So you’ve decided to get a ferret. I applaud your wise choice of pets, but now you need a ferret home for him or her to stay in. It’s rather easy to choose, if you know how. The three criteria you’re looking at are safety, budget, and comfort.

Most of the time the ferret home will be safe, but there are a few common oversights. The most common dangers in a ferret home are wire flooring and woodchips. Ferret feet are delicate and the pressure caused by the thin wire may hurt them. Find something hard to put over it that will distribute their weight better and you’re golden. The woodchips are renowned for causing respiratory problems in a variety of animals.

Budget is really up to you. I believe your ferret should be well cared for, but I don’t believe it should cost you an arm and a leg. This requires a bit of shopping around. If you’re a frequent internet shopper, that will make it substantially easier to compare prices. It will, however, remove your access to the expertise you’d get if you visited a store. Don’t feel compelled to buy some huge multilevel ferret home if you only have a single ferret, but at the same time he or she needs some space to roam around.

Comfort lies partly in size and space and partly in set up. As I’ve mentioned, ferrets need some space to run around when they’re awake and stuck in their ferret home, but if you set things up correctly, you can get away with less. You want to have at least an eating/sleeping area, a play area, and a litter area, all with some space between.

It may require a bit of time to find the proper ferret home to suit your needs, but if you’re doing things in the correct order, you should have that time before you bring your ferret home. If you’re pressed for time, you may have to sacrifice some aspect of your budget as internet shopping is no longer an option and you have less time to compare prices. Regardless, if you’re planning on needing a ferret home at any time, start looking early. Good luck.