Ruby

Ruby joined our family on 6.10.04. Her owner, Catherine, was moving to Australia with her partner and found out that it was not possible to import ferrets into Australia. She was really upset at the prospect of leaving Ruby behind and wanted to make sure that Ruby went to a very good home. Catherine was writing to me for a while and I could identify with her wish that Ruby would at least have a good home if Catherine couldn't keep her. So I said if she didn't find a home I'd be happy to take her. I sent Catherine pictures of our home and ferret set-up and she was happy with it. So on the 6th of October, Catherine, her partner, and her mother, all came from Liverpool to bring Ruby. I was impressed and happy that Catherine was prepared to travel the distance (a 6 hour drive, mostly via small A roads, not straight roads or motorways, through Wales) to bring Ruby. Catherine liked our rural area and was very happy with our ferrets and the set-up. And Ruby is such a sweet ferret! She weighs only 520g! When we let her run around, she was happy to explore and ran around and up and down the stairs. Catherine stayed for quite a while which was good, I would have been disappointed if she had only stayed for a few minutes just to drop Ruby off. So that, for me, was another sign that it was very hard for Catherine to leave Ruby behind and that she wanted to spend as much time with her as possible and watch her for a while to see how she got on. I think Catherine was quite upset when she left, I don't envy her as I could never part with the ferrets and know what pain she must have felt. Catherine and I will stay in touch and I will send her updates of Ruby and pictures of her.

Ruby is still on her own, I hope to get her into Spike's group eventually. I tried her with Leo and Piper but they were not very nice to Ruby. I think I have to get Leo and Piper neutered first, they're almost 6 months old now and I want to wait as long as possible before getting them neutered. Leo is showing his testes a little but not enough to castrate. Ideally I get kits neutered in January though Leo may be done in December. But anyway, they're not in season but their hormones must be there because they're really unfriendly towards other ferrets that don't belong to their group... So Ruby is still on her own but out with Dana (who is in Spike's group with Leo and Piper) a little and she's also playing with Tyler! One night I let Tyler upstairs while Ruby was out to see how she'd react. She wasn't scared at all. So now when Ruby is out, the lounge door is open so Ruby comes into the lounge and Tyler can also play upstairs and Ruby teases Tyler. ;-) Tyler "plays" with ferrets by sitting on them and biting their tails but Ruby knows that and doesn't turn her back on Tyler. ;-) But she goes up to him and nudges or nips him (which he doesn't feel through all the fur) and Ruby runs around him and Tyler tries to chase her but Ruby is too fast. Rose teases Tyler like that, too. ;-) Ruby is also cheeky to the cats and teases them. She runs around like she rules the house. ;-)

Tyler and Ruby

Ruby has really settled in well. She follows me around and plays with me and cuddles with me. She loves the set-up here and plays with toys and crinkly bags and is really happy. :-)

And Ruby loves raw meat. When she arrived, I tried hand feeding her some raw mince (ground meat) but she wasn't very interested. Then I put some on newspaper for her and she ate by herself. Since then she's been demanding her mince morning and night. ;-) A few times I didn't have mince for her, I either ran out or gave her chunks of chicken instead. She didn't want the chicken chunks and the last week or so she didn't eat anything if she didn't have mince. I think 2 nights I didn't have mince for her and she didn't even eat her dry food. Toilet was clean the next morning... But- if I give her raw mince she will then also eat dry food. Strange little girl. ;-) And she loves her mince, some days she eats as much as the other jills who are twice her size. ;-) 

Update September 2007

I couldn't get Ruby into any of the groups, she was frightened of other ferrets and would scream at them and as a result Leo and Piper were horrible to her.  I also didn't want her to be on her own so I decided to get a kit for her, I thought she can't be frightened of a kit.So on 29th of June 2005 I went to see a litter and we ended up bringing 2 kits home, Jake and Phoebe. Ruby was still scared of them and screamed at them.  But she soon lost her fear and started to play with them and was happy to be with them.  :-)

Ruby and Jake

Ruby and Phoebe playing

In March this year (2007) I put Kobi into Ruby's, Jake's and Phoebe's group after Jade, Kobi's friend, had died. He wasn't too bad with Ruby so I was hoping it would work out.  But then he got worse and worse until I had to take Ruby out of the group. All this coincided with me taking in ferret Honey on 25th of March and having to take Spike out of his group (he was living with Leo and Piper) so I first put Spike and Honey together and they got on extremely well and then when Kobi got worse with Ruby (early May), I just put Ruby with Honey and Spike and they turned out to be a very lovely group. Honey adores Ruby and they get on so extremely well. So it all worked out for the best for all the ferrets involved. Kobi is with Jake and Phoebe and they are a very close group and now Ruby lives with Honey as Spike died on 1st of June and the 2 girls are like made for one another.  It is so strange how ferrets just get on so well sometimes and others can't stand one another...