Good Morning all!  Hope you're having a great day with your fuzzies.
 
Jasper and Willie, our little sable boys, now 14 weeks old, are doing
great.  Complete little terrors, they are!  Jasper is the slightly smaller
one, and tends to be the more energetic and fiesty of the two.  We're still
wondering which is going to emerge as the Alpha male.  We keep watching the
wrestling matches looking for a clear winner... there just isn't one. ;)
(The big laundry basket with the biodegradable packing peanuts from the
ferret store, and the ferret ball and attached tunnel -- along with the
whap whap whap noises of wagging tails -- makes these wrestling matches
more fun than TV!)
 
It's fun to watch their personalities emerge.  Jasper is the "nip and run"
guy and Willie's a little suck-up!  Last night as I was emerging from a
nice, relaxing, bubble bath, they of course had to come lick my toes and
dance with the towel.  Jasper quickly moved from lick to nip, and then
BITE!  So, while he and I were going through the "no bite" litany, Willie
ran to the bathroom litter box (which Jasper still rebels against -- tho,
he uses the one in their cage pretty reliably), backs in and squats.  Now,
if he did anything, it was very minimal.  But, he looked expectantly at me
for the "good boy, Willie" that he knew was coming, and was VERY proud of
himself.  <grin>
 
After this interlude, my husband and I proceeded to (over)analyze the
nipping incident.  To begin with, my husband feels that Jasper doesn't bite
him as hard, AND Jasper's tenacity in biting me seems to increase after
I've gotten out of the tub, so we came up with a theory: 1st, when I take
a tub and they're in the bathroom, they've generally been out and playing,
non-stop, for an hour or so and are getting hungry again.  (They never
actually eat the food that we leave out for them when they're playing,
they simply stash it for later!) Jasper gets nippy and cranky when he gets
hungry -- I can relate!!  and 2nd, and just as importantly, the bubble bath
smells fruity!  So, we think maybe Jasper is getting confused ... smells
good, hungry, ooops!  it's Mom!.... lick lick lick, hmmm, smells good,
hungry, chomp... oops!  did it again!  (Meanwhile, Willie's in the litter
box, with the "look at me Mom!  I'm a good boy!" rouse.)
 
On top of all of this, we also came to the conclusion that we need to
actively spend more time with Jasper.  As it is, he's the one that wants to
run and play the whole time he's out.  We feel that he may be training us
to let him have his own way by being the squirmy, nipping little boy that
he is.  So, from now on he'll have to endure being held and petted just a
little more.  How's that for Ferret Analysis?!
 
Well, I have to go and spend time with Jasper now... and of course, watch
Willie pretend to poop.
 
Have a great day!
 
;)
[Posted in FML issue 3146]