This post will go more in-depth regarding ferret supplies! It will include supply ideas, where you can source supplies, DIY supplies, the cost of supplies, personal recommendations, and links. The linked supplies will be based in the UK.

All the links on this post are not affiliate links.
This may change, and if so, will be fully disclosed.

Enclosures/Cages

Ferrets need a lot of space. The more space you can offer, the better! Consider where your ferrets will live — maybe in their own room, sharing a living space with you, or being outside in the warmer months.

Indoor cages

Indoor cages offer your ferret a place of warmth and safety. Cages should be big enough to allow the ferrets to fully stretch out from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail. Double cages are very popular within the ferret community as they allow ample room for up to 4 ferrets. Here are a few suitable and popular cages:

Midwest/Critter Nation Cage

The Critter Nation Cage (or CNC) is a cage often raved about in the ferret community. Unfortunately, it can be hard to source within the UK and is more readily available in the US and other countries. Unfortunately, I have no personal experience with this cage. But from what I’ve seen and heard, it is great! The Critter Nation can be around $200-300 (that’s £160-240ish).

More information and where to get a Critter Nation Cage can be found at critternationcage.com

Pet Planet Cage

The Pet Planet Cage (or PPC) is known to be a decently suited cage among the ferret and rat community. The PPC retails for around £250, but there are always sales on, so 9/10 times you can snag the cage for around £150-200. The dimensions for the Pet Planet are W96 x D63 x H159 cm (including the stand), meaning there is plenty of room for your ferrets to sleep and do their ferret business.

Having personally owned the Pet Planet Cage for around a year, I will say it is a decently suited cage. I have put together a pros and cons list based on my experiences with the PPC:

Pros:

  • Good amount of space with additional levels.

  • Large bar spacing for visibility and airflow.

  • The cage is made from durable & Long lasting material.

  • Wide opening doors allow it to be easily accessible and cleanable.

  • Easy assembly.

Cons:

  • The levels can be considered rather small and the ladders Steep.

  • The lock mechanism is a sliding lock, meaning smart ferrets may learn to open it from the inside.

  • Opinion: It feels rather flimsy and cheap compared to other cages I’ve used. The levels and dividers feel almost thin, and the cage framing feels rather light.

You can read more about the Pet Planet Cage & Purchase one from petplanet.co.uk

Little Zoo Venturer Cage

I am biased towards the Little Zoo Venturer Cage (or LZV). I have owned at least one for many years and have used it to house ferrets and rats. However, the quality comes with an additional high price point. The LZV retails at £340.

So for the high price point, how does the LZV compare against its competitor cage brands?

Here are a few keynotes:

  • The LZV measures W93 x D68 x H158cm, so the Width and Depth are around the same as the PPC. However, the LZV does not come on a stand, so the Height of 158 cm is significantly taller.

  • The LZV levels (bottom base, middle base and platforms) are thick, deep, and sturdy.

  • The LZV has held up for many years with no rust or damage (from personal experiences).

  • The lock mechanisms are much more efficient and safe (there is less chance of escape).

These are just a few key points about how the LZV compares against other cages. It also has all the same pros as the Pet Planet Cage. The only controversial pro/con with the LZV is bar spacing. The bar spacing for the LZV is 2 mm and significantly smaller than the bar spacing of other similar cages. This could be considered a positive as it means there is less chance of injury and the ferrets getting their head stuck between the bars. But, it can also be seen as a negative as it means hanging hammocks, attachable food bowls etc — ones that are the appropriate size for ferrets — tricky.

You can read more about the Little Zoo Venturer Cage & Purchase one from mydegu.com

Free roam space

Ferrets need a suitable environment as well as a suitable cage. Ferrets should be allowed at least 4 hours of free roam time a day. This allows them to run, play and burn off energy. You will find that free roam time may vary from ferret to ferret or seasonally.

There are no specifics to the amount of free roam space to give your ferret. However, the more you can offer, the better. If you do not have any suitable space to offer free roam, you could look at different alternatives such as setting up a playpen/play area.

Ferrets can free roam where it is safe to do so. If you have a ferret room or are letting your ferret free roam around your house, you must take safety precautions. This is also known as ‘ferret proofing’. Imagine a ferret as a toddler with a knife. If they can find a way to escape or injure themselves — they will! Make sure the area is secure and safe before allowing ferrets to free roam.

