After 4 months of researching ferrets, debating with myself if I am ready for the responsibility, more researching, and collecting items along the way.....as of November 1st, I finally own my first ferret!
<3 Meet Astrid! <3
She is 3 months old and a total bratty handful!!! But look at that face....she could get away with murder.

The plan was to get two boy ferrets so Astrid was not exactly planned, she definitely chose us =)
For the past 2 months I have been visiting one of our local pet shops to check out the ferrets. The first time I went in since starting this journey, Astrid was in one of the pens with an adorable little chocolate kit. They both appeared to be the same size/age so I assumed they were litter mates or arrived at the store at the same time. This was the first time I actually held a ferret, and a baby one at that! Astrid however, was VERY nippy, while her playmate loved to lick your fingers and burrow into the crook of your arm. I knew then after I placed the chocolate baby back down into the pen and watched as it desperately pawed at the glass on its hind legs begging to be picked up again that I was in trouble, and had to eventually own one of these fuzzy critters.

Almost every weekend after that, my husband and I would go back to the same store to see the ferrets. It was no surprise that when we returned one weekend the little chocolate one was gone, leaving Astrid all alone. In the course of 2 months I watched this little ferret grow and get new playmates, but the following weekend she would be alone again. The last two times we both picked her up, would talk to her, and wondered why she was still there as her biting had seemed to fade substantially. The final weekend, seeing her alone yet again, my husband made the call. "We should take her home." He is such a softie =P But it was really sad, seeing her picked over time and time again. We talked it over lunch and then returned with a pet carrier to take her home.


Its been a week now, and what an experience! Its definitely a lot of trial and error stuff mixed in with trying to implement what I have learned through articles and ferret groups.
We were able to potty train her in 2 days, which to me was pretty awesome. =) I know they say they are insanely easy to train anyway, but I have never had to go through that process before so it was a great feeling to watch her learn something new. Her biting has not gone away. XD Maybe she finally realized, "If I just stop nipping people, maybe I could go home with someone too!". I know it is natural for them to nip and bite because she is still very young, so we are currently working on trying to correct it.

I will have to admit though, in the first 2 days after we brought her home I was having some SERIOUS doubts about this decision. I have grown up with cats and dogs, and never really knew anyone that had ferrets so this is so very different than either of those experiences, and it can be quite frightening. I am not the type of person to go out and just buy an animal on a whim, I respect them too much for that. I was just afraid that I was realizing (now actually having a ferret in our house) that I was in over my head and could not handle this. Knowing I only had one day left to return her to the pet store made the paranoia a little worse of course. At the end of the day, I just couldn't picture myself taking her back after giving her false hope of finally having a home. Its all about learning and wanting to do whats best for this little creature that is just as clueless as you are. The fact that she is so young is probably what is making this whole experience so overwhelming, it really helps me to understand why they recommend an older ferret for us newbie ferrents =P

The plan was always to get 2 ferrets, possibly 3, and we are wondering if getting her a playmate will help with the biting problem. Either way, we are hoping to find her brothers soon so she is not alone for too much longer! We tried looking this weekend but the pet store she came from didn't have a new batch in of them yet. We even drove to a different town to check out a pet store and found a little boy but....he was a Marshalls Ferret =/. I had already read some no so pleasant things about Marshalls, but when my husband did his own research he was dead set against getting one. Astrid is a Path Valley Farms ferret, which are said to be a little more on the aggressive side (explains the biting LOL) and are healthier, while the Marshalls are much more docile. The little boy we held was a total sweetheart, and I just knew...that Astrid would beat this poor baby up =( So I told my husband we should just wait until the original pet store gets more ferrets in and get one from them. Whenever that happens, I will post pictures! =) Until then....the adventure continues!