Hello folks!
 
Here's a quick question for everyone.  (Someone stole my idea of asking
about our ferrets' toys!  Drat.) What kinds of things do you give your
ferrets as treats?  My guys get Cheerios and Ferretone and a soft chew
treat called, I believe, Chicken Drumsticks.  I've also discovered that
Whiskas Treats, the little bitty heart shaped things that come in a shaker
can, are absolute ambrosia, no, make that crack to ferrets and cats.  All
of my animals will practically take your fingers off for these treats.
And as they are ridiculously small treats, no bigger than a small pea, my
fingers get chomped alot.  I've also used these treats to get a reluctant
cat to actually eat her canned food.  I just sprinkle the treats on the
food and she'll eat anything.
 
I've a suggestion for everyone in regards to ways to keep the litter box in
it's corner of the cage.  I've drilled holes in the lip of my litter pans
and I use telephone wire scraps to secure the litter box to the cage.  The
ends of the wire are outside the cage.  None of my ferrets has ever gone
after the wire and even my cats haven't chewed on it.  Without this, the
boxes have ended up all over the place, including tipped over on their
side.  I may be spoiling the ferrets' fun, but it's better than having to
scrape poo out of the empty corners of the cage.
 
What are my ferrets' favorite toys?  They've got tons of jingle and rattle
balls.  Skittles adores those and will run around the room pushing one with
her nose.  I've given the gang a number of little stuffed toys, mostly the
McDonald's happy meal ones.  Again, Skittles likes them.  She collects them
one by one and stashes them behind the cages.  I bought one of the clear
dryer type tubes which they like.  There have been times when there have
been 6 ferrets all stuffed in the tube.  It was a triumph to see Sam
actually squeeze his way thru it the other day.  He's getting trimmer.
I've also discovered the joy of empty paper bags.  The boys especially love
to hide in them and to pounce on them.  How does the commercial go?  If
it's free, it's a big hit.  I won't give them any plastic bags, even
supervised, because I learned as a child that a plastic bag is not a toy,
and that lesson remains strong.  I think I'll get the kids a Krinkle Sack
instead.  Other than that, the ferrets play mostly with each other, the
occasional cat twin (Only my silver tabby sisters will play with the
ferrets, tho it's more like they get beat on by the ferrets!), or me.
They like for me to wave a towel over them so they can leap and dance to
catch it.
 
re: ear sucking.  When I first got my boy, Christopher, he was very young
and I had to feed him mush for a few weeks.  (Yes, he's a pet store ferret,
a MF boy, shipped too young.  What can I say?  I fell in love with his
black eyeshadow.) Anyway, when he finally was introduced to the rest of the
group, Demetri, my first ferret and bestest boy, took to him immediately.
I would find them both curled in a hammock, with Demetri sucking on Chris'
ears.  Chris spent most of his time with wet ears.  I thought it was sweet.
 
Also, could someone point me to the Ferret Geek List?  I already read this
list and the ADV list (Remember ADV?  We still need to work on getting the
research funded, people.  Let's not let this slip again like it has in the
past.)   I'd like to see what the Geek list is like.  Any source of
information is good.
 
Thanks to everyone. Scritches to the furred.
 
Anastasia Kidd
home email: [log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 2979]