Patio Wars

The Great Digs

Ferrets love to dig and they are not peculiar about where.  Indie and Penny are happy to shovel all the dirt out of any house plant or outside potted plant.  I put decorative stones in the top of the outside pots to give the plants a chance to grow undisturbed.   They dig the stones out.  It’s always a battle to see who can outwit the other.  Ferrets 1, owner 0. I put heavy rocks (with sharp edges) in the top of the pots  - works most of the time.  Ferrets 0, owner 1

When I first moved into my townhouse the patio was quite ugly, rotted spacer boards and pitted, stained concrete.  Decision made to spruce it up required digging out the rotten boards so that I could plant moss in the spaces and green up the patio. I had help every step of the way.  Indie and Penny were under foot the entire time, ecstatic when the boards were out and they could attack the dirt underneath.   Soon the dirt was spread over the entire patio, they shoveled it out as fast as I put it back.  Ferrets 1, owner 0.

Looking pretty guilty...

Fast forward:  dirt replaced, patio stained and moss planted in the spaces – lovely to look at and enjoy.  I let Indie and Penny outside to run around and play.  When I went outside to water my beautiful moss they had dug up large pieces of it and spread dirt all over the patio again.  Ferrets 1, owner 0

I spent the next few weeks sweeping the dirt back and replacing the moss.  Gradually the moss died and I had bare dirt – Indie and Penny were elated, dirt, lovely dirt to dig in.  Ferrets 1, owner 0.

Next step – much deep thought, how can I have my green spacers, how to defeat Indie and Penny?  Ah hah, a brilliant idea – artificial turf!  Turf purchased, cut into strips and used to replace the moss – beautiful patio again.  Ferrets 0, owner 1.

Over the next few weeks they dug and dug, gradually dislodging the grass in several places.  Ferrets 1, owner 0.

I put heavy pots over the places they liked to dig and gradually they gave up – the lovely green grass has been left alone for the last year or so. .  Shhhh… don’t remind them.   Ferrets 0, owner 1.

Two By Two

Everybody needs a friend...

After about 3 months when the ferret "probation" was over (and I guess we passed), my daughter decided that Indie needed a friend.  She said it wasn't fair for Indie to be all alone while we were at work and school so she wanted to get another ferret.  In for a penny in for a pound and off we went to Las Vegas to purchase a friend.  We went to a local pet store and there were lots of ferrets to choose from. Indie is dark color called sable so my daughter wanted the new ferret to be different.  She picked out another small female, with a light color coat, a "cinnamon".  It was a quick trip, drive out, eat lunch at In-N-Out, hit the pet store and drive home.  Of course, there was anxiety at the agricultural inspection station but we passed through with no issues.  They ask if you are bringing any fruit, vegetables or plants into California but no one asked if we were bringing in a ferret.

The new ferret became "Liesel the weasel". Ferrets are part of the weasel family so it seemed appropriate.  Liesel was quite a bit smaller than Indie so we had to keep them separate until Liesel was big enough to hold her own.  Ferrets play rough, they pin each other down, bite and a larger ferret will drag a smaller one around.

Liesel as a baby:


Indie and Liesel ran around the house together and had all kinds of ferret fun.  Liesel did not seem as energetic as Indie.  She would actually lay on the carpet and rest which Indie never did. Liesel was calm and very sweet with a gorgeous coat.

Two ferrets were twice the fun and twice the poop. Two needed more space than one.  We ended up purchasing a used Ferret Nation cage.  It had 4 levels, a luxurious ferret condo about 5 feet high, 2 feet deep and 3 feet wide. Quite an imposing edifice that didn't fit in my daughter's room with her other furniture.  Indie and Liesel took over the guest room.  Good thing there were not too many guests wanting to stay.

Here's the ferret condo:

Their new digs had a baby butterfly costume turned into a ferret sleeping bag on the bottom level with a hammock and tent on levels two and three. The penthouse level was devoted to food and water. What more could a ferret want?

Fuzzy Wuzzy Was...

What the heck is a ferret?

About 5 years ago my 18-year old daughter decided that she should have a new pet and her choice - a ferret.  I had never seen a ferret before and knew nothing about them.  She promptly took me to a friend's house to be introduced to his pet ferret.  We went upstairs to his bedroom and he quickly closed the door before Gus got out. Gus was a sable colored male ferret about the size of a small cat.  Very funny looking with a long body, short legs, cute face and fuzzy tail.  He had kind of a funny smell and moved quickly.  Gus liked to climb up the furniture and get on the desk - why?  To steal the computer mouse.  He spent hours each day wrangling the mouse down and under the bed to his "stash" of stuff that he collected.  Bummer for him, his owner took the mouse back every time.

Gus ran around the room and tried to go up my pant leg as I was sitting on the floor.  I was very nervous wondering if he was going to bite me.  Reassured that he did not bite I tried to hold him but he was too squirmy, a very busy boy.  I asked all the usual questions - what do ferrets eat, where do you keep one (Gus was a free-range ferret, no cage. He had the run of the room and slept in a cardboard box.) I was told they eat ferret kibble and can be litter box trained, love to play and are basically silent.  They make a funny "clicking" sound when they play but do not bark or whine. Perfect pet for a townhouse.

I had to admit the funny looking thing was growing on me.  My daughter quickly took advantage of this weakness and the next Saturday announced she was going to Las Vegas to buy a ferret. "Why drive so far to get a ferret?"  Answer - they are illegal to sell in California so you have to go out of state to buy them.  Off she went and came back with Indica or Indie for short:

 Indie was a 12-week old, tiny bundle of fur with an adorable face.  She slept most of the time and then played like a crazy.  Turns out ferrets sleep 18-20 hours a day and sometimes more with bursts of energy in between.  She quickly grew to her full size of about 1.5 pounds.  Female ferrets are smaller than males and Indie is a smaller female.

My daughter loved Indie and she provided hours of entertainment and fun.  Lots of friends visited because none of them had ever seen a ferret either.  Indie was good with using the litter box in her cage but when she ran loose in the house it was a different story and not a pleasant one.  Lots of little messes to clean up.  Ferrets have a short digestive tract so what goes in comes out frequently.  Indie got banned to her cage and my daughter's room with newspapers in every corner, only allowed out in the reset of the house when she could be watched.  Of course "watched" means something different to a teenager so....still messes to clean up.  Cats will go to their litter box wherever it is.  Ferrets will go to a litter box if it's close but generally when they gotta go, they gotta go, so it needs to be close.  This counts as a negative in my book.  But she was really cute....