Brando

In my last article, I spent much time describing my ferret Buller. He is brown with a black mask (what in ferret land is called a "sable". This article and many following it will be about my insane ferret named Brando. He is definitely a wise choice for an article entitled "ferret games" because he is the absolute definition of ferret playtime.

tech specs:

Brando is white with greyish coloring on his tail, he doesn't have red eyes like some ferrets but blue. There is a technical name for his actual type and when I find it I will post it.

I have named my little bundle of excitement and nonsense Brando. After Marlon Brando. This was done because when I got him from the shelter he was over weight and had trouble climbing anything. Since this time however he has become physically fit and ready for olympic competition. He still has trouble doing chinups and clearing the baby gate to escape from his room (yes I gave them their own playroom!) like his furry counterpart. I believe however, that in time this too will change.

Ferret Games

As I have stated in prior article, I am prone to tangents. I will try to keep this particular article focused on various ferret games that I have found worked on my two but I will most likely deviate. I just have too much to tell about them to stay focused! I figure the stories will give readers a better idea of what to truly expect when adopting one of these nutbaskets than any step by step bs I could right. Onto the ferret games games!!!

Brando loves to wrestle. This is one of the most basic ferret games you could play with your little friend but everything depends on his unique personality. My other ferret doesn't enjoy this. Brando rolls over on his back and grabs my fingers. He chews gently on them and kicks with his back feet. ( a baby ferret may not new the limits to his biting because ferrets have very thick skin and bite each other hard in play. If your little monster is biting too hard during this ferret game, pick him up by the back of the neck gently by his skin and scruff him gently like a bad kitten. There are proper procedures for doing this so you won't hurt him. Its not a punishment really, its kind of like ferret speak for "ouch, don't do that" sometimes you have to speak their language. It also let them know that you are the alpha ferret or boss.) Brando will stalk my hand during our ferret game of wrestling and will attack me playfully. Its kind of like playing with a an overexcited puppy that just happens to have hands. When wrestling with a ferret or playing any other game with there is always the possibility that they will launch into something called a wardance. This is not a ferret game. Its a ridiculous dance they do when they have an over abundance of energy and are all amped up about something.

Another one of Brando's favorite ferret games is playing with water. As mentioned before Bueller is not a huge fan of this one. Take a heavy stew pot full of water and put it down over some newspapers. Fill the pot with some ping pong balls, and some of their plastic toys. Maybe throw a few plastic lids in there too. The little jerks will go bonkers trying to get everything out. They'll dunk their heads and have a great time trying not to get wet. Be careful, your little buddy might decide that his favorite ferret game is to go for a swim and then careen through your house like a car sponge with legs!

Sometimes a good ferret game to play is to allow them to dig in a large plastic bin full of rice. Brando loves this game and will tunnel for hours thorugh it throwing it everywhere possible. Ferrets are natural diggers by nature and if you purchase one of these energizer crazies every plant in your house is in danger of being desoiled immediately. Brando is white and his idea of a good time is playing the ferret game of turning himself black with potting soil after he makes a tunnel in the pot of my favorite 5 foot tall palm.

It isn't necessary to spend a lot of money on things to buy for your bud because some of the best toys that you could ever give them are plastic shopping bags. For some reason they like the crinkle sound that they make. Hours and hours of fun that I will never quite understand happen inside a pile of torn up grocery store bags from wherever. They sleep in them, throw them around, fight in them and pounce through them. They become a favorite ferret game and a most coveted possession. Yes, somehow these little nutsos get possessive of their toys and will hide them from each other and even you!! If you take one jokingly that they have hidden they will get very upset and try to steal it back to rehide it!!

Some ferret games will bring out the worst in them. I thought it would be a good idea to buy a battery operated toy mouse (for a cat) and let it loose on the laminent flooring for them. Brando will blunder around after it trying to catch it in his hands dumbly. Bueller goes insane. He hates this thing with an unbridled fury uncharacteristic to his nature and grabs it by the back of the neck immediately trying to kill it. Its then under the sofa on the other end of the house right in the middle so I can't get him with the evil toy. He then chews it angrilly attemping to destroy it so it will never scurry by his ferocious self again. Although to some this may seem like a true presentation of a ferrets evil nature its really not. If aggression toward the perceived threat of a robotic mouse is the only time I will see him puff out his little furry chest and display manly tendencies then thats ok. Even a fluffball has to show he's a tough guy once in a while. Other than this, he's pretty much a cuddly, sappy, wimp.

Get Daddy's Food

Although this is a ferret game that is unintentional. I guess it is played to some degree with every pet owner. Ferrets are relentless with this game if until they get a taste of what you are eating. They will jump on you from far away things they are perched on, climb up your chair, climb up your back and onto your head. The game ends if they don't like what your having. If they DO like what your having the game intensifies until what your eating is on the floor from them making a frantic leap for it

I used to become upset at this game but have learned to live with and actually enjoy it. Don't ask me when or how it became fun but I actually sit in their room with my food on purpose to be the center of their obsessive antics and desperation. When condsidering care for a ferret when you go on vacation its important to get someone to babysit who knows what the little monsters are capable of. Some people may think that care for a ferret is the same as care for a cat. Not so!! Ferrets are perpetual babies, full trouble and all about play and theft.

Ferret Obsession

This isn't a game but something I forgot to mention in my last writing about the little jerks. Sometimes your buddy will develop an uncanny obsession with an object or a thing that you just can't steer them from. Its best not to even attempt to stop them because they'll keep going back until they get what they want. For example, Brando was always after my plant no matter what I did. I scruffed him over and over again but to no avail. He saw it and it there was love in his eyes. He'd rocket toward it like it was the holy grail. The only way to stop this was to put it in the kitchen every time I let them out to play in the big apartment. Escaping is Bueller's big vice. He goes bonkers trying to get out of his room, he only stops when he realizes you've put something he can't get over in his way. I use two baby gates to coral them in a ferret safe room. This just means a room with no rubber that they can chew, no holes they can climb in and dissappear into, and no screens for them to claw through. This ferret proofing is very important when considering care of a ferret. One little pencil eraser gets caught in their narrow digestive tracts and your shelling out two thousand bucks for an operation. The little guy doesn't know any better and you don't want him to have to go through something like that, so making sure he can't chew on bad things is important job. There are plenty of other things they can harm themselves with but those become apparent and you take measures to stop them.

Thats all I have on them for now. I never thought it possible but I'm actually running out of things to write about the little guys. I'm sure I'll think for more ferret tips, info and games to post at a later date. For the moment I think I'll turn my attention to other interests.