This post is in response to the family whose ferrets are reading their
e-mail and discovering new things to get into.  This reminded me of a
situtation I have had with my ferrets.  In the past I have had ferrets that
just wouldn't get along and needed to be kept in different cages, which also
resulted in the need for different play times.  My first two ferrets Ebony
and Ivory were like this, and then years later Sugar and Spice would not get
along with Spot.  Anyway, there were multiple times that one group of
ferrets would begin doing a behavior and then wouldn't you know the other
group would start up with the same thing suddenly.  Now it would be easy to
explain that one of the ferrets saw the other one doing something and thus
copied them.  But the strange thing was that living in a bi-level home, most
of these behaviors have occurred on a separate floor, out of sight of the
other ferrets.  Examples have been suddenly and obsessively digging at a
door, dumping over their water bowl in the kitchen, getting into the couch
from underneath, playing with a toy or climbing on furniture that was
previously ignored.  The only logical theory I can come up with is that
maybe there are scent clues that influence their behavior.  But what I
really wonder is, do my ferrets talk to each other?  :) Has anyone else
experienced this?
 
                                Sincerely,
                                Betsy
                                Bonnie and Clyde, and Satchmo and Dizzy.
[Posted in FML issue 1824]