting his baby under his wing lol. Does anyone have any idea what this could be? He’s completely healthy and not acting weird at all 🤷‍♀️

Full disclosure: I’m Pat Wright, founder of LegalizeFerrets.org, and I’ve been involved in this issue for a very long time.

I recently went back through old California Fish and Game Commission hearing videos and found an exchange from April 7, 2011 that explains a lot about why ferret legalization never seems to go anywhere.

A Department representative acknowledged that the environmental document submitted by ferret advocates had been received but had not yet been reviewed.

When asked how long the review would take, the answer was:

The representative then described the process that was supposed to follow:

1. The Commission sends the document to CDFW.
2. CDFW reviews it and works with the submitter.
3. CDFW returns it to the Commission.
4. The Commission puts it on an agenda and decides whether to certify it.

That loop was never completed.

In 2016, another ferret petition was continued so staff could review the environmental material. In 2023, Commissioner Erik Sklar told us that proponents needed to spend the money, prepare the CEQA study, and bring it to the Commission. We said we were ready, resubmitted the material, confirmed that it was received, and publicly asked what we needed to do next.

No meaningful answer followed.

Then in 2025, the Commission referred our new formal petition to CDFW for “review and recommendation.” More than a year later, no recommendation has returned to the Commission and there is still no final disposition.

I put the hearing video and chronology together here:

https://www.legalizeferrets.org/in-2011-fish-and-game-promised-to-review-our-ferret-environmental-report-what-happened/

I know this is my own organization’s website, so please treat it as an advocacy source—but the central quotations come from the agencies’ recorded public meetings.

What bothers me most is not simply that California disagrees with us. It is that the process can apparently continue indefinitely without producing a yes or a no.

I turned my dining area into a playpen area. With clear cubey walls as the playpen.

It has their cage in it, a tunnel, a ball pit, and 3 beds

It’s a 6ftx7ft room. I wanted it like this so the ferrets could be out in the open next to our gaming area. I used to have them in the guest bedroom but I didn’t like them so secluded by themselves. I like to have them where me and my boyfriend tend to hangout at.

Whenever we are sleeping or someone’s not home they go in their cage. But most of the day they are in their play area. They like to go back in their cage to sleep sometimes so I have the door of it open for them to climb in.

Is this area big enough? My young ferret is TEARING and SCARATCHING and CHEWING his heart out at the walls.

I try to play with him (2year old) more cus my other ferret (4-6 years old) is a little older and got diagnosed with inslunomia recently so I hope she starts playing with him soon when she’s feeling better. She’s been on her new meds for about 3 weeks. But she still just sleeps all the time. Never plays.

What can I do appease his boredom? Or is the play area just too small for them?

(I’m getting them a bigger cage soon trust)

I need to start using litter bc my little girls think that the puppy pads I put down in their box are makeshift tunnels lol pictures for tax

This morning Tamaki got up to use the pee pad and his back legs just wouldn’t work. It was the hardest decision of my life but I decided it was time to let him go before his quality of life got any worse.

He had a whole small bowl of whipped cream and then it was over.

Goodbye Tamaki, head of the ferret federation. I will never forget you or all the things you taught me.

The ferret on the left of the photo with the two of them, is the older ferret of the 2, he’s three years old and he came to me looking the way he does, from an owner who got him second hand as well. The owner before me said he sleeps a whole lot compared to the bigger, but younger ferret, and I can second that. He sleeps almost the entire day while the other is active 6 hours at least, and his fur is more scruffy and it seems there’s less fur. He doesn’t eat as much as the younger ferret either but I don’t know if that’s as much as an issue since he still eats well, but he was underweight when he came to the last owners and myself. My mother said she’s worried he may have adrenal and he does fit some symptoms. I don’t know how young Deere was fixed compared to his brother Cat, the younger ferret from a different litter and previous owner or how young Cat was fixed either but Cat doesn’t seem to have any issues like Deere. Deere doesn’t seem to care much about any of the stuff I’m concerned about, he’s still eating normally and he’s happy and plays with his brother when he is awake, but I’m not sure if it even is Adrenal and I don’t know if it’ll do harm to treat him even if he doesn’t have it.

