Hello all :)
 
   Well i've been lurking here at the FML for a month or two now and i
suppose it's time for an introduction.  My boyfriend, Steve, and I
(Erin) live with 2 wonderful little female fuzzies, Poe and Raven.
Both are a little over 5 months old now, Poe being about a week or two
older.  Both were purchased from pet stores, before i knew quite so
much as i do now.  Poe is a MF ferret and Raven possibly is (however
the pet store said she came from a breeder in texas...but had no other
info.  so maybe).  I live in Albuquerque, New Mexico and as far as i
know, there are no breeders in the state (i think a trip to a
breeder/shelter in texas, arizona, or colorado is in order for our next
fuzzy).  A little group of us from the university have been getting
together for ferret socials the past few months and perhaps a club will
evolve, I'm not aware of any other such groups here in Albq.
 
   Anyway, both are sable, Raven being the classical adorable ferret
complete with perfect little racoon mask.  Poe is a bit lighter with a
lighter skinnier mask, white bib, white tip on tail, white stripe down
the back of her head, white toes and adorable white tipped knees.  I
purchased both fairly young 6wks, and 9wks and are wonderful little
girls with the occasional "mess" other than the litter box.  They have
complete run of the hallway, master-bedroom and bathroom when we're
away, and get run of the livingroom and elsewhere when we're around.  I
can't believe how much they've stolen our hearts and my heart goes out
to all of you with sick fuzzies and to those who have lost your beloved
friend.  I can't say how much i have enjoyed all the stories and
information, the FML and FAQ have been wonderful.
 
To Russ:
 
   I just read about how your little one likes to sleep under the bed in
the material stapled to the boxspring.  This too, used to be one my
little girls favorite spots, they'd always be curled up under the bed
hanging in a warm little lump.  However, i have a rather old boxspring
set, with padding all around the edges, i'm not quite sure what the
padding is made of, some sort of material anyway :). Anyway they
started pulling some of the padding out, which didn't bother me too
much at first...i just kept an eye on them.  One day though, little
raven crawled up on the bed next to me and started coughing and
gagging.  She then vomited up a rather large piece of bedding.  She
vomited about 3 times in the course of a few seconds...i took her to
her water bottle and she drank some and laid there for a bit...she then
got up and ate some and immediately vomitted again...you can imagine my
panic...i was so frightened she had a blockage and would need
surgery...i immediately called the vet (this all happened around
midnight) they said to keep an eye on her and see if the vomiting
continued etc...She stayed still for a while, but was soon up eating
and playing normally again, i kept a close eye one her and luckily she
managed to get it all out.  Anyway, I immediately bought new covering
for under the bed, but also stapled some extra fabric under there in
the same spot as a sort of hammock...they didn't seem to go for it as
well, but took up house in the bottom drawer of my nightstand and even
sleep with us on the bed sometimes :)
   .....to make matters worse....a few weeks later we were heading out for
dinner when i realized i hadn't seen Raven around when i was getting
ready and hadn't checked on her when we left...i had a horrible sinking
feeling and made steve turn the car around...we got back and sure
enough...no sign of Raven...but Poe came out to greet us...then started
the hour long search of tearing the house apart...searching the
basement (with it's many holes to the outside...running outside,
squeaking the toy (knowing how scared little Raven gets sometimes) i was
fighting back tears, when we finally found her in the silly hammock
under the bed that they had previously ignored!!!  and as far as I
know, they haven't used it since... ah the joys of ferret parenting :)
 
   Anyway...i've taken up far to much room...and thanks again for all the
fun the FML has been...oh and by the way...does anyone know of an
address or catalogue etc that i could order "Totally ferret" from...the
pet stores here all sell over priced tiny bags of Hartz ferret food or
the like...I'm currently feeding them a mix of Marshall Ferret Diet and
Science Diet Kitten food...but i don't feel right ordering another bag
of MF diet, knowing they sell ferrets for medical research....thanks a
bunch!
 
Erin, Steve, Poe, Raven & Edgar (the rat) and Allen (the Betta (siamese fighting
 fish))
 
(yes the names are a bit excessive, but it all started very innocently)
[Posted in FML issue 1065]