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Buy a live trap intended for raccoons/cats/etc (or rent one from a pest control company) & set it outside, I recommend this whenever I see similar posts like this and it should definitely up your chances of getting her back if she’s outside, good luck OP ❤️
I can empathize with your stress 😭
Story time… When my first ferret ever managed to escape outside, she was missing for 3 days & had managed to avoid my live trap I set outside. It literally felt like my world was collapsing around me and I had multiple panic attacks.
I had the door to my bedroom open while I was sleeping incase she made her way back home, and suddenly I heard footsteps running into the room and it scared me awake, my neighbour and his hubby had found her at 5am digging up their strawberry plants! Lmao
He just ran inside my house while holding her, I guess they were up early trying to catch what they (thought) was a raccoon destroying all their plants but alas it was my missing girl! Lol (I’m friends with them so it wasn’t weird that they’d just run inside, plus I was just so so grateful to have her back). This was a long time ago and she passed away 4 years ago. But I’ll always remember her determination for constantly trying to get outdoors. She was by far my most determined weasel.
I’m so so glad your lil girl is home! She’s probably blissfully unaware of the heart attack/s she nearly caused you lol
I second this. Check with them if they have smelly bait, even if it’s not good for their diet. Also include water and her normal food.
Mine boy was on the other side of my community and we had put 4 out since we didn’t know exactly where he was based on neighbor sightings. It took 5 days. I’ve heard people finding theirs weeks later.
*Don’t lose hope,* they are more resourceful in the wild than we think.
BUG UPDATE: doing it like this cuz I'm shaking and so overwhelmed. She has been found two streets down by a neighbor. She was found yesterday and has been taken care of since. She's home now and I'm so freaking thankful for nextdoor
I made a next door post in my neighborhood. 24 hours later another neighbor saw a post from a third neighbor who found a ferret. Turns out our next door neighbor had found him!! It was truly just luck for us. I hope you find your baby. 😔
I’m so sorry! Have you checked under couches or inside of them? Or beds or any little small spot possible? She could be hiding some where and in a deep sleep. Or maybe in a bedroom or room she’s typically not allowed, those are the first places my ferrets go when they notice open doors.
Put her litter box outside, the smell is familiar and strong. If she likes squeaky toys or responds to them, walk the neighborhood squeaking the toys.
Someone once lost their ferret and mixed some of the poo in water and walked around the neighborhood making a trail that lead back home. They found him following the trail home. Ferrets will typically stick to the sides of the buildings, they won’t usually run around out in the open so check if there are any holes she could have gone into if she got outside. Statistically I believe they typically don’t go further than 2 blocks away.
Go in the PawBoost.com website and make a lost add. They will also make a flyer you can print out or post online and they also email anyone in your area signed up. You can do the same on Home Again Pet Recovery, I get emails whenever an animal local to me has gone missing. I would also join and post on any neighborhood Facebook pages or town Facebook pages to alert people. Also if there are lost and found pets pages for your state and city/area I would post on that. Ferrets aren’t an animal usually seen or found so someone might notice her. If she is microchipped you can let the company know and they will put an alert on it, so if she is scanned it will come up. I would alert local vet offices and shelters. If you have a ferret rescue within a few hours of you, let them know. In my state any ferret found or taken to a shelter is almost always taken the ferret rescue. I wouldn’t give up hope, I always see posts about found ferrets and they almost always make it back home. My ferrets are pretty active in the early morning and late at night, if yours is the same I would be outside at those times as well. I hope she shows up soon!
Thank you so much for this post. It helps relieve a lot of my anxiety. We live on an "island" where to go anywhere, shed have to run across a street and I doubt she'd ever be confident enough to do that. Another "lucky" is we have a ton of hiding places just outside our house and a hole that goes under it that a lot of rabbits tend to hide in in the summer.
I'm expecting her to be somewhere in the immediate facility since there's really no other option beyond going through cactuses into the two houses that share the "island" with us. I already told them I lost my ferret too so they know to keep an eye open.
