What Toys Are Best for Ferrets?

Ferrets are very inquisitive animals and need plenty of toys to keep them entertained and occupied. If they don't have enough toys or toys that interest them, they'll get easily bored. By giving them plenty of fun toys you'll be providing them with endless fun and entertainment. Toys also are a great distraction from those things they shouldn't be getting into.

Ferrets are also known for finding their own toys. It's well known that a ferret can and will make a toy out of anything. If it's there, it's a toy. Take socks for example, many ferrets are very amused by socks and love to stash them anywhere they see fit.

One of the most important things about ferret toys, is safety. They have to be safe for ferrets. Ferrets are known for their love of rubber and latex. These are bad toys! Anything with rubber or latex should be avoided! Ferrets can and will chew pieces of rubber off the toy and in doing so they could ingest it and an obstruction could occur requiring a trip to the vet. Always avoid toys with small peices or parts and toys that could come apart. If a toy has become torn, broken or worn out; toss it.

Here are a few store bought toy ideas that many ferrets love:

Cat teasers
Jingly bells (can be found in cat toy area)
Toy mice of all kinds
Ferret Kongs
Tunnels and tubes
Any plush toys that a ferret can sink its teeth in to
Most other cat toys
Tennis balls or other plush balls
Any crinkly toys
Any rattling toys
Hard baby toys
Play tents
Cat scratching houses
Cat Krinkle sacks/bags

WARNING: Some pet toys may have small pieces on them that a ferret could ingest. Ingesting such pieces could cause fatal blockages. Inspect each toy before giving it to your ferret, and remove any small pieces that could pose a threat to your ferret!

Things around the house that ferrets like:

Plastic/paper bags (Only under very close supervision!!)
An old pair of pants for the ferrets to run through
Plastic bottles (empty)
Boxes/Soda Boxes

You could also make your own toys, here are some ideas:

The Dig Box: Many ferret owners already know this, but ferrets LOVE to dig. It's part of their natural instinct! Ferrets might dig at your carpet or door, or floor, or wherever, you could give them a dig box instead to put their digging skills to work somewhere that isn't going to harm your surfaces. You can make a dig box with any kind of container- plastic storage bins are best, but you could also use a large cardboard box. You take the container/box and fill it with ferret safe materials good for digging in. You can use NON-instant rice, shredded paper, pastic easter eggs, or STARCH packing peanuts. You could also try clean sand. Ferrets love to hop in their box and start snorkling and digging away. Ferrets love dig boxes! WARNING: If using rice or packing peanuts, it is important to make sure that the rice is non-instant, and that the packing peanuts are made of starch. Both Instant rice and Styrofoam peanuts can cause fatal blockages if ingested!

Jingly pillows: These are another easy to make ferret toy that many ferrets love. You can make these by sewing scraps of fabric together, into any size, adding stuffing and a few jingly bells inside. Don't have jingly bells? That's okay! Ferrets love them just as much without the bells inside.

Make your own tubes: Tubes can be made out of cardboard, old dryer tubing, PVC pipe, and even fabric!

Box castles: Ferrets love boxes. Even more fun is taking a bunch of boxes, attatching them together and making holes in them and adding tubes or ramps to them. You could even attatch dig boxes too.