I too have a ferret that hisses, but it's my new baby (relatively new,
you all may remember the post back in mid-November about the big
ferret baby that ran into a vacant townhouse that was being cleaned by
maintenance and they requested that we go get him so that they could
finish).  Prior to that, I think a couple of mine hissed when they were
younger and playing or rough housing around.  Buddy has done this since
we brought him home, and we get a kick out of it.  He does it when he's
chasing around the other weasels (Oliver will hiss back at him), trying
to entice someone to play, and I used to hiss back at him when he was
playing and sometimes he'd hiss back at me.  It was a battle of the
wills, now when he hisses and try to keep it going by hissing back at
him, he just stops so it's not as much fun anymore, but I still love it
when he does it.
 
Jen
[Posted in FML issue 5147]