My first encounter with ferrets was also the first ferret we owned.  We
had gone to the pet shop to get some pet supplies for my middle son's
hampster and fish aquarium.  My ex went straight over to the ferret cage
and I wasnt even going to pay attention.  I did notice however the clerk
went over and got one of those long furry things for him to hold and my
ex walked over to me.
 
"Can I have it?" he questioned me.  "NO" I said.  This went on for about
10 min and he won out.  Knowing nothing about ferrets I thought it was a
rodent, the biggest damn "rat" I'd ever seen.  ewwww.
 
When we got home he put her on the floor and she proceeded to "dook" all
over the place making chuckling and hissing sounds and made the mistake
of "dooking" over to me, we were in the hall, I squeeled as she got close
to my feet and ran into the bedroom, quickly followed by our new ferret
who thought this silly lady was such a fun playmate.  I jumped on the
bed (the ferrets in the pet shop were about 3 months old so she wasnt a
little baby) and she quickly jumped up on the bed after me, terrified I
jumped off the bed and ran down the hall and into the living room,
followed by "that long furry thing", who was chuckling the whole way.  My
ex was laughing so hard he could hardly stand up.  "She's just playing"
he said, "she's not going to bite you." "OK", I thought I'll just chase
her off, and I ran back toward her, she quickly turned tail and ran down
the hall and into the bedroom and jumped on the bed, I followed, and she
then started chasing me again.  Though she was forever bonded to my ex
this was Tasha's and my favorite game.  She quickly worked her way into
my heart and I have been "captured" by ferrets ever since.  I was very
relieved to find out tho that she wasn't a rodent :P.
 
She was an only ferret for about 6 months and when we decided to get her
some playmates she was the alpha and matriarchal ferret, not even the big
boys who came later (Bear, Jobe and Badger) who were younger and much
bigger, would challenge her.  She lived to be 8 years old and tho she
enjoyed the company of the other ferrets, she prefered the company of her
humans.  She is greatly missed.
 
Vicky
"Ferret-Proof isn't"
[Posted in FML issue 4246]