In October 1993, I lived in a apartment in Silver Spring, MD.  The postman
was still filling the mailboxes and I went down to the garage to see if
there was anything in my car I need to bring up.  While at my car a rat ran
across my foot and I shrieked like woman.
 
I look down and there is a Sable ferret on the ground with its paws on my
legs looking up at me.  My friend had a ferret once so I've seen them
before, but in the back of my mind I'm thinking *DANGER*, possible rabies!
It looked harmless enough, and definately hungry so I picked it up and took
it up to my apartment.  The only food I had for it was rasins, so I left a
bowlful and went to see my property manager.  She told me there were two
families with ferrets in the building.  One was the fix-it guy, (not his),
and the other lived on the top floor.
 
The woman on the top floor got a weird look on her face which I asked if she
was missing a ferret.  Hers had died the week before.  I showed her mine and
she told me it was young and hers had been much older.  (She was worried
that she had thrown away a live ferret!) She lent me a ferret instruction
book, and I went out and bought cat food and litter.  When I got home, I
found out why you don't feed ferrets a bowl full of raisins.  Back to the
store for club soda and vinegar, and I was set (and the stain hadn't.)
 
I was concerned about getting the ferret back to her family until the next
day.  In the garage, next to the dumpster where people leave unwanted
furniture that sometimes ends up in my appartment, I found a ferret cage
(That also ended up in my apartment) The turds had not been cleaned out in
months.  The ferret was now with me and I named him Spike.  Three weeks
later I took him to the vet and, a la Lou Reed, now he was a she.  But she
is still Spike.
 
Now I live in Colorado.  I bought a baby silver-mit male at a pet store as a
companion for Spike.  I named him Ziggy.  The vet says he'll never be more
than two pounds because the pet store neutered him too young.  I like my
ferrets and they like me.
 
CLIPPING NAILS WITH BRIBES.  I used to put a drop of linatone/ferratone on
their belly while I clipped their nails.  It seemed they would allow me to
amputate a leg as long as they could still lick their belly.  But I didn't
like the idea of always bribing them.  So now we wrestle when I clip their
nails, and it is getting easier, and I give them treats afterwards.
 
If there is one secret to dealing with ferrets, it is to spend more time
with them.  They will reward you well.  When I don't spend as much time,
they miss the liter box more.  But they've been so good lately, and I've
been leaving them out of the cage for days at a time.
 
CAGE BUILDING As I've mentioned earlier, I got a free cage when someone
threw theirs out.  Big cage, multi level, came with drainage pipe and a
hammock.  I want to build a large scale habitrail that connects ferret safe
areas with short sections of drainage pipe.  I want to build cage extension.
They cage I have uses 1x2 mesh for walls and 1x1/2 mesh for the top floor.
(It is all carpeted now) I can find the 1x2 in stores, but I can't find the
1x1/2 anywhere.  The cage also uses 'clips' to join mesh sections.  The
clips are nice.  They look like a half inch square rolled in a cylinder,
except one end has a notch cut out from one end and attached to the other
end to make a smooth cylinder.  I realize this is a commercial cage, but I
don't see any reason why someone couldn't make these clips commercially
available.  I'd buy them.
 
BITING (Crowley Cabal) I find nothing strange about biting my ferret.  They
did it first.  Usually I flick and shout, but once in a while when they get
really ornery, I bite them hard enough to get a hiss, leave them alone for a
few minutes, spit out the hairs, then go back to pet them to show I hold no
grudges.
 
Ed Belisle
 
(Sorry, no amusing tagline.)
[Posted in FML issue 1246]