Tracy,
 
>I have an african grey that gets along with the dogs just fine (they pretty
>much ignore each other) but I get the feeling that Smoky would eat Punk
>alive if given the chance!
 
We have a pair of parrots (a Red lorred and a Mexican red-head) who get
along very well with the cats, but there seems to be a blood feud between
the parrots and the ferrets.  Both ferrets and parrots are openly aggressive
towards each other.  Once while I was out of town, my SO left the Red-lorred,
Rima, on top of her cage while Moki (our only ferret at the time) was out
of her cage.  The parrot climbed down from her cage and attacked the ferret,
and the ferret counter-attacked.  After the two were separated, Rima was
without tail-feathers, and Moki had developed a desire to climb up Rima's
cage to finish the job.
 
Our #1 rule with ferrets and parrots is to NEVER have the ferrets out of
their cage at the same time as the parrots are out of theirs.
 
>At what point do ferret owners feel confident that their pet won't poop in
>the bed if they let it sleep with them?
 
This isn't much of a problem, the ferret will jump off the bed and find a
nice corner to use during the middle of the night, and then spend the rest
of the night hiding any socks you've left on the floor.
 
>I'd love it if Punk could sleep with me.
 
The real problem is that you might roll over in your sleep and squash
your ferret!
 
>Do ferrets calm down as they mature?
 
This depends on the ferret.  I had 3 ferrets many years ago, and one calmed
down after a few years, but the others remained "hyper" well into old-age.
 
Leonard Bottleman       [log in to unmask]
 
[Posted in FML issue 0647]