Should I just find a vet that can check if he has it? Or is there a reliable way I can check myself to know without the knowledge of who the first owner or veterinarian was? Is there anyone who is in the field of mustalid veterinarians that can see from the information on this post or the photos I have here if he has adrenal? He’s been like this for at least 1 and a half, to 2 years at the least.

For those who have followed my updates, the micros are around 12 weeks old now! And they have grown SO much, developed their own little personalities & are thriving along with their mumma bean. What an emotional journey this has been. We have decided fully to keep all of them so we can guarentee they will be implanted etc. (I do not condone breeding micro ferrets, mum was a pregnant rescue).

Hi everyone! I posted about my 7 year old boy around this time last year due to his last vet visit. We brought him back today due to some concerns and he got diagnosed with adrenal disease. We choose to get him an implant and I’m just curious about others experiences with it and their ferrets. Please tell me your thoughts and experiences. I’m just grateful I found out what was wrong with my Spikey though.

im worried its canine distemper, but theres no other signs aside from his nose and mouth getting redder with some weird spotting. noticed this yesterday. i cleaned him up a little but all the spots didnt disappear, i didnt want to keep scrubbing in case it hurts him or something.

Remy caught a terrible cold a few days ago. He’s a bit better now, moving around to explore, then crashing, then getting up again and crashing again. He eats as if the world is ending, goes to sleep, wakes up and wants to go on the floor to explore, and then asks me to come up. However, he really struggles to breathe at times.

We rushed him to the emergency vet two days ago because he was only breathing through his mouth. They observed him, put him in an oxygen tent, listened to his chest, did an ultrasound and x-ray. After all that, they gave him a steroid injection, some medicine powder to put in his water and antibiotics. They also advised us to give him a steam session in the bathroom and, if possible, use a nebuliser with saline inhalation solution.

The problem is that Remy hates the nebuliser. A lot of mucus comes out and he starts throwing tantrums when I try to give him the antibiotics (it’s a syrup). If we leave the room to get something or take care of his brothers, he starts having cage rage episodes(which he never did in his lift up to two days ago). Then, suddenly, he starts breathing through his mouth again as if he was struggling to breathe.

I’m at a loss because he’s not getting much better. He’s not resting enough when we try to get him to rest and he’s been trying to spit out the antibiotics. He’s usually okay with medication, but this one is a whole different story. He also has these breathing fits, and when I try to put the nebuliser on to help him, he runs away with the noise. What should I do?

On a side note, I think I’m catching whatever he’s got.

Still a wreck, I’m just cuddling with my baby at the moment I’m sure she needs it. Any advice for ferret who have lost their bonded mate? I don’t know if I should get 2 more babies for her since she is 5-6 herself. But I just feel so bad for her, I’m getting as much time with her as humanly possible. And I even sleep with her in my arms every night now, which she never liked until now (luckily I don’t move in my sleep lol). I hope she’s resting well, I have visited her grave everyday since her passing, even gave her some fairy lights so she isn’t in the dark. I wish I cremated her but we put her down and I was so out of it at the time. I’m getting a tattoo in her memory and I have some fur of hers. I miss her so much.

I feel like my poor boy is always so bored and lonely. I do my best now that his sister passed away to keep him occupied.
He goes on walks, to the park, he has toys, he free roams constantly. He is older, so maybe thats normal for him to slow down and the vet said he has an enlarged spleen, which hes on medication for and it increased his appetite and energy. He does get LITTLE bursts of energy and playfulness, but I cant find him a friend anywhere and its extremely frustrating because maybe that would help him

Im not buying a 500 dollar baby marshalls ferret thats gonna have health issues out the ass and I dont want to adopt 2+ ferrets. I just want my little guy to have a companion.
I found a ferret on craigslist and hes around the same age as my boy but.. the guy ended up leaving me on read saying "I don't know if its worth it for you to come all this way to not get him" (its a 3hr drive there and I told him I wanted my ferret to meet him so I could see if they'd get along and what their behavior would be like) but I reassured him I wanted the ferret and he just never answered.
Pretty frustrating as every other rehoming post I see is a young bonded pair of ferrets.
It just makes me so sad not seeing him with his sister or having as much playfulness as he did just a year ago. 💔 I wish my girl was still here for the both of us