Hello everyone,
Yes another Amy is out here!  I just wanted to comment
on showing ferrets to school children.  Make sure when you let the
children pet the ferret, you present the ferret tail end first.  The
ferret knows who you are but does not know who these little people
are.  One of the first rules I learned about showing ferrets is that
you hand your ferret to the judges tail first so the fuzzy doesn't get
scared.  We tend to focus however, on what the ferrets might do but
not on what unspeakable acts unpredictable little humans might
perform.  For instance, When I was displaying ferrets at the Blue
Spring Manatee Festival last January I let a little girl see Sneakers.
She must have been about 2.5 years old.  Her mother was holding her at
the time.  Since Sneakers doesn't bite, I presented her sideways to
the little girl.  The little girl reached out as if to pet Sneakers
but grabbed Sneaker's little head and squeezed.  I shreeked and the
little girl's mommy gave the little girl a spank.  Oooo!  Poor
Sneakers looked at me funny.  The mother apologized and the little
girl hopefully learned a lesson.
 
At our display tent we had big signs that said Do Not Touch the
Ferrets in the Cage.  These signs were all over the tables and cages.
This did not, however, bother one little boy who decided to stick his
fingers in a cage.  One of our pandas was not having a good day and
did not want to be visited by a strange smelling little boy so she
nipped at him.  I asked him if he had seen the signs and he gave me a
dumb look.  I told him he should have known better than to have stuck
his finger in any type of animal's cage.  He ran away and we never saw
him again, nor did we get visited by an angry mother.  The boy was old
enough to read the signs.  Advice: Make sure you explicitly tell the
school children that they are NOT to stick their fingers in the cage.
Raise your voice if you have to do so.  There is always one kid who
has a 2 second attention span.  In order to convey a positive message
about ferrets we need to ensure a positive environment.  Safety first.
Have lots of ferret fun at school!
 
Happy note: I finally got a second ferret.  Her name is Socks.  I did
not realize the Pres. Clinton's cat's name was Socks at the time I
named my new fuzzy.  The name just fits so well with my Sneakers.
Socks is a sock thief by trade and she loves our remote control.  The
remote is now stashed in a very high place!  Socks loves orange
Gatoraide.  She goes ballistic when I am drinking it.  It doesn't have
sugar in it so I guess it's okay.  She and Sneakers get along
famously.  Yah!  My two ferrets are also my natural cockroach pest
control.   They love to chase the little buggers around.  Actually
the roaches aren't little in Florida.
 
Byebye!
 
Sneakers and Socks
and
---(: Amy Eller, Vice-President, Central Florida Ferret Friends :)---
---   [log in to unmask]                                          ---
 
[Posted in FML issue 0599]