To the big-ribbed ferret:
How about this name, BB (for Baby-Back ribs)?
 
Re: Attitude
It's too bad your SO thinks of your little fuzzies as play toys only.  It
sounds as though he's never had a very close relationship with any of the
many pets you've said that have been in his life.  It's really sad when
someone misses out on the best part of pets, the companionship they offer
and the love and affection they freely give.  The love is unconditional and
is a truly special gift.  Now ferrets often have their own unique ways of
showing affection (like teasing you to play, sleeping in your clothes,
stealing your socks....) in addition to the "standard" ways, but it's there.
Past the dooks and play nips, their love and affection is pretty obvious.
Sounds like he's missing out on a lot.
 
Re: Misc. Ramblings - Docktor Pet
<mentioned ferrets in aquariums there>
No offense to anyone, but I stopped shopping at Docktor Pet years ago.
Right after I saw a story on 20/20 about puppy mills.  One of the stores
mentioned as selling the puppies was Docktor Pet.  The care I saw exhibited
at the one in the mall I frequented didn't really make me doubt it.  It's
not every pet store you go to where you see a dead kitten in their front
window display.  If the animal was that sick, it shouldn't have been in the
window.  (My information about the puppy mill thing is old, so my apologies
to Docktor Pet if they have mended their ways.  However, I still will not
shop in the one near to me.  I have browsed through on occasion and I still
question their care of the animals.)
 
Anyways.....all 4 of ours were pet store ferrets and the pet stores where
they came from kept them in 20 gallon fishtanks on pine shavings.  A real
great combo, I know.  Squirt and Pippi were little peanuts when we got them
and spent a week or less in the tanks.  They didn't have any respiratory
problems when we brought them home.  Atlas and 'Jinx were a far different
story.  They had spent 2 months in the store in an aquarium.  Their feet
were red/brown, scaley, and sore from the pine shavings, they seemed a
little pudgey in the wrong places (as compared to Squirt and Pippi who spent
most of their kit-hoods wild and free, ruling the upstairs of our townhouse
or coming downstairs with us on a harness), they were extremely
uncoordinated and tired quickly (relatively speaking), and socialization was
about nil.  The rapture and joy of their movements and vocalizations upon
first being let out into the "ferrets' room" was moving, nearly to tears.  I
really hate the fishtank approach to ferrets in pet stores.  Energetic and
curious animals confined to a shoebox....  (I don't have problems with the
larger wire cages you may often see ferrets in.  They have some room to
move, breathe, and explore.  And at least there's usually toys and hammies
in those cages!)
 
-kim, mike, squirt (We don't need no stink'n aquariums!),
 pippi (No room to run and no socks to steal in there!),
 Atlas (They hurst my feet!), and
 Hijinx (I couldn't escape Atlas in the tank!)
 
Kimberly Burkard     |             _    Everything I needed to know in life,
Eastman Kodak Company|      _____C .._. I learned from my ferret:
Rochester, New York  | ____/     \___/  Frolic and dance for joy often, have
[log in to unmask]<____/\_---\_\    no fear or worries, and enjoy life.
[Posted in FML issue 1323]