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Subject:
From:
"Bill Gruber, FML moderator" <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 20 Dec 2007 00:11:41 EST
Content-Type:
text/plain
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Perhaps I'm sending this a day early, but with all the Happy Anniversay
wishes, it is appropriate.

Thank you all so much for your wonderful 20th anniversary wishes, both
public and private!

Please remember I wasn't the moderator for all those 20 years. In fact,
I wasn't even a subscriber until somewhere around issue 130. But above
all, YOU all deserve a pat on the back. The FML would be nothing if not
for ALL OF YOU. So, Happy 20th!

Below is issue number 1 of the FML for your enjoyment, just slightly
formatted to make it fit with the current FML format. Notice the posts
seem familiar even today. Notice also, Sukie was there. The other very
long term subscriber, Leonard Bottleman, just recently unsubscribed.
The e-mail addresses have all changed, of course!

Thanks all,
Bill

                   --------- FML Issue #1 ---------

 Date: Dec 21, 19:14 1987

The long-awaited ferret mailing list ....

Sorry to take so long, but job changes and other such stuff made it
rather difficult to find the time to get this rolling.  Now things
have stabilized, I'm finally able to do something with it.

List of Charter Members of the Ferret Mailing List:

    evans@mhuxt (Steve & Sukie Crandall)
    [log in to unmask] (Tom Danisavich)
    [log in to unmask] (Susan A. Musil)
    tjs@tropix (Timothy J. Spires)
    davis@utx1 (Gary A. Davis)
    alan@sequent (Alan Gardiner)
    [log in to unmask] (Leonard Bottleman)
    [log in to unmask] (Shu-Ju Wang-Burgess)
    [log in to unmask] (Janet L. Crow)
    mnetor!uunet!vsedev!FMPMIS!scott (? - mail was mostly garbled)

              Adminstrivia

I'm going to run this quite informally for the time being.

For the time being, please mail any contributions to:

    ferret-list@spectrix

I've included some useful paths in the trailer to this article.

I will manually forward them back out.  I will make some changes to
automate this in the future, but not quite yet.  Part of the reason
why this isn't being automated now is the fact that of necessity one
of the recipients has to be anonymous.  Sounds wierd ... Unfortunately,
this person has their ferret in a state where ferrets are (still)
illegal and has asked me to not forward any identifying information.
I've included his mail here, but have censored all identifying
information.

Each "posting" will have my address tacked on the end.

I will endeaver not to modify any of the articles that are intended
for redistribution except under extreme cases (3eg: 100K articles ;-),
and will place my interjections, (if any) within square brackets.

By way of breaking the ice, I've taken the liberty of remailing some
of the messages I received as part of the first newsletter.

*************************************

 From: clewis@spectrix

We have three ferrets:
    1) Nicia - very small (overweight) sable femal, at least 2 years old.
       Indirectly from the pound.  A real fighter (surviving several
       medical crises), and a real sweetheart.
    2) Mocha - normal size (1 3/4 lb) sable female, obtained as a baby
       about 1 1/2 years ago.  A sock eater (with feet inside).
       Have tried many thigns, simply can't stop her.
    3) Toby - 3 lb. silver-mitt male, obtained as a baby.  9 mos. old.
       Big, stupid, and friendly lummox.

Nicia and Mocha have very interesting tastes: peaches, mangoes ,
papayas, peanuts, Bailey's, potato chips, popcorn, soda-pop and
raisons. They'll do ANYTHING for a raisin. We've discovered most fo
these things by accident. We keep these "odd" treats to a minimum.

*************************************

 From: ihnp4!mhuxt!evans

We have 2 ferrets at our place - Hjalmar (an exceedingly stupid but
friendly 3 pound, 2 year old male), and Fritter (a very smart 2 pound 3
year old female). A few weeks ago we lost Hale to an illness that she
had been fighting for several months -- she was over 7 (we have no idea
what her real age was as she was purchased as an adult -- she may have
been as old as 9).

As only one room in our place is ferret-proofed our guys only have
unsupervised access to that room. When we're gone they have a very
large custom built ferret house that is enough of a den that they will
stop any fighting they have been doing when they are put in it.

