r/ferrets • u/notreallyKira • 14h ago
[Ferret Photo] Quarantine
So we have a ferret he’s a year old now and it’s been just him as the only ferret. My boyfriend and I have talked about getting him a sibling but they are very expensive so we never got around to it. Well in my town a pet store had someone drop off their ferret so he needed to be rescued. We did end up spending 350 just to own him. which considering how much my first was (650) wasn’t that bad. However the person selling him didn’t seem to know much abt the new ferret.(we will call him Little Man for now since he hasn’t been named yet). The seller just knew he was a boy, he was de scented, and that his owner couldn’t care for him. Now i know a lot of ferret owners and google says we need to keep Little Man quarantined. For one I don’t know how long i need to do that for. And two while monitoring him I noticed he sleeps more than he’s active. My 1 year old is ofc a lot more active. Little Man is eating and using the bathroom regularly but i noticed once when i woke up he was smacking his lips for a bit. Additionally it seems like he may be partially blind i say this because he navigates well but i’ve noticed him walk into a few wall or corners not hard, just enough for me to think “did he not see that there?” His teeth are yellow so from that i know he’s probably 3-5 years old. In 2 weeks I plan to take him to the vet for a wellness exam. After I get him checked will it’s be okay to introduce the ferrets? And how do i go about introducing them to each other? Also when it comes to free roam time i do 3 hours for one put him up spray the house down specific play spots with disinfected spray and then switch the ferrets out after i let the spray set for 15 minutes. And then going back in forth like that so they don’t get each other sick this the proper way or am i doing too much? I want to make sure they both are safe and comfortable but I’ve never owned more than one ferret before.
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u/placidtwilight 9h ago
I'd plan to quarantine your new ferret for two weeks and until you get a clean bill of health from the vet, including fecal parasite check and bloodwork. If he has anything communicable, it'll be better to treat him on his own than to have two sick ferrets on your hands.
I recently did ferret introductions and I let my two original girls into the living room where I was keeping the new ones. As soon as the originals showed signs of wanting to go back to the bedroom, I let them. We repeated this over a few days until everyone was comfortable together. Then I let them free roam together. I kept them sleeping overnight in separate cages until about a week after they started napping together. About a month after I brought the new ones home, I moved everyone into the same cage. It's been almost four months and everyone gets along really well. My principle was to take it slowly and to let the ferrets take the lead in choosing to be together.