I am now a new ferret owner.  I adopted a silver female earlier today
and spent most of the time since getting her cage put together and
playing with her.  She came with the name Sweety which I may change or
not since she is one.  The best guess was that she's 1-2 years old
since she was brought in as a stray.
 
Her favorite toy so far is a dowel rod with a string attached to a
squeek toy.  I guess you'd call it fishing for ferrets.  She ran after
the thing and pounced on it for a good hour today and then promptly
ran out of steam and fell asleep on my lap.  A close second is the
ever popular plastic grocery bag.
 
So far, I know she likes raisins and Ferretone as treats although she's
so hesitant to even open her mouth when my hand is near it that it
takes a little coaxing to get her to lick it off.  I figure this will
pass since she likes the stuff.
 
She doesn't seem real wild about being held but I get the feeling it's
more that there are so many new places for her to explore in the area
I have set up for her when she's out (20X15 living room + 10X10 dining
area) than that she doesn't like being held.  She is pretty good about
using the litter pan(s) so far and since the area is so big I have 3
outside the cage and may have to add another.
 
So far my job of ferret-proofing is holding up well although she knows
what doors are and seems a bit frustrated that there are areas that
she's not allowed in (my bedroom, the kitchen, and the bathroom.) I
block the kitchen entrances off with a couple of clear pannels
designed for dropped ceiling lighting fixtures and held to the wall
with velcro tape.  It works and is about a tenth the price of
plexiglass.
 
I saw another ferret that had been brought in today that I may adopt
as a playmate for this one.  The only snag is that the other one was
an only ferret and the two didn't exactly hit it off when introduced
to each other although it wasn't an all out war (a little snarling and
a few nips at each other followed by both heading towards opposite
sides of the room.)  They were both trembling and it took a few minutes
of being held for them to calm down again.  What's the likelyhood of
these to being compatable.  I don't plan on adding a second cage so if
they couldn't work out their differences in a fairly short time I'll
have to wait.
 
[Posted in FML issue 0493]