My ferret keeps digging under her food plate and putting bedding into it.?

Question

she does it even when there's food in it.

why is she doing this and how can i stop her?

i give her Marshall's diet, she's 10 weeks old and was brought to my house from the pet store a week ago.

Answer 1

Don't worry this is completely normal. This just means that they are adjusting to their new surroundings and environment. Their basically just trying to make it their on place by putting things in places they like. Its like their telling you, this is my home see? You must be taking good care of them.

Answer 2

Perfectly normal ferret behavior as annoying as it can be at times. :-)

Ferrets are natural born diggers and stashing food is a natural instinct. Since she's in a new environment she's really just making her home hers (as was mentioned) and trying to secure her food source in the only way she knows how.

Many ferrets grow out of this behavior as they become comfortable in their home and realize the bowl is always full and that no one is going to steal the kibble. Not all ferrets grow out of it though and sometimes creative solutions to food digging are needed, I've seen people use bowls with larger bowls around it (to catch the thrown kibble) or dog bowls that have a 'bumpy' bottom (ordered from specialty shops to prevent dogs from eating too fast) and some just live with some spilt kibble.

It might help to get her a dig box, this allows her to dig without making a mess of the cage all the time. Dig boxes are generally a large rubbermaid style tub filled with anything from Dirt, Ping-pong balls, long grain rice (do not use instant as this may be ingested and cause a blockage), shredded paper, etc. It's a popular ferret toy and rotating the contents every month or so goes a long way to keeping the ferret entertained.

You didn't mention what type of bedding it was, ferrets do best with soft bedding like fleece blankets, old T-shirts, etc. They like to tunnel in them and hide while sleeping, which not only keeps them warm and snuggly but makes them feel safe as they cannot be seen by 'predators' - it takes awhile for them to know that the house is predator free, some never figure it out. :-)

Finally as far as food, Marshalls kibble is not a bad food but it's not the best available. Ideally you want to feed a mix of foods and it's up to you if you'd like to go the kibble route which is generally cost effective and easy to feed (as opposed to a raw diet which is great but can cost more and takes a lot of work on the owners part). If feeding kibble it's generally suggested to feed a mix of kibbles just in case you ever have a problem locating one or the manufacterer ever changes the formula, having another 'in the mix' helps to avoid the upset stomach that some ferrets get when switching diets and will in the long run be easier for you as well as many ferrets will refuse a new food when older.

Look for a low-carb high protein kibble, I recommend Innova Evo Ferret, but any of the Innova Evo products (made by Natura) are great for ferrets as they all exceed the nutritional requirements for a ferret and are made from human grade meats. Other low-carb diets are Wysong (kibble or Archetypal), Natural Gold and Orijen Cat.

I've included a few links at the bottom that have information on ferrets and a couple stores where you can buy the foods I mentioned.

Good luck with your new one, she sounds like a sweet and fiesty little gal! :-)

Answer 3

Get rid of the bedding it is horrible for a ferrets respitory system. Use old towels or blankets. And get a litter hi back square litter box and some yesterdays news litter and litter train her. It is really easy to do.Also switch her food it is horrible. The pet store people sign a contract with marshalls they have to tell you to feed marshalls and try to tell you it is the best when on this diet chart is is rated a 5 out of 10 with 10 being the best.http://www.mdferretpaws.org/care/food_tr... Switch her food slowly over a time period of 2 to 4 weeks whichever you want. Just ad a little bit of new food and then less of the old until it is all new food. If you don't do it slow it will cause tummy upset.

This quote is from http://www.hugawoozel.com/ferretcare.htm...

ACCESSORIZING THE CAGE

What exactly do you put in a ferrets cage? Hammocks, beds, sleepsacks, sleep cubes, T-shirts, Fleece, etc... Ferrets love to burrow into thier bedding when they are sleeping. Never use wood shavings or pine/cedar chips. These products have caused ferrets to develop respiratory problems. Would you like to sleep/p**p on hard, scratchy wood shavings? I didn't think so!

This is a great ferret site it is cheap http://www.ferret.com/

This is the food I feed my ferrets The Ferret Store Superior Choice Original

you can buy it here http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/pr...