The first thing the boy, Billy, and his mother did when the brought the ferret home was to set up his cage. It was a medium sized cage. It had a litter box on the bottom floor. The second floor had his food dish and water bottle. The third floor was Bandit’s bedroom. It had a hammock in it.
All that Billy wanted to do was play with the ferret. He had made a long tunnel. Bandit ran in it until he got tired. Then Billy cuddled Bandit and brushed the ferret’s fur.
Soon Billy’s father came home. “Look!” cried Billy. “We got a ferret!” The man picked up the little animal, which was asleep. “What a nice- what did you call it?” “It’s a ferret.” Said Billy, “Haven’t you ever seen one before?” Billy’s father said that, no, he had never seen a ferret. “I’ve seen weasels though,” he said “and this looks an awful lot like a weasel.”
| Billy gave his new ferret a bath. |
After supper Billy gave his ferret a bath. He brushed its long body some more, and tossed balls for it to play with until bedtime. He wanted to sleep with Bandit, but his parents would not let him.
The ferret, who had eventually been named “Squiggly”, soon became a member of the family. Every morning Billy would clean the litter box, scrub the food dish and water bottle, and give fresh food and water. Every afternoon after school, Billy would play with Squiggly until supper. After supper Billy had to do homework, at which time Squiggly would lie on Billy’s lap and fall asleep.
Billy taught Squiggly to do tricks and it wasn’t long until the ferret would come when it was called, jump on command, and do several other tricks.
Squiggly was as smart and friendly as a dog or cat would be. He never bit or scratched anyone. When Billy had friends come to visit, they could just pick Squiggly up with out fear. Squiggly used the litter box ever time, and rarely chewed things, so he was aloud to wander around several rooms of Billy’s house.
Frequent baths and brushing and nail clippings kept Squiggly looking and smelling good.
But slowly Billy lost interest in Squiggly. He rarely cleaned the food dish or water bottle. He wouldn’t clean the litter box until it smelled really bad.
Worst of all Squiggly often would spend all day cooped up in his dirty cage. He would get hungry and thirsty unless Billy’s mother had pity of the ferret and gave it what it needed.
One-day Billy’s parents confronted him on this subject. They said that if Billy didn’t start taking better care of Squiggly they would have to sell him (The ferret, not Billy.)
Billy still wanted to keep the ferret so he began to take better care of Squiggly. Then, one day, Billy had gone to the pet store to get some food for his ferret he saw a sign that said “Free Beagle Puppy!” there was an adorable picture of the puppy.
Billy showed the picture to his mother and they began buying things for the puppy right away. After they left the pet store, Billy’s mother called the number that was on the add. The typed the address into their GPS and drove of to get the puppy.
Billy took great care of his dog. He gave it food and water, walked it, played with it, brushed it, and bathed it.
Meanwhile none of these things were happening the Squiggly. A week after they brought the beagle puppy home, Billy’s parents said that they were going to sell Squiggly. Billy said, “Oh well, I like my dog better anyway.”
His parents posted an advertisement online. It read: “Ferret for sale. Comes with cage, supplies, food, and toys. Very friendly. Loves people. Rehoming fee of $200.
It wasn’t long before the add had an answer. A young man came to pick up the ferret. “He’s the sweetest ferret I’ve ever seen! Is he loud?” asked the young man, whose name was Pete. “Not too loud.” Said Billy’s mother.
Pete picked up the ferret. “He’s so nice! Why are you getting rid of him?” “Billy stopped taking good care of him.” “I’ll always take good care of him!” promised Pete.
He got out a carrier and put the ferret in it. Squiggly looked out, very frightened. Then the carrier was lifted into a car. Squiggly hated car rides.
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