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Ferret Enrichment: How To Make Your Ferret’s Life More Exciting

Lisa Selvaggio
by Lisa Selvaggio
Published:  October 25th, 2025

Ferrets have awesome personalities and a lot of energy to expend. If you don’t provide them with daily interaction, a fun-filled enclosure, and environmental enrichment inside and outside of their cage, they’ll feel bored and unhappy, and may even become destructive. Here are some tips to help you make your ferret’s life more exciting with enrichment strategies that are easy to implement.

Susan B Sheldon/Shutterstock

Set Up a Multi-Level Cage for Your Ferrets


One of the most important things you can do for your ferrets is give them a large enclosure with multiple levels so they have plenty of space to play, eat, and sleep while in their cage. Decorate their cage with accessories like hammocks, tunnels, and hideouts. Give them safe toys (i.e., those that can’t be chewed on, swallowed, or destroyed) to keep themselves entertained.


To keep things interesting, switch up the accessories and toys in the enclosure and rearrange them on a regular basis. This can provide variety and make your ferrets feel like there’s something new to see and experience even though they’re in the same cage. Of course, keep a close eye on all of the items and throw them away and replace them when they become worn or damaged.


Let Your Ferrets Play with Puzzle Toys and Snuffle Mats


Ferrets are curious and intelligent, so give them challenging and mentally stimulating toys. Puzzle toys that hide treats are a good choice because your ferrets will need to figure out how to solve the puzzle to get the food—and when they do, they’ll feel so satisfied.


Snuffle mats are also a good choice because, like puzzle toys, your ferrets can search for yummy treats and feel like they’ve hunted down prey. Also known as foraging mats, these pet products are typically made of fleece, so they’re soft and won’t hurt your ferret as they sniff around and work on finding food.


Give Your Ferrets Various Toys Outside of Their Cage


Give your ferrets a variety of really fun toys to play with while outside of their cage. Again, make sure they’re made of safe and durable materials.


What types of products can your ferret play with outside of their enclosure? There are many options, such as:


  • Cardboard boxes and cozy hideaways: Your ferrets can run and jump into and out of these, hide and play in them, and rest in them.
  • Small pet beds: Whether covered or with high sides, soft beds are great for ferrets to snuggle in when they want to relax for a bit or when they want to wrestle each other.
  • Cat and dog toys: Choose toys that are an appropriate size for your ferrets, such as balls, crinkly toys, and stuffed animals. You can even use a wand toy for interactive play. Be certain the toys are made of safe materials. Avoid rubber toys and other materials that can be chewed on and swallowed.
  • Tunnels: Ferrets love running through tunnels large and small and long and short, so you can set up cat tunnels and ferret tunnels like the Marshall Super Thru-Way.

Set Up Ball Pits and Swimming Pools for Your Ferrets


Ferrets enjoy digging and burrowing, so allowing them to exhibit those behaviors is another way to provide enrichment. Some pet parents set up sand, soil, or long grain rice (not instance rice!) pits, but these can get messy and you have to be absolutely sure the sand, soil, or rice is safe for ferrets. Another option, and one that’s much cleaner, is a ball pit (e.g., cardboard box or plastic bin) filled with plastic (not rubber!) balls.  


Your ferrets are sure to love jumping into a ball pit like the Marshall Pop-N-Play Ball Pit, which you can use with the Marshall Super Thru-Way tunnel mentioned above. Once in the ball pit, they’ll burrow and play. Just make sure the container is large enough for all of your ferrets to play together.  

Some ferrets don’t mind getting wet and will gladly play in shallow water. If that’s the case, you can get them a swimming pool that’s just the right size for them, like the Marshall 24” Ferret Swimming Pool.

Let Them Run and Play in a Ferret-Safe Room


Let your ferrets enjoy time outside of their enclosure every day, but be aware that they can get into trouble if they aren’t supervised and you haven’t ferret-proofed your home.


