Q1: How to tell playful from angry?
 
    Our older ferret doesn't hiss at all, but our littlest terror hisses
    all the time when playing.  Usually when our fuzzbeans get mad at us
    they just poop where they shouldn't just to show us "what for".
 
    When angry, our fuzzies fight (us and each other) more roughly than
    normal.
 
Q2: Reducing amount of general odor left by ferrets?
 
    I'm not sure other than to bathe them regularly.
 
Q3: Ferrets acknowledging their names and changing a ferret's name?
 
    Our little fuzzbeans both know their names and frequently ignore us
    when we call them -- unless we're calling them for a treat, of course!
    I'd think you could change a ferret's name just like you could change
    a dog's or cat's.  It'll take some time but it should work.
 
Q4: Casper voluntarily sleeping in time-out cage affecting it's usefulness?
 
    We regularly put our fuzzbeans in their normal cage as a time-out when
    they've been bad.  Usually, they just eat, or go to sleep, or sit in a
    hammock looking bored.  It usually gets the point across though,
    because they'd *much* rather be out and about.
 
-- Mike and Kim (the big, slow humans)
   Squirt - "I'm dying of boredom in here!  It's been three whole minutes!"
   Pippi  - Bite, hissss, hissss, wrestle, chomp, hissss!
 
Michael C. Burkard        |              _     Dancing Dookers
Xerox, Rochester, NY USA  |       _____C .._.  Delightfully Digging!
[log in to unmask]     |  ____/     \___/   Feisty Fuzzies in a
My opinions only.         | <____/\_---\_\     Frenzied Frollick!
[Posted in FML issue 1119]