This is my first post!  I'm a fairly new describer and fairly new ferret
owner (since Christmas), so I've been lurking for a bit.  I must say I have
learned alot from all of you!
 
Here's my ferret-naming contribution:
 
Jasmine - I originally wanted to call her Jezebell, but my boyfriend
couldn't bring himself to call her that.  I noticed this when he wouldn't
address her by name.  We talked about it and I agreed to change her name.
Since we were already a couple of weeks into the Jezebell name, I didn't
want to change it too drastically and confuse her, so I changed it to
Jasmine.
 
Farkus - my little boy!!!  Since I got to name Jasmine, I let my boyfriend
name our little boy.  One of his favorite movies is A Christmas Story.
Scott Farkus is the bully who pushes all the kids around and gets beat up
in the end.  No relation to our Farkus's behavior, but we liked the name.
 
As far as interesting characteristics, I'm glad it was brought up because I
spend alot of time observing my two's behavior and am trying to dissect
their individual characteristics.  I'm endlessly fascinated with these
little creatures and the complexities of their personalities blows my mind!
 
Jasmine simply wants to do what she wants to do when she wants to do it.
She really doesn't like to be told what to do.  And if we stop her from
doing something, or going somewhere that she's not supposed to, she throws
a fit!  From nipping (not biting!  We solved that one!) and jumping around
like a lunatic to out and out acting out!  At one time, whenever she was
trying to vent her frustration, she was going into their out-of-the-cage
litter box and rolling around in it so the litter went everywhere!  (we
stopped that, too!).  She's persistent and stubborn.  It also applies to
play time.  She'll play with us when she wants to, and when she doesn't,
she makes it plain that she wants to be left alone.  All in all she's
actually very loving and playful.  When she's good she's good, when she's
bad, though....
 
Farkus is just a sweetie.  He exists to play.  End of story.  He is just
not interested in figuring out how to get into something that he's not
supposed to (unlike Jasmine).  If he's told not to do it, he simply goes on
to the next thing.  He's a dream!  Don't get me wrong, he gets into
trouble, too!  But he's much more even-tempered and much more tolerant in
any situation.  He just wants to have fun.
 
Perhaps the most fascinating thing I've learned about both of them is their
capacity to sense things from us.  I know they understand certain words and
can respond to command and name calling, but I'm talking about sensing a
situation.  They both seem to know when we're helping them.  For example,
Farkus typically hogs all the food, leaving Jasmine to wolf down her food
when Farkus is sleeping.  Sometimes Farkus will bully Jasmine away from the
food dish if Jasmine gets there first.  If we're around to catch this, we
try to correct the situation.  One time in particular was a test of wills
with Farkus and we finally were able to let Jasmine eat in peace.  After
she finished eating, I picked her up to kiss and cuddle her (as we
frequently do with both of them!).  Now first you must understand that I
have a routine with Jasmine.  When I let them out of their cage when I get
home from work, I pick each of them up first and say hello with cuddles and
kisses.  Its the only time Jasmine will kiss back unless she's in a REALLY
good mood.  But when the food incident happened she kissed and kissed like
never before.  It was almost like "thank you, Mommy!".  And a similar
situation happened with Farkus.  Farkus almost NEVER kisses... But last
week, it seemed he had a minor blockage and my boyfriend and I spent most
of the night trying to help him.  When we were putting him to sleep that
nite, he was so kissy!  He just knew we were helping him!  Just blew my
mind!
 
This has been quite an experience as a new owner and I love every minute
of it!
 
Maryann
[Posted in FML issue 2648]