Ferrets are hilarious -- I've caught myself watching them for hours at the pet store.

One concern I have about pets is my traveling. How do they handle being alone? And do you have to buy them in pairs? I think I remember reading something that having just one was a bad idea.

As long as you have someone come in to check on them and you have them in a ferret proof environment, being gone doesn't really do them any harm. I think they like having the company of another ferret but that only works if they grow up together. They will sometimes fight if you introduce them as adults. Before these two I had a solitary male for 9 years and he did just fine. Even my two now will often sleep apart during the day. In nature they are solitary animals and territorial with the male's territory overlapping that of several females and only seeking "company" during breeding season.

I wouldn't leave my ferrets alone for more than two days. As I've had my parents take care of them when I vacation, this hasn't been a problem for me. However, it might be a problem for you if you don't have anyone that could watch them.

I keep my ferrets in a cage when they are sleeping and chillin, but they really should be let out at least once a day, usually twice. Also, their water bottle lasts about two days and should be kept fresh.

One ferret all alone might get lonely. Yes, it could play with a human or another pet, but it's not the same. You can't have a business of ferrets with just one ferret. And you would also miss out on the ferret conga line when they follow each other all over the house.
:)

My ferrets aren't caged although they are confined to two rooms (bedroom and bath) when we are gone. That is to prevent them from finding fiendish ways to torture the orchids that I also grow in the house. At night, they are restricted to the bathroom where they have a set of drawers that they sleep in and where their main litter box and food and water are kept. They are only restricted to the bathroom when my husband is home. For some reason he doesn't trust the female not to bite him when he's sleeping :) . It just makes him jumpy I think although she never has done him any injury. She will come up on the bed though and stick her whiskers in your face or slither around down by your toes and wake you up.

Fuzzies on the rampage!

Intruder alert!

When will they stop!!?

more pics! they are crazy cute.

Here they are recharging their batteries

Sleep!

Hey, that little one needs her toenails clipped! Yours are pretty small - how old are they?

Get that camera out of my face!

This is Boris, the deaf boy

And Boris again - he's a big boy. At one point he was 4lbs but he lost a bit of mass after he was neutered.

And this is sweet Natasha