Teaching ferret...

...to drink from a bottle - any tips?

My male ferret Pan used one as a baby (he's just under a year old now) but it's been a long time and he doesn't seem to remember how. The little girl ferret has no problems with it (she's younger than he is, and again, was using one as a baby) but he doesn't seem to understand what to do.

I tried showing him how it works and letting the water drip out, I tried wiping Ferretone on the end of the bottle so he'd lick it but he didn't seem to do it in a way that he was getting any water.

They have a bowl (which locks onto the side of the cage) that I'd normally prefer, but I am tearing out my hair trying to deal with the issues with that lately.

For the last...few months, I think, Pan has been splashing and throwing his water everywhere, which not only soaks everything nearby (including any food on the floor, and tell me wet ferret food isn't one of the grossest smells in the world?!) but I am worried about them being out of water for hours while I sleep or I'm away at school. I refill the bowl on my way out the door, and he's dumped it by the time I have my shoes on.

Yesterday when I was watching him, he was dunking his head in the full bowl in a way that was different from the splashing...almost like he was trying to get clean or cool off. But normally he's throwing it all out with his paws.

Any advice on getting him to use the bottle or stop throwing water everywhere? I'm going crazy and I can't stop stressing every time I have to leave them alone!

Good Luck!!!!! I have three that swim in the drinking water. They are ,two at 8 months and one at almost 5 years old. I've tried everything and just finally gave up. To add to that, my 8 month old boy flings food everywhere. Then it gets wet and thrown away. Oh well. All part of having ferrets. You either go crazy or just relax and enjoy your ferrets.

Snorkling is what ferrets do best. I would suggest putting the food and water on different levels. Maybe the open crock on a level theres no food and the water bottle where the food is at.

I have the water bottle & bowls so after they're done playing in the bowls they still have the water bottle . My Alfalfa is like your Pan . He didn't seem to know how to use the bottle . He still bites it & gnaws on it, but he does seem to get water out of it especially after he's done chewing it to death & calms down .

If your water dish stays still through all this mess, you can try getting a leaky water bottle. Put it right above the dish so it can drip into it. Then he can dig to his heart's content, but there will always be water available. This does nothing for the mess, but it'll mean he has water at least.

My solution was to use those smallish, corner litterboxes. I attach them to a corner of the cage and put a small plastic dish in them. Then when Pedro digs in the water, it all stays in the little litterbox. It takes care of most of the mess, and it means the water is still there, though it's not the cleanest. I try to clean out the boxes at least every other day, if not every day.

The only problem is when Pedro figures out how to detach the litterbox and dumps it!