In yesterday's list, Mo'Bob wrote:
 
>Ferrets will only go after those things that they recognize, by odor, as
>food, and birds don't smell like rats.
 
First off, I'd like to make it clear that I agree that the majority of
ferrets would not hack it out in the wilderness.  That said, I kinda
wondered when I read this statement.  Amelia eats all sorts of bugs with
great gusto, and I've certainly never done anything to make her think they
were food.  She's eaten beetles, caterpillars, moths, and spiders.  She
doesn't waste much time playing with them, either, the way a cat would.  The
beetles I could maybe understand if the food companies used ground-up beetle
casings to dye the food, but the other stuff?  What gives?
 
Ferrets and tabasco: Amelia loves it too-- I tried putting some on my
fingers when she was a little nipper (so to speak), and she licked it right
off.  Which meant, I suppose, that she wasn't biting me, so either way, the
stuff works.  I think if it were that painful to them, they wouldn't eat it.
Maybe different ferrets have different levels of tolerance, just like
different people do.
 
It can't really be almost September already, can it?  What's with all these
frosh on campus?  And why do they look younger and younger every year?
 
Regina, Amelia ("I'll have a little hot sauce on those bugs, please")
and Cully
 
*********************************************
Regina Harrison
PhD Student, Anthropology
Joint Co-ordinator, AGSEM-- McGill's TA union
McGill University
Montreal, Quebec
[Posted in FML issue 1675]