Ferrets were domesticated over a millennia of years. Ferrets do not live in the wild. So imagine just how surprised TikTok Cody Rinehart was when he found a stray ferret rummaging through the woods.
Rinehart was enjoying a little hike in the near by woods when he spotted something that he thought was an opossum. Opossums are very common in North America and are important little critters for the ecosystem. Though it's not advised to approach a wild opossum, these creatures have had many instances of being friendly. Since they cannot get rabies and their main defense mechanism is to play dead, many people have befriended these creatures in the wild. Though, again, we do not advise that, this isn't what happened to Rinehart when he approached the alleged opossum.
As he got closer with his hopes of making a new woodland friend in passing, he quickly realized that this was no opossum. It was a ferret! The little guy must have been dumped or escape from someone's home or a pet store, either way, this little guy would've not made it if left in the wild. So Rinehart slowly approached the ferret and he immediately trotted his way to him. The ferret was extremely friendly and allowed Rinehart to pick him up and take him home.
“Well, this was an unexpected friend I made today…"
The ferret, who Rinehart named Noodle, ate like he hadn't eaten in days and drank a ton of water. Then he was extremely tired and snoozed for a while. The next day the little guy was already filled with much more energy and ready to play. So Rinehart and his partner went to the pet store, got him an enclosure, bedding, toys, etc. and set up a vet appointment for the following day.
Meet Noodle
First Vet Appt.
At the vet, they said he was in tiptop shape, other than the dozens of ticks they had to pull off of him. Now that he is tick free, Noodle is living his best life! Viewers fell so in love with Noodle's story, that they suggest Rinehart make an Amazon wish list for the little guy so they could send him toys and treat—so he did just that. Now he gets pour in the lavishly ferret life—an epic upgrade from lost, afraid, and alone in the woods to the most spoiled viral ferret.
From Surviving to Thriving
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