Thanks to all who responded about my problem with Amelia digging me at
night.  She started doing it the other day while I was lying down and
reading, so I thought I'd experiment (well she plays with my mind all the
time, so turnabout is fair play).  I stuck my hand between my leg and
Amelia, and she proceeded to chew on my fingers relatively gently for
about five minutes, alternating with licking, then curled up and fell
asleep.  So to those who suggested it was a grooming behavior, I think
you were right.  I'll just have to wait it out.  We are also strongly
thinking about a second ferret-- inevitable, say all you long time
owners-- to keep her company, and she would probably find another ferret
more fun to groom, since another ferret would be better at doing back.
Thanks to those who directed me to Furets Mon Ami, I am sure we will go
to them.  While I was happy with the pet store Amelia came from, I have
also seen pet shop ferrets essentially trained to bite everything that
comes near them, so I would be wary of buying from a shop.
 
On the subject of biting-- I also wanted to say thanks to the
person who wrote about pinching their ferrets rather than flicking them.
It can be hard to accurately target a berserk ferret's nose, and I am
always worried about the damage I might inadvertantly do to an eye or
even the nose itself.  On the other hand, Amelia's rump is usually
quite easy to target, and I don't worry about any lasting damage.  As
an added bonus, it also seems to be working.
   Not to ramble on, but I had a comment about post length ;-)  I am
happy to read the stories along with the facts and newsreports-- if
they weren't there, I might be an outrageous hypochondriac for Amelia's
sake.  The happy stories help keep a sense of perspective.
   Amelia has one last thing to add.  She would like the right to walk
across the computer keyboard and the right to shove over all piles of
3 1/2 inch diskettes regardless of anguish this might cause owner (those
diskettes just slide apart so satisfyingly, and them you can push them
all over the desk and even off it, and then you can watch your person,
who keeps forgetting to buy a disk holder, crawl all over the floor
to get them).  If this could be added to the ferret union rules, she
would be most grateful.
   Thanks for your patience,
       Regina and Amelia ("oh come on, you would rather play with me
than work on that file I just consigned to oblivion anyway")
[Posted in FML issue 1154]