To Judith White: Re: Ferrtet 'odor' in humid weather.
The mention of more frequent bathing begs another question. I guess I'm
lucky, but my two new fuzzies actually seem to like the water. I've put
them in the tub several times with about an inch or two of mildy lukewarm
water at the drain end of the tub. Missy, my little girl (yes, I settled on
Miss-Chif and call her Missy for short), isn't as entusiastic as Bilbo, but
as soon soon as Bilbo kicks the first "water polo" goal, she can't resist.
Bilbo, on the other hand, doesn't even seem to notice that he is prancing
around in knee deep water. I'm not sure what he thinks he's doing, but
sometimes he'll sniff around the dry end of the tub and then suddenly take
off racing toward the "deep end of the pool", never taking his nose off the
bottom of the tub. By the time he reaches the deepest water (maybe 2") he
looks almost like an otter slithering along, but he just seems determined
not to come up for air 'til he reaches the drain. The last time I ran a tub
for them, I decided to see how they'd act if the water was running.
Cautious lil' Missy, didn't seem to notice the noise or activity generated
by the running water, but as the water level rose, she'd get her feet wet,
shake them off, and nonchalantly take a step or two toward the dry end of
the tub, only to turn right around, as if to say, "Wait a minute, don't I
like this 'water polo' game?" Bilbo, however, was a true Hobbit adventurer.
He stood at the edge of the water and splashed the water with his prancing
two front feet. He was OBVIOUSLY very aware that there was a new noise and
a new activity going on at the other end of HIS swimming pool. Suddenly, he
wiggled his nose back and forth a couple of times in the air, then buried it
underneath the water and took off. He had about 2 1/2 feet to go to get to
that chrome-capped waterfall. He went right for it and was frantically
swimming straight up the water spout before coming up for air. I had never
seen him move so fast and it was a bit frightening. He would repeatedly
retreat a few inches away, and then attack the running water, so adamently
burying his nose that I was concerned he might drown himself. I swear he
was trying to swim up the column of slashing, runnng water so he could
slither out the water pipe to some new adventure. Those of you that know me
from my previous meanderings here on the FML, know that I've had just about
every kind of pet imaginable (have I mentioned that I once owned a
tarantula), but the only pet I've ever had that took to water more
enthusiastically than Bilbo, was, Fred, a fish.
I have yet to introduce shampoo and I always very carefully wrap them up in
their own bath towels to playfully dry them off (yes, Bilbo has a green one
and Missy has a beige one).
QUESTIONS: Is a daily romp in the tub OK if they don't get lathered up
every time? How often is it OK to use shampoo? What is the best shampoo
for these guys? Is Johnson's Baby Shampoo OK, or, should I try to find
some kinda special Ferret Shampoo?
Question to Hope (or anyone else) re: Traveling with Ferrets:
I live less than 10 miles from the dreaded California border (on the
safe-for-ferrets-side thankfully). Traveling west from here on I-80 you'll
encounter a very imposing complex that is manned by uniformed California
officials. Usually, I just say I returning from Reno and they wave me thru,
but I have never traveled with ferts before. Your FML post stopped me cold.
QUESTION: What would happen if I got to that road-block and they chose my
car for inspection (which I've been told they randomly do)? Would they let
me turn around and go home with my furry friends, or,............... :-(
In response to Hope's comment about Bitter-Apple:
To everyone that mentioned Bitter-Apple Spray: Thank you, Thank you, Thank
you, so far anyway. I have lots and lots of computer cables. A daily
squirt of this stuff on my floor-bound computer equipment has (thus far)
been all that was needed to keep these guys prancing around the edges of my
cable jungle.
[Posted in FML issue 1488]
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