Outdoor accommodation

Some people may opt to keep their ferrets outside or take their ferrets outside in the warmer months. Hutches (the ones often sold for rabbits or guinea pigs) are NOT suitable for ferrets to live outdoors. Hutches are made from wood, so will splinter easily if the ferrets decide to chew them. This could also result in the ferrets ingesting the wood. Alongside this, hutches are notorious for being very unstable, and many ferrets find ways to escape them, they frequently do not provide enough vertical space for your ferret to stretch out in and offer little-no climbing or exploring opportunities.

Instead of hutches, consider a ferret-adjusted outside aviary or a converted ferret-safe shed. These options allow much more room for the ferret and are much safer alternatives to a hutch.

Outdoor ferret enclosure example

Litter trays & Litter

Ferrets can easily be litter-trained! Ferrets like to poo in corners and don’t often poo in their sleeping areas — they are very clean poo-ers. This means inside their cage you can have 1/2 litter boxes and one for every corner in the free roam area. If you do not want to constantly handle changing litter boxes or litter. You can opt to place down absorbent puppy training pads instead.

Puppy training pads should not be used for destructive ferrets, in case they’re eaten or ingested.

Litter boxes

Litter boxes should be big enough for the ferrets to turn fully. Imagine your ferret standing in the litter box doing a 360° spin. If they can do that easily without falling or knocking the litter tray, then it is big enough. Cat litter trays are typically recommended as they are big. You can get specific corner cat litter boxes if you’d prefer. ‘Small pet corner litter boxes’ marketed towards rats, guinea pigs and rabbits are often too small.

Most litter boxes can be found in pet stores or online and range from £10-30. Here are 2 of my litter box favourites:

For a cheap alternative, you could also DIY a litter box! All you would need is a plastic bin/tub which you can cut a shallow entrance into. Make sure you sand the sharp edges down and then add your litter as required.

Here is a YouTube video on creating a DIY ferret litter box

Litter

You’ll want to avoid all types of crystallised cat litter, litter that clumps, dusty litter, and wood litter which turns into shavings after soiling. You will want paper-based litter as it is often less dusty, meaning it will not cause respiratory problems and is not fatal or harmful if accidentally ingested.

The price of paper litter depends on how much you get and where you get it from. It is usually around £6-30. Paper litter is readily available at supermarkets, pet shops or available online. Some supermarkets, such as Tesco’s, also do their own paper-based litter, which is £5 for 10L.

Some paper litter examples:

  • Bio Catolet Litter is around £6-16 but can vary from where you purchase it. You can read about Bio Catolet and find suitable stockists on biocatolet.co.uk

  • Back 2 Nature Litter is around £15-25 but can vary from where you purchase it from. You can read about Back 2 Nature and find suitable stockists on fibrecycle.co.uk

  • Breeder Celect Litter is around £9-25 but can vary from where you purchase it. You can read about Breeder Celect and find suitable stockists on breedercelectcats.co.uk

Beds & Bedding

Ferrets sleep for about 14–18 hours daily, so ample bedding and beds should be offered to keep them cosy. A go-to bedding option is blankets! Ferrets love wrapping themselves up or sleeping under blankets. You should also offer them a few different types of beds to lie around in, these could be flat beds, pillow beds, cosy cup beds, or hammocks. Even old clothes such as tee shirts or coats make a great ferret bed.

Many small businesses make hammocks and small animal beds on Etsy or Facebook. You can search for them or ask ferret groups for opinions. This way you’re supporting a small business and spoiling your ferrets. My favourite place to buy ferret hammocks is a small creator on Facebook called ‘Zoes Creature Comforts’. She has made all my hammocks for my pet rats and ferrets for a few years.

Additionally, if you sew yourself you can have a go at making your own ferret beds and bedding.

Toys & Enrichment

When they’re awake — ferrets are a huge bundle of chaos and energy! It is important to offer lots of toys and enrichment for your ferrets so they don’t get bored. You can rotate their enrichment so they always have different things readily available. Toys and enrichment can be bought, thrifted or DIYed, so no matter what your budget is — you can always provide your ferret with new things to play with and explore.

Boots & Toots Favourites

Our ferrets, B&T, are very energetic and chaotic. When they’re awake they want to explore and play with everything! Ferrets’ favourite toys can differ depending on the individual ferret and their style of play.

Toots likes to stash things, so my go-to options for her are small teddies and toys that she can pick up, run with, and stash. You can use small dog/ puppy toys, cat toys, baby toys and blankets, or you could go to your local charity shops and raid the teddy bins. Anything small that she can squash under her cage is a winner.

