Ferrets as pets.

Looking to getting a pet this year. My usual goto would be cats but ferrets might be more compatible with my work times and home life.

Anyone owned them? I'd be looking at a pair as they are social.

Yes. Awesome, amazing animals. They sleep most of the day but are very active in the mornings and evenings. Ours would happily walk five miles on a lead. They're incredibly clever / cunning 'problem' solvers. Despite extensive countermeasures, they will find a way into almost anything. They're terrible thieves. Post, remote controls, keys will occasionally disappear if left unattended. They're very affectionate, playful, and substantially more attached to their people than cats. You can train them a bit like dogs, though they get distracted more easily. They will fight with anything - if they have an achilles heel it's that they're too fearless.

In my experience, Polecat rather than albino varieties do better as particularly those bred from working animals. Best to get them when they're kits but we had several adult adoptees that were wonderful, they just need a bit more time to get to know you. Girls tend to be smaller and more ornery - we had one that used to bite anyone not in the family that tried to pick her up. Big males are easiest.

Highly recommended

But they do stink of piss

Seconded. Neighbours have a male and female pair, and they're lovely fun, but Jesus shit, they stink to high heaven. We've been in to look after them while the owners have been away, and we've both had to have a shower afterwards and wash our clothes. They do actually anoint themselves with their own piss as a marker, apparently.

Just get a cat. Much easier.

And who doesn't anoint themselves with their own piss?

Never had a problem with smell, not unless you really make them jump (in which case they can release a horrible smell, not unlike skunk just nowhere near as potent.)

They didn't pee anywhere they shouldn't save for a very occasional accident. At least as clean as the average house cat.

Go and meet some if you've not handled them before.

Cheers. Will try and find somewhere I can meet them.

Shouldn't be too hard living in Yorkshire...

Just have peak down the trousers of your next passer by, probably a few in there.

We had a pair of sisters when I was a lad. They lived in a hutch in the shed which had a gutter pipe tunnel to a large play pen outside and were handled pretty much daily.
They were spayed, as females don't do well if they don't mate, they stay in heat and die of anemia.
They didn't smell too bad, and my dad found a change of food early on which improved things.
From what I remember they were very tidy and only did toilet business in the outside cat litter tray.