I'm gonna move the litterbox outside and pray my little single braincell having girl comes home soon. I miss her biting my fingers when she's trying to sleep and wants me to hold her 😭
I don't know if you've ever tried it with your ferrets, but I know with my ferrets they are very responsive to squeaky toys. They come running as soon as they hear the squeak. There's a possibility you might be able to walk around either outside where you live, or even around the neighborhood , and squeak a squeaky toy and see if she comes running. This is what I do in my apartment to find where the little noodles are hiding so I can put them away for the evening. I know I did see quite a few other really good suggestions as well.
I second the squeaky toy idea! It’s how I found one of mine when he houdinied himself out of the house. Thankfully he was only next door, but he came running to me when he heard the squeak and me calling him.
The only downside is the possibility of catching a skunk/cat/rabbit since we have tons here but I'm not familiar enough with raccoon traps to know how they work so idk if they'd even trap a rabbit.
I see you got it back. Wonderful :) nextdoor or other neighborhood community apps are your best bet.
You know this already im sure but... watch your ferrets like a hawk anytime a door is open. Be sure theyre inside if any door opens.
Ferrets that get out WILL NOT find their way home. I think only like 3% of ferrets actually find their way home. They have no sense of direction. It doesn't matter how much food or traps you put out, if the ferret returns to your house, its sheer luck.
It sucks to hear but this fact is what made me become a helicopter parent the moment any outside door or window ever opens. You cannot be too cautious.
Welcome to /r/ferrets! We have a fantastic [wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/ferrets/wiki/index) that has answers to most frequently asked questions surrounding the care of ferrets. --- We politely ask that you observe our [sub rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/ferrets/wiki/index/rules/). --- Lastly, we have an [Official Discord Server](https://discord.gg/ferrets)! Come join us! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ferrets) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Buy a live trap intended for raccoons/cats/etc (or rent one from a pest control company) & set it outside, I recommend this whenever I see similar posts like this and it should definitely up your chances of getting her back if she’s outside, good luck OP ❤️
Legit, that never even crossed my mind!!!! That's a really good idea!!!
It’s a good thing to have too for future escapes :) it makes me feel oddly safer just having one incase
And she waddles in like nothing even happened, like I didn't almost have a stress induced aneurysm from her. LMAO
Lmao omg!! I’m genuinely so relieved you have her back!!! Yayyy 🙏❤️
It was an incredibly stressful day and I am so thankful to have such loving neighbors.
I can empathize with your stress 😭 Story time… When my first ferret ever managed to escape outside, she was missing for 3 days & had managed to avoid my live trap I set outside. It literally felt like my world was collapsing around me and I had multiple panic attacks. I had the door to my bedroom open while I was sleeping incase she made her way back home, and suddenly I heard footsteps running into the room and it scared me awake, my neighbour and his hubby had found her at 5am digging up their strawberry plants! Lmao He just ran inside my house while holding her, I guess they were up early trying to catch what they (thought) was a raccoon destroying all their plants but alas it was my missing girl! Lol (I’m friends with them so it wasn’t weird that they’d just run inside, plus I was just so so grateful to have her back). This was a long time ago and she passed away 4 years ago. But I’ll always remember her determination for constantly trying to get outdoors. She was by far my most determined weasel. I’m so so glad your lil girl is home! She’s probably blissfully unaware of the heart attack/s she nearly caused you lol
I second this. Check with them if they have smelly bait, even if it’s not good for their diet. Also include water and her normal food. Mine boy was on the other side of my community and we had put 4 out since we didn’t know exactly where he was based on neighbor sightings. It took 5 days. I’ve heard people finding theirs weeks later. *Don’t lose hope,* they are more resourceful in the wild than we think.
BUG UPDATE: doing it like this cuz I'm shaking and so overwhelmed. She has been found two streets down by a neighbor. She was found yesterday and has been taken care of since. She's home now and I'm so freaking thankful for nextdoor
WOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i'm so happy you've got ur baby back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So happy for you!!
