We have 21 ferrets.  We are nuts.
 
The cage in today's play rotation includes the "baby" cage.  None of the
ferrets in it are really babies anymore.  At one time 3 of the ferrets in
it were.
 
We have 6 ferrets in the baby cage, Whodat, age 5 and adores my husband.
Came into the ferret shelter with Brian Boru, now around 1.5 yrs old.
Brian was origianlly named Cutie Pie, but I said no ferret of mine was
going to be name Cutie Pie and changed his name.  Artie (Escape Artist)
is 1 yr old, Ceili about 2 yrs oldand Grany Malley about 1.5 yrs old were
all biters I took in.  Dureena, named after a thief, doesn't live up to
her name at all.
 
I dropped all the ferrets into the play pen, a ferret wonderland of toys,
tubes bedding, a big litter box, food and water.  Whithin 5 minutes the
escape party is organized and 5 of the 6 ferrets are out of the playpen
and into the house.
 
Gotta check the dog's dish and see if her kibble is better than ours.
Fat, roly poly Brian settles in for a quick meal.
 
Artie is into the living room, up on top of the new cage and jumping
from there onto the bookcase.  Gotta knock over a few books and steal
the griffin puppet.
 
Dureena is under the china cabinet and looking for a quick nap.
 
Grany is just so happy to be out she's jumping and dancing everywhere.
 
Artie is up on the coffe table and has to check my drink.  she doesn' t
like ice tea, but she won't be happy until her head has been in the cup
and confirmed this for herself.  Then it's into my lap and quick chew on
the phone cord as I talk to my friend about a litter of ferrets we bred.
 
Later I go upstairs to check on the ferrets.  I find waste baskets
overturned and a ferret asleep on the cool bathroom floor amid the
debris.
 
I head into the office to do email and read my newsgroups.  I find Artie
on my heels.  Stupid, dangerous living Artie decided to climb the mink
cage and try to jump from the of the cage onto the drapes, misses, slams
into the wall and like a stone drops the the carpet below.  She gets up,
looks a round and decides to steal some of the mink's toys instead.  Off
she goes to hide some new treasures in a dresser drawer in my bedroom.
Onyx sleeps through all this.
 
Meanwhile Grany is awake from her nap and decides to find me, climb into
my lap and up to the computer desk and seek how many pictures and CDs she
can toss to the floor before I can catch her and put her back on the
floor.
 
Fat Brian Boru is deceptively fast and has come upstairs to see what the
girls are doing.  He finds the paper basket, plays in the trash and goes
to help Artie liberate Onyx toys.
 
So they continue all afternoon until one after another they decide to go
down for a nap in a corner I can't retrieve them from.
 
Meanshile Whodat has the playpen to himself and can have a long leisurely
nap without having to share his bed with 5 rowdy ferrets.  He seems happy
enough.
 
KG
[Posted in FML issue 3852]