Aaakkkkk!  Now that I'm back in the mailbox, it scares me.  This will take
some time, so be patient and don't yell.
 
Before Q&A, I want to say how proud I am of you for the limericks and bumper
stickers.  Fantastic!  So far my favorite "sticker" is "My other cat is a
ferret." Thought I would die.
 
Q: (private post) You said dogs were domesticated in the New World, but my
   professor says they came over with the Indians. You blew it!
 
A: Keep my personal life out of it buddy!
 
Nope, didn't goof.  Dogs are a weird case; most authorities say they were
domesticated between 10-15,000 years ago, but some zooarchaeologists are
pushing them back to 20,000 or farther.  They are found almost everywhere
about the same time, except in Australia, where they seem to be older than
20,000 years.  One thing is clear; the most recent evidence suggests at
least three points of domestication, and possibly more (One author suggests
six!).  Yes, domesticated dogs did come over the Bering Strait with the
Native Americans, BUT, there is a lot of evidence that suggests the Huskie
and at least one of the Indian dogs were domesticated from North American
wolves.  There are scores of papers on the subject and many books.  I would
read the works of Juliet Clutton-Brock and Stanley Olsen and check out the
references therein.
 
BTW (and to kept this ferret-related) the ferret also came over the Bering
Strait; except what came over was the Steppe polecat, which changed just
enough to be remamed the black-footed ferret.  There are some biologists
what want to make the BFF a subspecies of the steppe polecat, and may yet
succeed.
 
Q: (Private post): With 18 ferrets, don't you ever get tired of picking up
   the poop mines?
 
A: Nope, just leave them were they drop.  Once they dry and become
incorporated into the knap of the carpet, they add a texture and dignity to
the ambiance of the room that is hard to ignore.  Smash them flat before
they dry, and you can create a marblized texture hard to duplicate, even
with expensive linoleum products.  I call it faux poo.
 
Not a problem.  I only have about an 80% "hit the box" rate, which
translates as a bunch of evil nasties to pick up.  It doesn't help for the
beasts to follow behind you and remark the area you just cleared.  Still, I
consider the miss rate acceptable for the most part, considering much of my
formative years was spent picking up after cows and horses.  Besides,
anything is better than Skippy-based dog mines, discovered during a match of
roughly-played touch football.
 
Past issues of the FML are full of hints on how to control the problem, and
many work.  To tell the truth, I'm skeptical about the effectiveness of any
one method ( or all methods) and I have just accepted carpet poopies as part
of ferret conservatorship.  I do place boxes in the areas used as latrines,
and I do place carpet pieces under the boxes.  I have a partition keeping
the ferrets out of the kitchen, and for some reason (guess) they think the
area directly in front is a latrine.  I can't put a box there, and they
won't stop, so I just place a doormat there and clean up after the hits.  I
have a hand-held carpet cleaner as well as a larger floor job, and clean the
carpet weekly; I use the smaller one for nasty but small jobs.
 
These guys use poop much in the same way was we use neon signs or (he he)
Business cards, except it cheaper.  Just remember ferrets are primarily
olefactory oriented, rather than visually oriented.  As for reducing the
carpet hits, if you find a way better that those already posted, let me
know.  Otherwise, I'll go back to my idea of creating tiny pampers...
 
Mo' Bob and the 18 Mo' Magic Monkeys of Mayhem
[Posted in FML issue 1852]