Right now we are have been sticking at 5 for for at least 5 years. Our
current grouping is the most intelligent crew we've ever had. We've had
individuals who were more intelligent in their own ways than any of our
current ones, but the grouping is amazing. Plus, all of our current
group are climbers and most at jumpers to various degrees, and all are
very good with words, though certainly not our best and for one we have
to shout. We've had better climbers, such as Ashling who used to carry
a universal remote to the top of an 8 foot closet to hide it, but pound
for pound our tiniest ferret might equal or come close to equal our
Jumpstart who -- from a seated position -- could clear a 3' barrier
in one fluid motion. Mornie is TINY but she can jump up to her chest
height on a 2 and 1/2 barrier, and then pull herself over.

So, let me start with Mornie (Darkness). Besides the barrier clearing
she loves to get on our dining room table and jump vertically to our
candelabra which is over 2 feet above the table, and then she plays
flying trapeze on it, swinging for all she is worth while holding on
with her hands. (In fact, she hates it when we cut her claws because
she can't do that for a while.) She is also an incredible climber.
Morney is a Mommy's girl though she loves us both. She looks a lot like
Linda's Belle looked but more gracile: very dark and Morney has a dark
nose, and loves to kiss very bit as much as Belle did. She has mild
indications of having some neural crest genetics. If you have it,
three year old Mornie might well be able to climb it (though she at
least only goes 6 or 7 feet up the closets, and unlike Ashling never
conquered a very vertical bureau we have. She has special dietary needs
due to having had a cystine urolith removed.

Telemna (River of silver) is a stocky female, a gray silver mitt, who
is a Daddy worshipper. She loves to solve puzzles and she likes to try
to slide herself under narrow openings. Currently, she is studying
zippers. She WILL gain dominance over them; we have no doubt about
that. Then no visitor's fly will be safe for a while. (We went through
that with Meltdown years ago.) She is intensely observant, and has a
bit of visual difficulty compared to all of our others except Wizbang
but we used a toy mousie hung from a stick and scented with rose to get
be more adventurous combined with sometimes an interesting substrate
such as when we put bubble wrap on the floor (with supervision, of
course, but some like popping it, including her). She LOVES playing in
water (swimming, splashing, being the shower) and and she retrieves
things the others have stolen and brings them to us for rewards. A few
days ago she decided that she wanted the shower as a reward, so she
brought me a stolen item, showed it to me, picked it up, lead me to the
shower stall, bumped it against the stall, and then gave it to me.

Wizbang (also spelled Whizbang) is an albino with poor hearing and poor
eye sight. She is a bit of a bully to anyone, but we think that is due
to sensory loss causing some insecurity. Wizzy needs lots, and lots,
and lots of reassurance but she fits in, anyway. She is Hilbert's best
friend by a huge margin. Wizzy hates dark socks. If Steve wears dark
socks she tries to remove them. Her preference is for him to wear white
socks. Wiz LOVES to have her belly raspberried! No joke. She loves
kisses there, but belly raspberries are so much better. She chose us
one day and has been here since. She is probably the most stubborn
of our crew, even by ferret standards, and her sense of smell is
startlingly good. In her case her expression change (especially ears
and whiskers) when the lightbulb goes off in her head is very visible.
She virtually always has a burst of strong activity between 3 and 5 in
the afternoon.

Hubble is my favorite cuddler. He is the one who scares easily and is
usually shy though yesterday he met a woman at the vets whom he liked
greatly and cuddled with her for a long time. Hubble's favorite
sleeping place is under a trunk over which Steve and I have placed a
black towel so that it is dark underneath. At night I kneel down on all
fours (which I can now do for short bouts of time without it being too
hard on my feet and ankles) to extend an arm underneath, put a little
saliva on my fingers and wave them before his nose so that he knows
that kisses are available and then wait. He comes out and climbs right
into my bodice, then he patiently waits while i stumble upright,
keeping him in place, and afterward settles his nose out for kisses,
and his ear against my left chest for my heart beat. He likes to wash
face with me, and falls asleep in my arms most nights.

Hilbert (Yes, after the mathematician because he maps things.) also has
a bit of neural crest markings and his life was very hard to save when
he was young. Like Mornie he developed cystine uroliths and he also had
a bladder diverticulum (a fetal urine loss tube that normally closes
of cleanly and smoothly instead formed a pouch. He blocked and he
developed bilateral hydronephrosis. Our vet (Joe Martins, Bellemead,
NJ) is EXCELLENT, though, and when Hilbert couldn't have a PU (Penile
amputation and rerouting) soon after the surgery to repair his bladder
he hit on using repeated cystos which gave his urethra time to heal.
Like Morney he is on a special diet which is no more than 35% protein
and at that level does not develop more stones (something a number of
people with cystine stone survivors have noticed. In talking with many
specialist vets and researchers I found only two ferrets who got
cystine stones mentioned who needed meds and even lower protein).
Hilbert has some neural crest markings. Hilbert may have saved my life
in Spring this year. Our furnace failed and the condo was filling with
fumes. Being trustworthy, Hilbert was having his usual early morning
Hilbert-only free roam time which he absolutely loves. Steve had left
for a walk and I was still asleep. I have asthma so I was possibly also
half passed out, certainly groggy later. Hilbert gently woke me and
made sure that I got up. Then I realized something was wrong, turned
off the furnace fan, vented the place and moved all of us into the
front next to the open sliding glass door with the fan there turned
on to such in clean air. Hilbert is our hero, our protector weasel.

Sukie (not a vet)
Reminder:  THE FERRET HEALTH LIST IS MOVING.
To join, click on the joining link at

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth and then follow the
directions.

OR just send a blank mail to the automated joining address:

[log in to unmask] and then follow the directions.

Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/

[Posted in FML 5432]