We hear ferret screams daily around here, every time we have a
getting-to-tolerate-you session between Eloise & Sabine and two of the new
guys, Bizzy and Jake.  (Baby is feeling to delicate to be terrorized.) Jake
sometimes screams if one of the girls latches onto his head before he is
backed safety in the couch where he can cry and whimper without being bitten
(and he is a pound bigger than the bigger of the two).  They have never
drawn a drop of blood, but it sounds like they are ripping an ear off.
 
Bizzy is my favorite screamer, though.  She is at least 6yo, boney and a bit
stiff.  She is also mostly pink because she has temporarily decided to be a
nudist instead of a silver.  (We think her coat is coming back.) In other
words, this old lady is a real sight to begin with.  When E&S are out with
her, she sits in the end of a dryer tube like a wolf spider in its hole and
SCREAMS if anyone comes within six inches of her.  It works, too.  They
won't come near her unless she is wandering unsuspecting in the middle of
the room and they can attack from behind.  (I supervise these sessions so
that I can put Bizz in a tube when she needs one.  A ferret without hair is
a ferret who does get little cuts from teeth and nails.)
 
BTW, has anyone else found that their naked ferts smell wonderful?  Bizz
smells as sweet as a new baby.  The vet tech commented on it the minute she
picked her up to cuddle her, so I know it is not just us and our wild bias
in Bizzy's favor.  (We only see her very beautiful face and we love to
cuddle her near our noses.  To us she's gorgeous.  We do want to see what
her fur looks like some day, of course.  She was pretty naked when we got
her before her surgery.)
 
Judith
[Posted in FML issue 1599]