Lazy, non-playful, 5 month old Ferret? Typical from the breeding?

Question

I have two ferrets. One is a Marhsall 5 month old male, my other is a 3 month old male Canadian.

The Marshall one is not playful - takes awhile to get him going. He would rather just lay around, eat, sleep and p**p. My vet says he is healthy though. They have a large room full of toys, dig boxes, a paddle pool, tunnels and tubes. String type toys are the only thing he is interested in but his interest dies withen 5 minutes. He is very calm, does not mind being held, having nails clipped, ect. Usually just wants to lay in my lap when I play with them. He sleeps on my lap while I am working.

I heard this could be from Marshall breeding but unsure. My Canadian though it very active and loves to play. Tries to get my Marshall to play but he doesn't, and just tolerates the neck grabbing, pouncing gestures.

Have you ever heard of Marshalls behaving like this? Or is this just typical for any ferrets? I thought all Ferrets were extremely playful especially while still young.

Answer 1

Well, by the age of these kids, they are really young so they have not spent a lot of time in a cage.  

From my experience with ferrets is that they all have different personalities whether from a private breeder or from Marshall's.  Since Marshall's is a huge breeder of laboratory animals, yes they are kept in breeding lab cages but the youngsters are sent out at a very early age like 5 or 6 weeks.  I get rescues that are at least 2 years old or more and I can tell the ones that have just been kept in a cage, which is the norm. Some have had a lot of socialization and others have not.  I think the ones that have the bigger chubby bodies tend to be quieter than the slimmer long body types.  I think that this is just a personality characteristic.  

Are you positive of the age of the ferret?  I never get any paper work with the kids just stories of approximate age.  He just may be the quiet type.  I would just keep offering him the stimulus and see what transpires.  

Answer 2

Oh no no no no. ..... marshall ferrets are terrible, marshall ferrets are kept in small carries with food and water and no toys before they are sold. They don't play or anything, They jst sleep and slowly get depressed.What I would do is attack his ( not really aggresive just with yor finger tips on him stomach) toss him on pillows, do the weasal war dance, play with him non stop! brighten up his life.