Ferret owners! I need some help with basic questions

[luvmypets13]

i understand that ferrets are expensive but how much money did you spend on your first ferret? Just for the ferret ,cage,food, and Necessary Needs! I'm most likely going to buy a ferret and want to have a price range in mind
thank you for your help!




*Edited the subject line.  THis is not an emergency, so I removed ALL the caps, and gave a more specific subject line.  Please continue to follow this lead. Thanks.  Also, we do have a ferret forum, which I'm moving this post to.  Dearpie

[Popcorn]

I'm sure there's lot of ferrets out there who need rescuing, the same way there are always rats languishing in rescues.  You may be able to find your self a nice young ferret waiting to be re-homed or rescued, who comes complete with cage and all the necessary accessories for a very low cost.  The money you save could get put away so you have a little nest egg of cash on hand in case you need to pay for vet care.

I would never buy an animal from a pet store as long as shelters and rescues have unwanted animals available.

Call your local shelter, check Petfinder.com, join a ferret forum, etc.  I'm sure it won't be long before you find a wonderful friend for yourself.

[tattered_teddy_bear]

Ferrets do better in pairs and tend to have VERY costly vet bills as well as food and a large cage, they need quite a bit of time out of the cage, are mischievous and destructive.

You'd be good to find a breeder or adopt.  There are ferrets that need home on craigslist and that sort of thing, but look to the humane society and try and find a breeder in your area. plan on having a vet lined up for them that know about ferrets, and they might even be able to help you with finding a breeder or ferrets that need homes.

Generally a ferret at a pet store will cost you upwards of 100 bucks, each, and thats for a ferret with poor genetics and more then likely a few trips to the vet in the first few months and more then yearly their whole life.  then the cage which should be more then 150 as most are not very big for under that.  good food will cost you about $20 for a small bag, i would use 8 in 1, but evo innova is supposed to be good as well as a few other cat foods. Really alls you need to do it go to google, yahoo or your search engine of choice and type in "top ferret food" and your bound to get a boat load of sites on nutrition. this works the same as with cages and play suggestion.  There's quite a few post's where these basic things are posted, take some time and scroll through.

good luck!

[nakedrats]

Ditto what other people have said.  You can expect to pay $20-30/month on food.  Adult cat food is generally unacceptable and is a quick route to a seriously sick ferret.  Low/no grain cat food is good, as TTB suggested.  I feed mine Innova Evo Cat.  It's grain free and 50% protein, 20% fat.  Minimal requirements for ferret food is 30% protein, 20% fat.  Please do all your researching before getting ferrets.  They do need a lot of free roam time and will poop all over the floor and wipe their heinies.  I highly suggest getting ferrets from a shelter.  If you're near MD, Rocky's is awesome and we frequently have babies in from people that don't know what they're getting themselves into, as well as sweet cuddly adult ferrets that aren't as crazy or bitey as babies.

http://www.rockysferrets.com/ferret_tips/index.html
www.ferretvillage.org

The initial investment in the weasels, the bedding, the cage, the food, toys, tunnels, hammocks, litter..... is a drop in the bucket.  It's the out-of-the-blue $800 deposit to leave your ferret at the emergency vet overnight that you need to make sure you can afford.  Been there, done that!

For me, I have a Martins R695 ($119+shipping), about a dozen bedding pieces: sleep sacks, hammocks, cubes, floor covers (over $100), Evo Ancestral Cat ($7/3lb bag), Yesterdays News for the corner litterpans ($20 a bag, but lasts forever), Nature's Miracle for cleaning up ferret messes on the carpet ($17/bottle), Hairball Remover, Ferretvite and Ferretone supplements ($10 each), and an average yearly checkup and shots ($75).  Weasel kisses on your nose.....priceless.