Looking for a ferret/house sitter... *edited*

[franki_k]

As per the helpful suggestions already received, we would also consider someone who would like the opportunity to housesit a two bedroom house, or someone who would be willing to look in every other day and let them run around in our own living room.

More suggestions welcome!

Original post below:

Hi ED

My boyfriend and I are going on a well-deserved holiday at the end of this month, and are just wondering what to do about our little "monsters" (affectionate pet name, not character description!)...

Tom's brother has agreed to look after them as a last resort as his son loves them, but he's a little worried about the suitability of their garden, so has asked that we consider other options too. For this reason, I thought I would see if anyone in Dulwich might like to try their hand at ferret sitting, subject to successful meetings. :) Current or prior ferret owners would be ideal, just because then you would know what's involved, but providing a full training course on ferret care would not be difficult for a novice.

The details:

We have 4 ferrets, 2 male, 2 female: Molly and Perdi, Bandit and Pepe. They live in a largish outdoor hutch which should be secure from foxes, but which I intend to reinforce, just in case.

We allow them to run around our living room every evening as they are toilet trained (they go on newspaper in the corner), and love wathcing them run around like nutters and scrap with each other. Our living room is what weasley people like us call "ferret proofed", as anyone who knows ferrets will know that they will dig plants if given the opportunity, and can climb like anything so all delicates and breakables need to be removed as they are not graceful... We would not expect them to be handled every night, but an hour or so every few days would be ideal so they don't get cabin fever as they are used to daily attention.

Two of the furries are lead trained and can be taken to the park. This is great fun, but you just have to watch out for dogs (we whip them up if we see one coming)... Tom's parents' house has a beautiful garden which is completely enclosed so when we're there, we let them run outside but always supervised as they are real escape artists!

Our critters are really friendly and we trust 3 of them with kids - Molly is 100% better than she used to be but does have a history of nipping so we're still wary of her until training proves completely successful. Not a dangerous animal by any means (she may not bite at all), but we would need to tell you all about it, so you know what to expect.

They eat dry ferret kibble exclusively which is always left topped us as they are not gluttonous, so no smelly wet food (although we do occasionally give them a raw egg or some raisins as a treat as these are approved foods in small quantities). A water bottle on the cage is used for drinking, like a bunny, and must be kept filled as this is how they regulate temperature. We usually clean the cage thoroughly once to twice a week, but could probably get away with cleaning twice during the time we're gone.

By way of a disclaimer: ferrets do have a distinctive smell. We are used to it, and personally I find it far less offensive than a strong dog smell, but you will find clothes have the smell on them when they've been cuddled. We'll give them a thorough bath the night before handing them over so this will be minimal, but it's only fair to say.

Re other pets, ferrets are natural predators, so would not be a good idea to have them near pet rabbits, guineas or rodents. Ferrets can get on with cats, but ours don't know any so they would likely be terrified to meet a moggy and "fear poo" which is not pleasant so wouldn't recommend this. Same with dogs and there's always risk that a ferret may be eaten...

If anyone thinks they might like to try their hand at this, please do send me a message. We would establish the cage in your garden (as ours is only accessible through the house, which isn't ideal), so please assess the suitability of this before responding. Naturally, we'd need to come and check it out too as there may be factors you wouldn't know to consider. We leave on the 27th April so would bring them round on the Friday night and collect in the afternoon or evening of the 14th May. If someone thinks they might be interested, we would arrange a few 'introductory sessions' over the next couple of weeks for us all to get to know each other and see whether the match would be appropriate.

Absolutely no obligation to go through with it if unsure, of course. Due to our circumstances, we're not offering official payment in terms of a daily rate or anything, but would consider a sum to recognise the fact that this is a great favour, particularly if ferret specific knowledge can be demonstrated as this would ease our concerns. A couple of bottles of wine would be the minimum display of gratitude in any case! For anyone who has children, we would be very willing to offer babysitting services or exam tutoring in return (we're not very mathsy or sciency, but between us can cover English, Drama, Spanish and general essay-writing technique) and as we are expecting our first child in October, this would be good practice! :)

If you think you might be interested, please PM me and we can initiate discussions. Please also feel free to ask questions and clarify anything I may have left out.

Thanks for reading, Dulwich!

[franki_k]

Hmm, that's definitely an idea. Thanks for the suggestion, ElmGrove! We would definitely consider this...

[TopTree]

Or perhaps someone calling-in daily for a few hours - Which may suit more people than staying full time.

[franki_k]

Also definitely an option. Thanks again!

[franki_k]

You're quite right, ElmGrove - we were the proud owners of a lovely slinky. Sadly, Mr Fox got her and I've never quite forgiven myself as that incident was completely my fault - I must have failed to slide the bolt across properly and she took herself for a midnight wander...

The other break out was down to a cage that wasn't secure, a situation we quickly rectified! We got them both back on that occasion, thanks to the kindness of neighbours and East Dulwich residents, and haven't had any problems since.

Actually, it was a lovely story both in itself and because it was a true demonstration of ED's community feel: Pepe turned up eating the dog food in a neighbour's garden and they responded to one of my missing Slinky posters from months before. We'd just about given our other little boy up for lost when the local police station rang to say they had found our ad on ED forum and were we missing a ferret? Turns out Bandit got himself arrested and was held in a recycle bin until a grateful Tom was able to pick him up from the terrified WPC... lol :)

[roxie99]

Hi Franki

Please see my PM

Best Wishes Roxie