Hello to one and all!
 
It seems as though ferrets have an attention *point* as opposed to a "span".
Anything in that point, about 1" in front of their noses, is totally
fascinating; but once they've seen it a moment, it's old and they don't care
about it any more.  This leads me to an endless quest for ferret toys.  This
quest led me to the coolest ferret toy I've found yet:
 
If you are, or know, a fisher(wo)man, see if you can find a left-over
fishing rod tip lying around.  I mean the whole end, with several eyes
attached, or reattached.  I take some heavy fishing line, feed it through
the eyes, tie it to the base, and cut off about 15 feet.  To the end, I tie
a knotted sock or a jingly-soft toy.  The technique is like casting a
flyrod; I pull slack into the base end 'til the sock dangles a foot or so
from the rod tip, then fling the sock across in front of whoever's out and
about.  It helps a *lot* to keep it close to the floor where the fuzzies can
see it -- remember their attention point!  One or the other invariably gives
chase.  When <whoever> catches the sock, we start a game of tug-of-war until
(s)he gets bored, and by then another one is ready to play.  (Sometimes
they'll even let me "boat" them by hanging on so I can lift them onto the
couch.)  This also has the benefit of improving one's casting technique,
plus it's great fun at parties!
 
Any other suggestions for good toys for ferrets?  I'd love to hear some.
Perhaps I need to download an older FML (I've only been here for a few weeks)?
 
Thanks in advance, and in arrears, for any tips!
 
Happy ferreting!
 
Jimbo...
[Posted in FML issue 1276]