> From: <anon>
> considered getting another little guy to keep him company.  Should we do
> this?  Is it bad to leave the little guy alone during the day?  If we do,
> should we get another male?  How old should he be?  What do we do to
> introduce them?
 
        I got a secound ferret for this reason as well.  I believe two
ferrets are three times the fun as one.  They also seem to spend more time
playing together than destroying my appartment.  Itroduction should always
be supervised.  Some ferrets are great together from the word go, others
may take a few days to a few weeks.  Mine got together right off, but I
still didn't let them sleep together for two days.  I'm sure I'll get a
few disagreements here but I prefer the same sex.  This way they are both
pretty much the same size, and you don't have a male beating up on a smaller
female.  As for age of the new comer I prefer them younger than the head of
the house. This way there realy isn't much of a thret for dominace and the
fighting usualy isn't as rough.
 
> Then I really felt like a fool!  My question is this - he had the same food
> for two months and seemed to love it.  All of a sudden we go on vacation,
> have a friend watch him, and he gets finicky?  Is this normal?  Next time I
> go away do I worry about him not eating or getting tempermental?  What do
> you all do when you go on vacation?  Do your ferrets throw fits?  I know
> that the friend I left him with was good to him.  He loves animals and once
> had a ferret.
>
> Deborah, Mike (Charlie's dad), and Charlie
 
        I usualy take my guys with me if I can.  They were used to road trips
and stangers since they were kits.  In fact the secound day I had Sebastian
we drove 186 miles so I could show him off to my mom and sister.  I think
this helped them ajust to different environments when I have to drop them off
at the shelter or a friends house.  Never had a problem with them eating.
Well maybe one little problem.   My friends ferret only eats the cheep cat
food.  They tried to get him to switch with no luck.  Well Sebastian loves
cheep bad for you cat foods.  He would grab it by the mouth fulls and hide it
in his cage. :)  I think he's a junk food junkie.
 
> From: <anon>
> Subject: Skin problem
>
> Ronin, Katana, Wakazashi, my wife and I have a problem. The first three
> fore-mentioned of us have a skin problem, consisting of orange-ish crusty
> speckles along their spines, with some scabing (from scratching?).
>
> My suspicion is some sort of mites. I do not recall hearing of this in either
> the FML or the FAQ (although it's been a while since I looked at the FAQ).
>
> Any insite is appreciated!
>
        I would go with the mite suggestion as well.  Sometime earmites
will even go down as far as the tail.
 
        Deleted header Sorry.
 
> They grabbed much as they could and chomped them down.
> They like there 9lives dry cat food, Zima, and chinese food, but raisins
> semmed to hit the spot.  (Also spaghetti).
> I thought like pizza crust they would take it and hide it.. but they actually
> eat raisins and spaghetti with a passion (mine do).
 
        Most ferrets love raisins and other fruits.  You should only give
them this as treats.  Three or four at a time because ferrets need a high
protein diet.  Aslo to much junk food will cause tooth decay and tartar
build up.  You may want to try a better cat/kitten food than 9lives.  Most
grocery store brands of cat food use a vegitable based protein not animal.
Ferrets have a hard time utilizing vegitable proteins.
 
        My ferrets finaly figured out how to open my kitchen cabinets.
I guess they must have got the idea from the net. :)  I found Mako in
my silverwear draw yesterday.  Boy was he having fun.  He hissed at me
as if I was pulling out his canine teeth when I removed him from all
those newly aquired shiney toys. :( Poor guy.
 
        Hope you all have a nice and safe weekend.
 
        Brad, Sebastain, Mako, and Bambi.
[Posted in FML issue 0889]