1) Go around your house (without any ferrets) and look around the edges - go around the walls/boundaries of the place they'll be in. (I let mine free-roam so this is the whole house for me - adjust as needed if you're just opening up a room to them!). Ferrets tend to scope out the boundaries of a new place they're in - they'll stick to the walls, so you stick to the walls!

Is there a weird hole in the wall? Can you plug it up with a sock or patch it somehow? Any wires they can get into? Get down on the floor and see from their level - are their holes in the cabinets (kitchen or bathroom) that they can crawl up under? Can your air vents be pulled off easily? Can they fit behind your washer/dryer? Or under/around your oven? Are there low-hanging curtains they'll want to climb? Can they get under your couch? Dressers? China/display cabinets? Entertainment center? Fireplace? Into the garbage? Behind the fridge? Under the dishwasher?

Block off or fix anything you can! Most people block off the whole kitchen, but sometimes this isn’t doable based on your house floor-plan.

2) Assuming your ferret is new to your home, introduce slowly. Start with their "safe" room. Watch them like a hawk, make note of whatever they get into and... if you can't figure out how to ferret-proof it, ask us!

3) If you want to open up your whole house to them, do so once they're familiar with their "safe" room. Work them through the rooms - from their safe room, open it up to the hallway. Then the bathroom. Then another room. Etc until they are comfortable (and know where to go potty). Usually just a few days in the new room and proving they know where to go potty when they're in the new room is a good sign you can move forward and open up another room to them.

4) If you have more than one ferret, I think it's best to do one at a time. Usually your best-mannered ferret first...... since they won't find EVERYTHING to ferret-proof. (That being said - my good boy found a vent hole that was missing a cover in my in-laws new house. He's deaf so I PANICKED cause I couldn’t call him out. I coaxed him out by wafting salmon oil in there until he smelled it and came out. SO scary..) Fix/adjust what you need to. Did they poo in a corner? Honestly that's probably fine for the first time, they're exploring and don't know any of this stuff. Also maybe you might need to put a litter box there... (ferrets don't like running all the way across the house for a litter box. If that corner looks nice, they're gonna use it)

5) Work your way up using your goodest ferret to your naughtiest ferret. Once each of them has had a good look around your house (or whatever area), you should have a good idea of what you need to work on… Ferret-proof as needed.

6) Supervised play time! Let all of them roam! KEEP AN EYE ON ALL OF THEM! If this seems too daunting, keep letting each one explore one at a time til you're fairly confident there's nothing else for them to get into. Make sure none of them get out of your sight (or if you can listen for them and know where they are). Repeat this a few times til you’re confident.

7) Honestly that’s it! They will always learn new things… some might figure out how to climb up something, or maybe you vacuum and don’t notice that you moved the coffee table so close to the couch, and now your ferrets can jump up onto the TV, or maybe they realize OMG CABINETS OPEN and figure out how to open the bathroom sink cabinet with all the cleaning supplies... whatever it is, make sure you always have an eye on them (or at least a very attentive ear!)

NOTE: ALWAYS BE CONSCIOUS OF WHEN YOU CLOSE A DOOR AND WHERE YOU STEP.

My floorplan has an open kitchen, and my boys like to hop into the fridge… that could go bad in SO many ways.

They also like to check out the garage door when I go in there… and that door is HEAVY.

A lot of people have learned to do the “ferret shuffle”, never really picking up their feet when they walk, so they don’t accidentally step on an eager fuzzy.