It's been quite a while since I posted, but I have a couple questions.  I
got one ferret, then a second one about 4 months later.  The second one was
abused with the tool of loneliness (weeks at a time).  Her owner also let
her get her claws on AND SWALLOW some yarn.  When I first got her, she was
so unferrety and abused that I was folding clothes, shook lint off of a
towel and she started screaming as tho I had hurt her.  Since then (about a
year now) she's come a long way, although you can still see problems from
her abuse.  She tends to hide in a corner and sleep, and tense up when you
pick her up.  However, I'm happy to saw that after the first two months
with me, she's dooking again, wrestling with Nosey, chewing on shoes, and
sniffing ears.  Nosey follows me around as though he's a lost puppy.  I
walk 10 steps and there he is at my feet, looking up at me.
 
I just have a couple questions, I noticed that Nosey (who is older than
Neeko) LOVES to have the back of his neck scratched.  He'll fall over
letting you scratch his neck.  Neeko never used to like this attention
until recently... now she loves it too.  Is this a sign of a certain age
group?
 
Also, in preparation for the coming snow, I'd like my kids to experience
snow.  I know that if I go and out during cold whether too fast, I get
bronchitis.  Do I have to worry about this with my ferrets?  Or can I just
take them outside to romp in the cold white stuff?
 
Nosey has the habit of scratching his hammock as tho he's trying to dig
through it.  Makes an annoying when he does this to one of the hammocks but
the other one used to have fur on it.  Now the fur's gone.  Is this
instinct and can it be broken??
 
Final question, My ferrets' cage is about ready to be replace although I
don't have the money to replace it.  The bottom is rusting out and the
more I mess with the cage, the worse it gets.  In the interest of trying to
get the cage to last longer, I've been refraining from changing the litter
as often as I used to.  There's jsut one problem with doing that.... sniff
sniff.... the smell!  Is there anything I can add to the litter to keep the
smell down (Like maybe Baking Soda/Powder) that won't affect them??
 
Thanx
[Posted in FML issue 2502]