HELP!!!  My darling little sable Baxter has developed a great new way to
get my attention early in the morning when he wants out of his cage.  He is
ONLY caged from the time I go to sleep to the time I get up.  He wouldn't
even have to be caged that often except that I can't trust him not to bite
me while I sleep.  That is another tale, though.  My other ferret is just
fine with this arrangement, however, Baxter is not pleased.  He has found a
"wonderful" new way of showing me he wants out.  Let me first say I have a
midwest playpen.  He puts his mouth on one of the cross bars and proceeds
to shove back and forth creating the most god-awful racket.  Basically he
is banging his head on the bars of his cage.  This wouldn't be too terrible
except he decides that 4:30 in the morning is a good time for him to be
allowed out to play.  The day before yesterday I tried to squirt him with a
bottle of water every time I did it.  All I got from him was big tail and
severe hissing.  This morning I banged back at him and hissed.  He stopped,
BUT I never know with Baxter how long something like that is going to last.
He is kind of hard headed.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
I am sure one of these days he is going to chip a tooth or something on
that cage.
 
On a lighter note, Baxter has discovered the best ferret game in the world.
(Besides digging in Minka's water dish).  He LOVES it when I am putting the
clean sheets on the bed.  I usually put the fitted sheet on so that he is
inside.  Then we wrestle around like that.  Once he finds his way free we
start all over and I put the top sheet on.  He goes absolutely crazy by
that point and just about dies and goes to heaven when I start adding the
blankets.  It is a great romp!!!  I like it too because Baxter tends to
bite HARD and is a little hard headed about how hard he is biting so there
is a barrier between me and his sharp little fangs.
 
One final question: What are ferrets generally looking for when they speed
bump on the floor?  Attention?  Minka has been doing it a lot lately and I
don't quite know why.
 
Thanks!
 
joanne & Minka Rue (aka speedbump) & Baxter too (aka head hinderer)
[Posted in FML issue 2619]