LIGHT CYCLES and HEALTHY FERRETS: The point I was making about adrenal
disease and unnatural light cycles was: I think you'll find that most people
who keep their ferrets as pets are exposing them to unnatural light sources,
so it would be difficult to make any correlation through people on the fml.
I read a report recently which says that humans will naturally adjust into a
25hr circadian cycle in the absence of other cues (eg clocks, natural
lighting) - if this is the case, then working to a 24 hour day doesn't seem
to do us too much damage, so I wonder whether artificial lighting would be
likely to cause illness in ferrets.  BUT, there do seem to be other
differences between Aussie & American ferrets - differences in diet, in
size, in lifestyle, in breeding history - just thought that these could also
play a part.
 
TRAINING FERRETS NOT TO NIP: with Sinbad and Che, our first babies, we had
little understanding of the ferret psyche and subscribed to the 'whack on
the nose' negative reinforcement school of thought.  Unfortunately, what
they seem to learn is that YOU are a NASTY PERSON who WHACKS them on the
NOSE!!  No wonder they just kept on biting!  Every time they got a tap on
the nose they just got angrier and angrier...We had a bit more experience
when we bought Millie - she has never been smacked, whacked, tapped...when
she bit, I would just force my finger right back into her mouth so she
realised finger was NOT a good thing to have in her mouth.  Then I would
hold her, even if she struggled, and calmly explain to her "No Bite,
Millie", until she stopped struggling and settled down.  Do I need to point
out - Sinbad, now a big girl, still has a tendency to nip when she is
excited or grumpy, or if you hold her against her will...but Millie is the
gentlest kissiest girl imaginable (although still completely berserk), and
if she does happen to nip when we're playing the towel game, as soon as she
realises it's finger she's biting, she is all contrition and starts licking
and kissing it to make up.  I honestly believe that gentle, friendly
training is the only way to go...if you act aggressive to them, they'll just
be aggressive right back.  Of course, toes are a different story...I have
solved the problem by ALWAYS wearing thick socks around the house...they can
attack, but not hurt.  Once again, if they bite too hard, they get picked up
and held until they settle down...
 
ABUSED FERRET: There's nothing I can say that everyone's not already
feeling...but I was talking to a friend recently about cruelty to
animals...he has this belief - when animal abusers die, they are met at the
threshold of the next world by the creatures they abused...He thought they
would avenge themselves then...but I think maybe remorse and forgiveness
would be a more just punishment.  Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say is
that letting ourselves get all eaten up with anger and thoughts of revenge
is not going to help that poor baby, and it's not going to help us.  People
continue to care in this world because they DON'T focus on the negative
things, but insist on seeing the beauty as well.  What Dayna has done to
help that poor baby is a beautiful thing, and I hope that once he's
recovered and come to terms with what's been done to him, even with missing
paws, his life will still be beautiful too.  If you focus on what is cruel
and ugly in this world, you partly help the cruelty to win out by not seeing
the joy and wonder that this world also contains...and to me, ferrets are
one of the purest symbols of joy.
 
Warmest regards to all,
Sophie, Sinbad Snugglebear and the Milliemonster...
[Posted in FML issue 1569]