Prevent your ferrets from chewing on household items or wandering into areas of your house where they shouldn’t be. Give them a designated space in a secure room where they’ll be able to explore and play safely.


Once you have a specific area of your home set up for your ferrets, you can let them out of their cage without needing to worry as much. They can run around, and they can choose what they want to play with and what they want to do (e.g., run through tunnels, dive into a ball pit, chase toys, or solve a puzzle for treats).


Bottom line: Enrichment is necessary for a ferret’s happiness, and playtime is the perfect time for you to have fun with your ferret and bond with them. Just be sure it’s in an enclosed, secure space where they’ll always stay safe.


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Lisa Selvaggio
Lisa Selvaggio

Lisa Selvaggio is a freelance writer and editor, and our resident cats-pert, with certifications in pet nutrition and pet first aid. She enjoys producing content that helps people understand animals better so they can give their pets a safe and happy home.

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Digging comes naturally to puppies. It’s part curiosity, part instinct, and sometimes just a way to burn off energy. While a little dirt on their paws might be cute, constant digging can quickly turn your yard into a mess. The good news? With the right strategies, you can redirect your pup’s digging habit into healthier, yard-friendly behavior.Disclosure: PetGuide may receive a small affiliate commission from purchases made via links in this article but at no cost to you.

Doorbell Cam Catches Emotional Moment as Mailman Delivers Dog’s Ashes

When Krysten Klapatauskas opened her front door earlier this month, she wasn’t expecting to break down in tears. But there was her mail carrier, Malachi Knox, standing quietly on the porch with a box in his hands. A small box. The kind no pet owner ever wants to receive.Inside were the ashes of her dog, Stoli, a German shepherd who had been part of her life for a decade.Stoli died on the Fourth of July after a battle with cancer. She was ten years old. Her remains had been shipped back to Krysten’s home in Wausau, Wisconsin, and by some twist of fate, the person tasked with delivering them was the one person outside her family who had known Stoli best.Knox had been delivering mail in the neighborhood for years. He and Stoli had a daily ritual, one that both of them seemed to enjoy. “She’d bark at him, but it wasn’t serious,” Krysten said. “When she was out on the porch, she’d wait for him. She’d roll over for belly rubs. It was their thing.”So when Krysten saw him standing there with the box, it all hit at once. The grief she had been holding back, the finality of what she was receiving, and the unexpected comfort of a familiar face. She broke down and started to cry.The moment was captured by her doorbell camera. In the video, Knox doesn’t rush away. He steps closer, sits down beside her, and places a gentle hand on her shoulder. After a few seconds, she leans into him, and they sit together quietly on the steps. No one says much, there’s not much that needs to be said.“It meant everything to me that it was him,” Krysten said later. “He knew her. She wasn’t just a name on a label. And he didn’t treat it like just another delivery.”Knox later commented on the video, which Krysten shared online. “I know how it feels to lose a fluffy friend,” he wrote. “Please show compassion and kindness. It means the world.”That comment, and the video itself, struck a chord. People from all over started sharing it, sending messages of support, and sharing their own stories of pets they had lost and small moments of kindness that helped them through it.But what made this moment so touching wasn’t just that it was caught on camera. It felt so honest, there was no plan, no performance. It was just a man, doing his job, who understood what that small box meant to the person standing in front of him.Krysten didn’t post the video for attention. She shared it because, in her words, “we need more of this in the world.” More people who pause. More people who show up in quiet, simple ways.She still misses Stoli every day. “It’s a strange kind of silence,” she said. “You go to open the door and you expect her to be there.”But she’s grateful for that final moment and the way it unfolded. And for the person who brought Stoli home one last time.This video is a reminder that kindness doesn’t need to be loud or dramatic to be powerful. Sometimes it’s just sitting down next to someone when they need it most.Join the PetGuide community. Get the latest pet news and product recommendations by subscribing to our newsletter here.

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