What ferrets can teach us about life

I've long been enchanted by ferrets and found it highly amusing that something so adorably cute could 1. Smell so horrific and 2. have such a terrible reputation. In my 9 years of owning ferrets I have learned a few lessons from these tenacious, stinky little monsters. So without further ado, here's five lessons I have learned from ferrets that you can apply to your own life.

If at first you don't succeed, try, try, try, try, try, try, try....

Although they have a rather short attention span, ferrets are quite possibly the most tenacious animals I have ever had the joy of coming into contact with. They seem to have quite impressive problem solving skills too, I watch them scoot about when I let them play outside, staring up at the top of the fence and trying to find the best launchpad to catapult themselves over it. Ferrets never give up. Or they never give up until their short attention spans give out. If they are trying to escape, they will try one way several times until they have exhausted, then they will try another, then another then another.

Learn from the ferret. If you want something, keep trying. Don't let anything hold you back. You don't need to get there all at once, you don't need to get there the first time or the fiftieth, but if you want it you need to keep trying, and keep adjusting your approach. Attack your goals with the single minded obsession of a ferret trying to get on to the counter top where the chicken is.

You can never get too much sleep

Ferrets are very full on when they are awake. They come alive when you bring them out of their enclosure, but they sleep around 14 hours a day (you don't need to do that, 8-9 hours will suffice!) Ferrets sleep so deeply that you can actually sometimes pick them up and have them be completely limp. Many a terrified ferret owner has rushed their pet to the vet only to find the ferret wake up and start yawning when they get there. If a ferret is not ready to awake, s/he will not be awoken.

We all have goals, dreams and aspirations, but rest is so important. If we don't rest not only will we not get there but we might just go crazy in the process of trying to get there. Try your best to get good quality sleep. If you are not like a ferret and can't sleep twisted up like a pretzel when the hoover is on in the home, take steps to make sure you get your rest. Try and get your room as dark as possible, or wear a sleep mask. Wear ear plugs if sound bothers you. Try and go to bed at the same time every night and wake at the same time every morning...routine promotes better sleep. Make sure you go to bed early enough to get a decent amount of sleep for your wake time.

But when you are awake, live life like you mainlined an entire vat of coffee

It really is quite remarkable the amount of noise an animal that makes very little vocalisation can make. Bang, crash, wallop. These are the sounds of a ferret at play, destroying everything in his/her wake like a 700gram tornado. What they lack in size, they make up for in ability to live life to the absolute max. For a ferret this means causing as much trouble as humanly possible in the few hours they are awake in the day. No wonder they need to sleep so deeply, causing this much trouble really must take it out of you.

Don't forget, during all your goal setting, to have fun and enjoy your life. Find things you enjoy doing and do them, not just to accomplish goals but for the sheer love of it. Make time for the people that make you happy, the activities that make you happy. And if your way of enjoying yourself is more Netflix than bungee jumping, that's totally fine. Just do what you enjoy and enjoy what you do. Don't lose sight of your goals, but remember they are not the be all and end all of your life.

Fear nothing

There is a video on Youtube of a ferret playing with a lion cub. My giant labrador has barked angrily at my ferrets, to zero response or fear. The tiny least weasel in the wild takes down prey much bigger than itself. I think ferrets are minus the fear gene. Either that or they know better than to show it. Fur-defying leaps, climbing things they have no way to get down from, facing off against animals that could quite easily swallow them whole, the ferret is an impressively bold animal.

You know where this is going. Don't let your fear control you! Unless you are actually being chased down by an elephant or are in some other life threatening situation, our fears tend to be more about failure, being laughed at, or being rejected. Learn from the Mighty Mustelidae and chase those fears down, seek them out and laugh in their faces. If deep down you want to be a public speaker but the thought of standing up in front of all those people breaks you out in a cold sweat, take whatever steps you need to to bear that fear...be it slowly, or ferret style, head on.

Dance long, dance often, dance like no-one is watching

Did you know that ferrets dance? Weasels do it too. Ferret owners call it "the weasel war dance". I have heard the weasel war dance is meant to entrance a prey animal until they get close enough to strike. but I'm not convinced prey animals are quite that stupid. The weasel war dance is a hilarious and adorable sight to behold once you realise that your ferret hasn't hit his head and lost his marbles. When they dance they dance with abandon, rolling over themselves, leaping sideways, quite frequently hitting their little bodies off of walls, other ferrets or anything else which might be in their way. Their tails often puff up like bottle brushes and they "dook" (which is a noise ferrets make that sounds like a giggle).

🐝Bee yourself. Do everything you can to find out who you are and then hold true to it. Don't let others tell you that you're not good enough or that you're flawed. Clearly you're flawed by so are they. Of course, you can accept constructive criticism and you can always act to improve upon your flaws if you can change them or accept them if you can't change them, but most of us know the difference between those who are trying to help us and those you are just trying to hurt. Allow your freak flag to fly in the sky. Also, you could literally dance like no-one is watching if you really want to. Just don't take dancing lessons from the ferrets, you'll probably just end up injuring yourself and knocking the drinks table over. Don't be that guy.

Bonus ferretlife tip: Possession is 9/10 of the law (wait, ignore this one it might get you into trouble)

Ferrets like to steal stuff. Don't steal stuff.