Me and Casper are new to the FML and would like to thank everyone for
allowing us to be a part of it. I have been reading about ferrets on the net
for a while now, and am shocked by how much information there is about an
animal I had hardly ever heard of in the first place.
 
A little back ground: I'm an animal lover from way back. The animal population
in my household right now is a little small. 2 Cockatiels, 1 Red Bone Hound Dog,
and her nine puppies, 1 albino gerbil and my recently acquired male albino
Ferret(Casper).
 
I have a few things I would like to inquire about via the FML.  My ferret
being a little older, I'm guessing between 2 and 3, I'm not ereally sure, has
his own little quirks you might call them.  He obviously has had no previous
training of any kind.  He is picking up on the litter box thing as far as
poop goes but still urinates in the wrong place frequently.  I have found
that he responds well to praise and gets down right furious when you put him
in the cage when he's bad.  I can tell he knows somehting about what he's
supposed to do by the way he acts when in mischief.
 
Question #1: How do you discern playful from angry. When I get a towel out
and kind of wiggle it in front of him he turns sideways and hops around
while making a hissing sound with his mouth open. Being kind of leery I
don't get to close.
 
Question#2: Does anyone know of a concoction that will reduce the amount of
odor that is left by a ferret?  I'm having him fixed soon but the odor is
pretty strong right now and it gets kind of nauseating at times.  I know how
to remove the odor of accidents.  But what about the general aroma in the
air?
 
Question #3: Does a ferret acknowledge a name, I mean is it ok to change it's
name without causing a personality conflict?  The person I got him from said
his name was Casper, so I called him casper, Problem being he doesn't act
like a casper to me.  Is it ok to change his name?
 
Question#4: I have a small 1 x 2 x 1 foot cage I use as my time out cage. My
dillemma if I leave the door open Casper will go in and go to sleep in there
occasionally. will his willingness to go in there unaided affect my discipline
measures in using this cage? When I put him in there for doing something wrong
he hates it, but still lays down and goes to sleep.
 
I have a million other questions, but this is too long already and I
appologize if I waste anyones time by being so lengthy on my first posting
to the FML.
[Posted in FML issue 1118]