Hello to all--
First, I'd like to express more support for Debi, sympathy for all those who
have lost fuzzies, and all those in dire financial straits-- I'm making all
my Christmas gifts out of papier-mache (which I finally pronounce correctly
now that I live in Quebec).
 
Next, screaming, and as I write that I hear a shriek in the background from
Amelia.  She never really screamed before we brought home Cully- she screams
non-stop at him while they fight.  It's very stressful for the humans
around, I never can tell how seriously to take the noise.  Oddly, now that
we have Cully, I realize that as I had suspected Amelia is rather hard of
hearing-- not completely deaf, but her hearing is far inferior to Cully's.
She's a badger/panda type, with the white knees and all.  So I wonder if
she's just screaming so loudly because that's the only way she herself can
hear it?  I think there is a definite component of calling mommy for help,
too, because she'll leap into my arms if she can find me after a fight.
 
Finally, on fighting: Amelia's been getting little puncture wounds from
Cully on a regular basis.  She's got very thick fur right now, so he is
biting her very hard.  He's getting better with the humans, but not with
Amelia.  I've put Bitter Apple on Amelia, which does deter Cully, but Amelia
immediatley rubs it all off on the carpet, so it has a very limited time
span of effectiveness.  Is it normal for one ferret to bite another so hard?
Am I being overprotective of my fluffy baby that I raised from a kit, and
should I just chill?  It's been three weeks since we introduced the two
ferrets.
 
On the positive side, Cully's getting better with people.  I find that I can
often talk him out of biting, which is infintitely preferable to any other
way of stopping him.  And since he is a very hard biter, I would not have
expected this to work at all.  Just goes to show, I suppose, how different
ferrets can be from one another!
 
Regina ("if elongated phalanges are signs of endocrine disease, could
that mean that Scully is right about the massacre victims?)
Cully ("stop calling me Scully-- I'm a _boy_")
Amelia ("and boys are nasty things, too")
[Posted in FML issue 1403]