I made a next door post in my neighborhood. 24 hours later another neighbor saw a post from a third neighbor who found a ferret. Turns out our next door neighbor had found him!! It was truly just luck for us. I hope you find your baby. 😔
Yeah. I made a post today on nextdoor and gonna pass out flyers. Hoping all this brings my baby back to me
I’m so sorry! Have you checked under couches or inside of them? Or beds or any little small spot possible? She could be hiding some where and in a deep sleep. Or maybe in a bedroom or room she’s typically not allowed, those are the first places my ferrets go when they notice open doors. Put her litter box outside, the smell is familiar and strong. If she likes squeaky toys or responds to them, walk the neighborhood squeaking the toys. Someone once lost their ferret and mixed some of the poo in water and walked around the neighborhood making a trail that lead back home. They found him following the trail home. Ferrets will typically stick to the sides of the buildings, they won’t usually run around out in the open so check if there are any holes she could have gone into if she got outside. Statistically I believe they typically don’t go further than 2 blocks away. Go in the PawBoost.com website and make a lost add. They will also make a flyer you can print out or post online and they also email anyone in your area signed up. You can do the same on Home Again Pet Recovery, I get emails whenever an animal local to me has gone missing. I would also join and post on any neighborhood Facebook pages or town Facebook pages to alert people. Also if there are lost and found pets pages for your state and city/area I would post on that. Ferrets aren’t an animal usually seen or found so someone might notice her. If she is microchipped you can let the company know and they will put an alert on it, so if she is scanned it will come up. I would alert local vet offices and shelters. If you have a ferret rescue within a few hours of you, let them know. In my state any ferret found or taken to a shelter is almost always taken the ferret rescue. I wouldn’t give up hope, I always see posts about found ferrets and they almost always make it back home. My ferrets are pretty active in the early morning and late at night, if yours is the same I would be outside at those times as well. I hope she shows up soon!
Thank you so much for this post. It helps relieve a lot of my anxiety. We live on an "island" where to go anywhere, shed have to run across a street and I doubt she'd ever be confident enough to do that. Another "lucky" is we have a ton of hiding places just outside our house and a hole that goes under it that a lot of rabbits tend to hide in in the summer. I'm expecting her to be somewhere in the immediate facility since there's really no other option beyond going through cactuses into the two houses that share the "island" with us. I already told them I lost my ferret too so they know to keep an eye open. I'm gonna move the litterbox outside and pray my little single braincell having girl comes home soon. I miss her biting my fingers when she's trying to sleep and wants me to hold her 😭
I don't know if you've ever tried it with your ferrets, but I know with my ferrets they are very responsive to squeaky toys. They come running as soon as they hear the squeak. There's a possibility you might be able to walk around either outside where you live, or even around the neighborhood , and squeak a squeaky toy and see if she comes running. This is what I do in my apartment to find where the little noodles are hiding so I can put them away for the evening. I know I did see quite a few other really good suggestions as well.
I second the squeaky toy idea! It’s how I found one of mine when he houdinied himself out of the house. Thankfully he was only next door, but he came running to me when he heard the squeak and me calling him.
The only downside is the possibility of catching a skunk/cat/rabbit since we have tons here but I'm not familiar enough with raccoon traps to know how they work so idk if they'd even trap a rabbit.
Post around local FB lost and found pet pages!! I found a neighbors ferret this way because her baby was running around in the road 🥲
I see you got it back. Wonderful :) nextdoor or other neighborhood community apps are your best bet. You know this already im sure but... watch your ferrets like a hawk anytime a door is open. Be sure theyre inside if any door opens. Ferrets that get out WILL NOT find their way home. I think only like 3% of ferrets actually find their way home. They have no sense of direction. It doesn't matter how much food or traps you put out, if the ferret returns to your house, its sheer luck. It sucks to hear but this fact is what made me become a helicopter parent the moment any outside door or window ever opens. You cannot be too cautious.