We would be interested in a ferret mailing list. I know of one other
ferret person on the net ihnp4!tektronix!videovax.tek.com!shuju (Shu-Ju
Wang-Burgess). Her husband Mark is a vet.

I won't go into any strange ferret stories -- yet.

Steve & Sukie Crandall
ihnp4!mhuxt!evans

(in New Jersey)

*************************************

 From: <uunet!rutgers!psuvmb.bitnet!TAD>

Hello,

I've had my ferret for over a year now and I wouldn't trade him for
anything. He's an albino, and about 3 years old.

As to training him, my brother and I have managed to train him to come
to the sound of a whistle. This was done by rewarding him with his
favorite snack (cheerios) every time we would whistle. Now all you have
to do is whistle and

[Cheerios?!!! Well, whaddya know, it works!]

he comes scampering from whereever in the house he is. We don't keep
him caged up but he is pretty much restricted to my room unless we take
him out to play.

I'd love to hear any stories or info you've got on the critters and
sign me up for the mailing list.

thanks,

tom danisavich
@psuvmb.bitnet!tad

*************************************

 From: uunet!rutgers!oberon.usc.edu!oberon!suzy%acrux.usc.edu (Susan A. Musil)
 Organization: Univeristy of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA

Ferrets: Did someone say ferrets!  I've thought about getting one
of these for years, until I was told they weren't allowed in CA.

For same!  But, I'd still like to know 'bout 'em.  Maybe one of
these days I'll move...

                   [log in to unmask]@oberon.usc.edu
                            [log in to unmask]
                     University of Spoiled Children
                            Downtown Ellay

[I heard about a ferret owner from Oregon moving to California and the
authorities confiscated the animal. Fortunately, the owner was able to
convince the authorities to allow him to send the ferret back to his
parents in Oregon - the authorities were going to destroy it]

************************************

 From: tjs@tropix
 Organization: GCA/Tropel Div. Rochester, NY 14450

Hello, I have be thinking about getting a ferret as a pet. I have not
yet spent enough time looking into it though, perhaps the people on the
net can help me. I am mostly interested in how trainable they are and
how difficult to care for, cost is also a concern. Hopefully there will
be more talk on the net about ferrets.

                   work ihnp4!tropix!tjs
                   home ihnp4!tropix!oregon!tjs

******************************

 From: linus!harvard!utx1!davis (Gary A. Davis)

Chris,
I have a ferret (Gumby) and a kitten (Lassie). Gumby lives in the
pantry when I am at work or at sleep and when in there, uses his litter
box. When roaming around, he may not bother going to the box, he goes
into a non-carpeted corner. He never goes on the carpet, always on the
tile. At least it is easy to clean up.

I have had him for over a year. I live in a condo townhouse.
Occasionally, he escapes, a couple times overnight. So far, he has
always found his way home. He used to escape through the dryer vent
(chewed through the white plastic) in his pantry. I replaced it with a
flexible metal vent but he eventually chewed through that too. I
replaced it with a heavy PVC pipe.

When he does escape (sometimes the kids or their friends leave the door
open), I leave the front and back sliding glass doors opened a crack
and also disconnect the dryer vent so he has many ways to get back in
if he can find his way back. Sometimes, the neighborhood kids find him
and bring him back. The entire complex is surrounded by a wall, so he
can't go REAL far (there are 80 units within the wall). during one of
his escapades, he got into a neighbor's house through their
disconnected drier vent. They didn't know what kind of animal he was
and they shooed him out. He had returned by the time I heard the story.

The 2 animals get along fine. Occasionaly, they wrestle. Other times
they ignore each other.

Keep me informed about your mailing list. I have posted a couple
articles about the ferret and got little response.

Gary
--
  Gary A. Davis
  Racal-Milgo, P.O. Box 407044, Fort Lauderdale, Fl 33340, (305) 476-4393

  {allegra,codas}|novavax!utx1!davis

****************************************

 From: uunet!EDDIE.MIT.EDU!gatech!tektronix!sequent!alan (Alan Gardiner)
 To: clewis@lsuc

[inclusions from my original articld deleted]

I hope this gets through, as I do not always have good luck answering
such postings.

I have had a male albino ferret (Nick) for about three years.  He has
NEVER been in a cage, and I can not imagine ever having a ferret and
keeping him/her in a cage.

