Hi, everyone,
 
Hi again from Huntsville, Alabama.  (By the way, if there are any other
north Alabama people here, I'd sure like to meet you.  I've had ferrets for
a little over a year now and have yet to meet anyone else in my area, even
though the pet stores are selling the guys like hotcakes.)
 
I've been reading about the "lick, lick, CHOMP" thing and thought I'd add my
$0.02.
 
I have three ferrets (which, by the way, you can now see on my very simple
web page: http://fly.hiwaay.net/~guys ) and of the three, only one does
this... sorta.  Buster, who will be a year old next month, licks me while
I'm holding him.  He licks just about anywhere there is exposed skin, but
usually ends up licking my arm or leg while I'm sitting in the floor holding
him.  Most of the time I have to actually stop him because my skin starts
hurting!  I've sort of wondered if this was a mutual-grooming-type behavior.
I usually use the time that he's licking me to inspect him for fleas.  (He
had 10 on him a few months ago due to a friend who let Buster play outside
while babysitting.) When my skin has had enough (Boy!  Their tongues can get
ROUGH after a while!) I put him down and he follows me around for a while,
until something else distracts him....(like Guy, in the kitchen, fiddling
with ANY type of food!)
 
Snookie, on the other hand, will lick you when he has been playing for quite
a bit (either with the other two ferts, with Guy, or with me).  If you
ignore him, he stratches you, NONSTOP, trying to get your attention.  If you
still ignore him, he'll lick the place he was just stratching you and will
start the whole "stratch, stratch, stratch, lick, lick, lick"-thing over
again.  I've actally watched him do this to Buster when Buster was wanting
to take a nap and Snookie was wanting to play.
 
Boomer, my 1 1/2 year old, will sometimes lick you when you wake him up from
a nap, but that's about it...unless, of course, you just happen to have
peanut butter on your hands... :-)
 
-Mark Zmyewski
 Lockheed Martin Missiles & Space
 Huntsville, Alabama
[Posted in FML issue 1645]