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    This article is a little late, but better late than never. About 4 weeks ago
I adopted my first (of many? we'll see. :) ferret from the local Humane Society.
He's a male (he's a male? isn't that a little redundant? :) sable. I've named
him Buddy (I call him Bud for short). I had been in touch with a local breeder,
but preferred to adopt an abandoned ferret from the Humane Society (save one
from 'death row', as it were). I was phoning the Humane Society about once a
week, but they never had any ferrets. I had just about decided to buy a 2 year
old female from the breeder when I gave the Humane Society one more chance. And
voila! They had just gotten a ferret in. I went down to see him; he looked
healthy and seemed very tame (inquisitive, not afraid of people, didn't bite
at all). He did seem a little scared, possibly of the strange people and sur-
roundings. He was shaking like a leaf while I was holding him, poor guy. After
about 15 minutes I decided to adopt him.
 
     I've had Buddy in for a check-up and shots at a local vet (one who was
most recommended by the other vets around town for treating ferrets). Although
the Humane Society figured he was about 9 months old, the vet thinks he's at
least a year, possibly more. I'm setting his honorary birthday to the date I
adopted him, May 8th. Buddy seems to be in excellent health except for a case
of ear mites. The vet treated it and cleaned out his ears, and gave me a pre-
scription which I have to spray in Buddy's ears for two 4-day periods, two
weeks apart. This requires shoving the end of the bottle right into Buddy's
ear (the vet says it's necessary in order to get the spray deep enough into
the ear canal); needless to say he hates it, and won't sit still for it. One
time he shook his head after I did this, spraying me with ear medicine (giving
me a taste of my own medicine, I guess :). Oh, yes, in case any of you are
wondering, Buddy was previously neutered.
 
     What else can I tell you about Buddy? He's cute as the Dickens, a little
small for a male from what I understand (about 2 1/4 lbs). He loves to explore,
and will circle the condo endlessly, sniffing along the wall, or snooping under
the couch, with the occasional break to explore an empty cereal box or plastic
bag. He has no interest in the toys I bought for him, and gets more enjoyment
from crawling through an old newspaper. Sometimes he lies flat on the carpet
and pushes himself along a little ways with just his hind feet (*now* I see why
they're called carpet sharks). One cute thing he does involves litter training.
For the time being I'm trying to confine his bathroom activities to the litter
box in his cage. After he wakes up in the morning and evening I don't let him
out until he does his thing. When I see he's awake I greet him and ask 'are you
gonna poop?'. He then usually heads straight for the litter box, assumes the
position, and looks at me with an expression of concentration or expectation for
3 or 4 seconds. He then turns around to see if he did anything, and if not he
tries again. It usually takes 3 or 4 tries, and it's extremely funny and cute
to watch. Sometimes he leaves the litter box without doing anything, and I say
'I don't see any poop.', whereupon he usually tries again. If he just hasn't
got it in him ;) he generally goes back to sleep after this. I've felt sorry
for him and let him out a few times when he didn't seem able to go, only to
discover him squatting in a doorway a few minutes later (which then makes *me*
feel guilty when I have to scold him. Sigh. :). Another problem is that he
occasionally gets it into his head that his litter box is a *great* place to
dig. When this happens, his cage and the surrounding area become a mess in
fairly short order. I scold him whenever I catch him doing this, and it seems
to help in the short term, but I still sometimes find he has been doing this
when I'm not around. As a result I'm hesitant to start setting out multiple
litter pans around the place, because I'm afraid he'll dig them out too. It
may be that I've made a poor choice in the type of litter I'm using. It's a
sand-like self-clumping litter, which makes scooping easy, but is also easy
to dig up, or even to track around just getting in and out of the litter box.
Does anyone have any alternative litter suggestions?
 
     I'm trying to figure out some games we can enjoy together. He doesn't seem
to like wrestling or being tickled; he just squirms away. He also doesn't seem
to like being held, and is indifferent to petting, which is a little disappoint-
ing. :( Oh, well, I realize that each ferret has his/her own personality. One
thing he does like to do sometimes is lick. He will lick my fingers, or my legs
or feet (yuck!), or even my face sometimes when I'm holding him. He'll some-
times keep at it for up to a minute (don't know if he's being affectionate or
trying to meet his daily salt requirements :). He will do this right after I
shower, or after a hard sweaty work day, or seemingly any other time he feels
like it (of course, he also sometimes licks his butt, but I'd rather not think
about that :). He *is* learning to sit still when I hold him, but seems like he
would rather be on the floor and in constant motion (actually, after his vet
check-up he surprised me by sitting still while I held him and petted him for
about 20 minutes. I guess he needed some comforting; having his temperature
taken can't have been too pleasant, and the rest of the examination couldn't
have been all that much fun either). He seems to like to play a sort of tag,
except I do all the chasing. He kind of hops away from me sideways, while
looking back at me and making excited noises. As a result he doesn't look
where he's going, and tends to crash into things a lot (though he doesn't seem
to care). Another game he enjoys is when I shake a plastic bag over him, then
bring it down over-top of him like a parachute. He will sit up and jump or bat
at the bag as it is coming down, then will crawl around inside it for a while
after it lands on him, after which we do it again. Does anyone have any sugges-
tions for other games we might enjoy together?
 
     One more thing. I'd like to teach Buddy to come when he is called, but
don't know how to go about it. Currently he usually looks at me when I say
'Hey, Bud', but shows no tendency to come, and sometimes moves away if I reach
for him. I am very hesitant to take him out except in his pet carrier or in
his harness (which he doesn't seem to like, and which he seems able to slip at
least halfway out of given the chance; the puzzling thing is, it's usually the
back half that he slips out of). I am afraid that if he gets away from me he
will go off exploring on his own and get lost or hurt (he shows no fear of new
places, and just *has* to explore them). There are a lot of hazards for a ferret
in a non-ferret-proofed house (my place is ferret proofed, but friends' and
family's naturally are not), and there are even more hazards out of doors.
Any suggestions?
 
John Rosloot, computer technician
University of Regina; Regina, Sask, Canada
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[Posted in FML issue 0261]