Couches………..

by Aubrey Mason
(San Antonio, Texas, USA)

We have three Ferrets. They love to play, love to dig….

Most couches have an airspace between them and the floor. They also have material to prevent dust and debris accumulating in the couch. Ferrets love to displace or dig into the material, gaining access to the internals of the couch.

Our instance; we noticed them in the couch one day – thankfully before anyone sat on it!
We stapled up the material but that was only a stop-gap measure, they knew they could get into the couch and within a month dug through the material and again gained access…… Now the legs of the couch are off and the couch sits directly on the floor.

We’ve prevented some of their digging by buying a large flat plastic tub and filling it with paving sand. We have a sheet spread out on the floor and the tub sitting in the middle….. They love this!
Not everyone could do this, it takes a bit of room – but if you have the opportunity, do this. The Ferrets love their sandbox and it greatly reduces their digging tendencies.

 

Comments for Couches………..
Jan 24, 2009 couch potatoes!
by: Anonymous

We adopted a little rascal we call Beasley about a year ago when we moved into our new apartment! He also tore the material out from underneath our brand new couch and loveseat! Tore it to shreds! Not even enough left to staple it back up.

In desperation I went to a fabric store and bought outdoor furniture material and we stapled it around the entire bottom of the couches. He still tries to dig it up, but it’s so thick that he can’t get through! He has moved on to trying to rip out the staples. But with no success.

We got him a baby brother for Christmas, and he has taught little Quincy to do the same! But so far, we haven’t had any issue trying to get in the couch from the under side. Now they won’t stay off the top of the couch and once they get in through the 2 holes at the corners, they can’t get out!

We’ve had to take the material off the bottom in a corner to fish them out and re-staple!

I’m going to try the tub with something in to for them to dig! What a great idea. Can’t believe I didn’t think of it before!
Sep 13, 2007 digging ferrets
by: Anonymous

My ferret also loves to dig and I dont have a lot of room in my apartment. i was reading a ferret magazine and it had a good idea in it and it said it was safe to do. and that was to take a bucket and fill it half way with rice. i tried that and my ferret loves to dig in it. I had to put a smaller bucket in her cage so she isnt always trying to get out to go play in the rice and dig when i try to go to bed. Í also learned they love to find little treasures so i went to the pet store and got some nickel-sized gem stones for a fish tank and put that in the rice so she had a surprise when she dug. Whenever she found one you could hear her shout with joy and then she runs off with it and hides it for me to find. Before I go to bed, I collect the stones and put them back into the rice for the next day. Í learned they love to put things to surprise you in your shoe (as to give you a presentor gift).

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