We are very close and he goes most places wth me.  He is paper-trained
most of the time.  He will have an accident when he is too far from
his papers.  They have tiny systems, and when they have to go, they
have to go.

Not keeping a ferret in a cage requires more time and patience when
they are young, but it is worht the extra effort by the time they
have matured.  Nick is a faithful compnion and will follow me most
everywhere in my house.  When I shower, he waits by the tub.
When I practice (music), he lies at the base of my stand.  By never
being in a cage, (one must have patience, its like having a very active
2 year old somtimes)-- the animal, who is smarter than any dog or cat--
has become very social.

He has NEVER been struck.  I have used voice commands with im since I
got him at the age of 6 weeks.  He has never bitten anyone, although
he sometimes plays a bit rough.

I think a cage causes a ferret to become agressive. Imagine keeping a
dog in a cage its whole life. Try to keep yours out as much as
possible.

Good luck and regards

alan gardiner

[We try as much as possible to let them out of their cages, but only
while supervised.  We felt that even after ferret proofing the rooms
we let them run around in, there are too many dangers for them.  That,
and of course since their not perfectly litter trained.]

**********************************

 From: Leonard Bottleman <uunet!tektronix!puff.GWD.TEK.COM!leonard>

Fenchurch has asked me to reply to your article. She lives with me, and
her friends, Farli, Menolly, and Tris, live on a sailboat with Bobbi, a
friend of mine who only has part-time access to the net. Both Bobbi and
I have owned ferrets for several years now, but Bobbi has a lot more
time to spend with hers, and so she knows more details about them than
me.

Bobbi and I are looking forward to hearing from you.

Leonard Bottleman            Bobbi Dyer
[log in to unmask]           [log in to unmask]

"Tomato bowling is God's gift to ferrets."
    -Farli, Menolly, and Tris

[Have you tried "practise golf balls"? The softish plastic ones with
holes. Not the brittle plastic cat toys with bells in them - our
ferrets crush them in seconds. One of the few toys ours haven't tired
of. Along with mailing tubes and some VERY ruged squeaky dog toys]

********************************

 From: ihnp4!tektronix!videovax.TEK.COM!shuju (Shu-Ju Wang-Burgess)

Well, we have 2. One male and one female. There are probably 10 ferret
owners on the net, some of them are very active and others are not. For
a

[I seem to have found most of them. 10 plus anon.]

While there I was doing a lot of correspondence with them when my
husband was doiing his senior paper on ferrets (he's a vet). I still
keep in tough with the Crandalls (I'm sure you'll hear from them).

Ours are only out when we're there to supervise them. They will use the
litter box when they feel like it. When they are feeling lazy or upset
with us for whatever reason, they won't. I had hoped to be able to
train them well enough to let them run around the house loose 24 hours
a day, but have not been very successful. They also like to harrass the
cat. So I try to give the cat some peace and quiet by keeping the
ferrets in their cage when we're gone.

If you're going to start a mailing list, be sure to add my name!
thanks.

Shu-Ju
[log in to unmask]
--

Shu-Ju Wang Burgess
UUCP: {ucbvax, allegra, uw-beaver, ihnp4,...}!tektronix!videovax!shuju

*********************************

 From: uunet!tahoe.unr.edu!janet (Janet L. Crow)
 Organization: Univ. of Nev., Reno-Mathematics

Hello! I have an albino male ferret, named alvin. He is four years old
and has run of half my apartment. His cage is now kept in my storage
area. He always uses his litter pan now that I have partioned off the
kitchen and bathroom. I feel tha tthe key to litter training is
limiting the free roaming area. Alvin is very playful, but his
playfulness is disturbing to non-ferret people. As with most ferrets he
loves to roll around with his mouth open, and teeth showing. Has anyone
else had this problem with strangers? I have had to lock him in the
bedroom when new people are over. Does anyone else out their have an
albino ferret? I have to wonder if Alvin is a little blind, he is
constantly running into things.

