Does anyone else thinkMarshalls is doing something different in raising
their feres?
 
I have seen them getting bigger and bigger, plus more friendly.  I am not
sure if the friendliness is due to excellent care and attentin of some of
the store employess or if Marshalls is be training their ferrets to come
to people and rise up to be greeted as soon as they see us.
 
My next-to-last Marshalls purchase was Artie, a big grey fellow.  I think
that was about a year and a half ago, but am not at all sure.  Have I
lost a whole year in my sense of my own history?!?  Rtirement certainly
does change one's time perspective.  Let's hope this is not just a great
expansin of the famous Senior Moment....
 
At any rate, Artie is a fine ferret.  He doesn't have a spectacular
personality, but this now makes me think perhas he needs more individual
attention.  I do kow that he can get depressed.  At one point household
mattersm made me confine the ferrets (5 then) to their cage a great deal,
and Artie definitely became depressed -- listless even whenhe was out.
He soon came back to normal when I could release them to play again in
the kichen for hours on end.
 
My two two new Marshalls, Jonas and Eric, are very dear and interesting,
and even when I first got them they were more attentive than I've ever
seen before.  I think Marshall's must be training their ferrets to come
to people as soon as they see them.  I got the two boys at stores abt
60 miles apart, and I believe their birth date ranges are a little
different, so they probably aren't close relatives.
 
Jonas was also into cuddling as soon as I got him, even though he was
only abt 2 months old -- something I have never experienced before.
Eric was also more cuddlesome than the others were when babies.
 
J and E are also more vocal -- more dooking and chuckling.  That can't
be environment, of course.  Also the two have physical characteristics
in common -- fluffier fur than all of the others -- cd Marshalls have
introduced some albino to get creatures that are more appealing to our
eyes and hands?  Not that they shouldn't do that, of course, all in all.
 
Also, since buying Artie, I have seen many many more ferts in their
shipments that are in the grey range with white stripes on their heads.
Artie is this way, and the new ones have very pronounced head/neck
stripes, w/ Eric being a tan guy and Jonas a grey one w/ black hairs
mixed in.  All three have white feet or toes.  Of course these
characteristics -- are they associated w/ any neural problems -- are
breeding based??
 
J and E are also more vocal -- more dooking and chuckling.  What
happiness form e and them when they are doing the Dance of Joy!  Anyway,
I imagine this is mostly their own natures rather than selective
breeding.  But that wdn't be out of the question either.
 
My earlier ones are what I, in my limited time in the fert world,
consider more normal -- sable, albino, and chocolate, with short hair.
Now that they are older -- Robert and Rico are the oldest born in Dec (I
just looked at their birth dates!) -- they are more into cuddling, but
realy only Robert and Rico seem to like it much.  Ada, my albino girl,
sometimes comes for a short cuddle, and Tina, my chocoalte runtie-girl,
tolerates some.
 
So anyway, I have donsidered this non-cuddling typical of kits till now.
The other night I was sitting in one of the outdoor pens with all but the
three hooligan baby-attackers, and Robert and Jonas climbed into my lap
and went to sleep, and after a while Eric too.  (More on cuddling in my
next post -- we get three a day, if I remember -- if not, wd you save
thelast one for tomorrow BIG?)
 
So what expreiences have you all had with this?  Do you see any changes
in Marshall ferrets?
[Posted in FML issue 5378]