Boots is a troublemaker. He’s a younger more bouncy hob who loves to cause havoc. Boots prefers toys like crinkle tunnels to run through, cat wands to chase, and places to dig. Some of his favourites are baby stacking cups, cat crinkle tunnels, ball pit balls, his rice dig box, and plastic slinkies.

Shared favourites

As well as toys that you can use to play with your ferrets. You should also consider toys that they would like to play with together or enriching activities they can do on their own. Out of all of their toys, B&T love dust extraction tubes the most. These are long flexible tubes that the ferrets can run through, chase each other in and play with. It is a staple to any ferret room. I say dust extraction tubes specifically as they are much cheaper and come in many lengths and sizes compared to the long flexi tubes found at pet stores. Another favourite would be their cat exercise wheel. Cat wheels are great for helping ferrets maintain a healthy weight and burn off energy. They are also 100% ferret-friendly, as they are large enough for them to run in without worries of spine curvature.

Both our flexi tubes and our cat wheel are from eBay. They are a bit of an expensive purchase, but we highly recommend checking them out.

Linked below:

If you’d like to see our cat wheel in action or cute videos and pictures of Boots & Toots, make sure to follow them on Instagram. You can find the profile in my Linktree.

DIY Toys & Enrichment

Ferrets are fascinated by things great and small. If you find yourself on a tight budget, you could try DIYing some ferret toys instead of buying them! The most commonly made and cheap ferret toys are dig boxes. Dig boxes are great because they are inexpensive and offer your ferret the opportunity to dig (potentially saving your carpets). There are plenty of things you can put in dig boxes to offer a great variety of textures. Dig boxes can be plastic tubs filled with uncooked rice, macaroni, puzzle pieces, ping pong balls, scrunched-up paper, bubble wrap etc.

Some other things you could do are make sock toys, cardboard box forts, paper bags with holes in or use an array of cheap everyday objects, which can be used as ferret toys. Things like canvas bags, baby play mats, pop-up tents, etc.

Toys & Enrichment Videos.

Here are a few YouTube links to videos about ferret toys and enrichment.

‘Weird items to use with ferrets’. This video highlights everyday things, toys, and enrichment you can make or use for your ferrets.

‘Top 10 ferret toys’.

Food

Kibble can be sourced from most pet retailers or online. Raw food can be sourced from some pet shops, and retailers, but mostly online depending on what raw you’d like to go with. If you are modifying 80/10/10 or using premixed or pre-ground raw, this will be available in most pet shops which sell frozen pet supplies such as Jollyes, Scampers and Pets at Home. If you are mixing and chopping the raw yourself and need whole organs or chunks of meat, then you will need more specialised butchers or online sites. If feeding whole prey that you do not source yourself other than some commercial shops which may sell mice and chick’s you will have to also source it online.

Here are a few websites where you can source raw food. (Please note: Do not attempt to feed your ferrets raw before you have done the appropriate raw diet research).

  • Raw Pet Supplies is our personal go-to. They offer all categories, such as whole prey, pre-mixed grounds, pre-minced raw, whole organs, chunks, and treats.

  • Raw Dog Foods offers 80/10/10, minces, and raw-based treats.

  • The raw pet store provides a variety of everything.

Important: you will want to make sure when looking for raw (specifically if it is pre-mixed, 80/10/10 or pre-minced), that there are no hidden or added vegetables. Since raw feeding is mostly common among dogs (because they are one of the most common pets) a lot of pre-mixed raw contains vegetables suitable for dogs. Ferrets cannot eat and digest vegetables and need a 100% meat-based diet. I recommend Raw Pet Supplies as it will also let you shop by animal, meaning you can categorise ferrets and shop based on things suitable for them.

Visit the Holistic Ferret Forum for raw feeding advice and guidelines. The link to the website is in my Linktree.

On top of raw supplies, you will have to think about raw preparation supplies and kitchen essentials, especially if you are mincing your own meat and mixing it yourself. This would consist of scales, bone shears, a grinder, a food processor, etc.

Jack’s Top Kitchen Tools

My partner, the blog developer and fellow mustelid enthusiast, is in charge of ordering raw supplies and kitchen gadgets. He has spent a significant amount of time researching grinders and bone shears etc. And these are his top picks.

Want to make sure you have everything ready for your ferrets?
I have made a handy checklist of all the basic essentials!