[Ours willsomtimes go into the mock-attack mode with or without
strangers around. Generally, we warn people about this beforehand, and
have never had any problems. In spite of the warnings from Alan
(above), our ferrets aren't aggressive, and have never drawn blood.
Little rough somtimes, but we're careful with strangers first. Tell 'em
to sit in a chair with their feet up! The main problem is with people
who subconsciously are shuting "rat!" - teeth or no teeth, there's not
a lot you can do other than keepnig the ferret well away from such
people]

Janet L. Crow
[log in to unmask]
seismo!unrvax!janet

********************************************

 From: uunet!umd5!FMPMIS!scott

[This one ended up somewhat garbled. No full name, and lins are longer
than 80 characters. Scott? Could you send me your full name and try to
keep within 80 columns? BITNET really hates it...]

o end up with more than one corner with a littler box. Life with
ferrets is not perfect! We have several books on them and have several
years worth of ob- servation to contribute to any further discussions.

[We have two really good books on ferrets. I'll mail out the references
tomorrow]

*******************************************

 From: <anon>
[censored by request - see administrivia above.  I'm probably being
a little paranoid, but I decided to even censor the state]

Hello,

I would be very interested in a ferret newsgroup. I have two ferrets,
Rascal, a male, and Shadow, a female. They are both fixed although we
did breed them once. I would like to see a discussion on what we can do
to legalize them instates where they are not legal to own. I am in that
predicament right now which is why I must request that you do not use
my name in your poll or in any other way. I bought my ferrets in Texas
in a pet shop. The owenr happened to be from [state] and when I told
her I was planning to move back to [state] after I got married she
assured me that [state] had just passed a law legalizing them. So I
ended up buying one in Janurary, enjoyed him so much I bought another
in early May, and got married and moved back home to [state] during
first week of June. Well, when I got back I asked around and found that
ferrets are still illegal to own so my ferrets now have to live a life
of secrecy. In Texas I used to take them to the mall, to the park, even
got caught sneaking them, (actually just Rascal. I hadn't gotten Shadow
yet) in a restaurant by our waitress. She was pretty cool about it
though. After we moved up and got our apartment (no pets allowed :-) )
we bred them. We kept Shadow and young in a large box in the closet.
One night we kept hearing the man who lived below us sliding his closet
door open looking for the mice or whatever that kept squeeking. he
never knew it was coming from our apartment. We ended up taking the
youngun's to a pet shop in [another state], where they are legal. Now
we live in [state], where they are debating on legalizing them but not
having much luck. People are saying that ferrets attack babies. I've
found that ferrets have

[Probably no worse than the "Dog eats baby" headlines that seem to come
out a couple of times a year. Does anybody have real references on
this? One of our ferrets, Mocha, seems to be homicidal towards babies
of ANY species (human or ferret). Just the smell of a baby - puffed up
tail etc. Tried to kill Toby when he was small (He's too big now -
they've finally become friends). Around babies we simply do not let our
ferrets run free - next thing you know the baby grabes the ferret hard,
and the ferret retaliates - as almost any other animal would.]

different personalities and you can't say all ferret attack babies any
more than you can say all pit bulls are blood thirsty monsters. I would
never own a pit bull but I refuse to condemn the breed because of a few
attacks. The attacking dogs may not have been trained to fight by they
probably came from fighting stock. Getting back to ferrets I have round
one vet that will treat my ferrets if they are sick but will not touch
them otherwise. We used to let them have their own room to run around
in but Shadow had gotten something cuaght in her intestines and we
almost lost her so now we keep them caged. They are litter boxed
trained but if they think the box is too dirty, even if its only been
used a few times, they go on the floor. Well, I gotta get back to work
so please keep in touch and lets get this newsgroup going. By the way
if I don't answer directly it's because I don't full understand how
UUCP works and have a hard time getting mail outside of [company]. Next
week I start work as a systems administrator so I'll probably learn
more. Also on my present node I'm not running Unix so that limits me
but I may have access to a Unix node on my new job.

                        Catch ya later,

[Is there a way we can help?  One fo the ferret books does have some
anecdotes on legalizing them.  I will put a reference in tomorrow.]

   ===========================================================
to send an item to the mailing list: send mail to ferret-list@spectrix
To ask a question or whatever, send mail to ferret-request@spectrix

Chris Lewis, Spectrix Microsystems Inc,
UUCP: {uunet!mnetor, utcsri!utzoo, lsuc}!spectrix!clewis
Phone: (416)-474-1955

[Posted in FML 5826]


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