Hi
 
I've been lurking awhile.  So I guess I'll come out into the oopen.  I
currently have two of these critters.  I have had several over the last five
years and I miss them all.  My first intro to ferrets was a little rescue
named Felicia.  She was the Mother of All Ferrets.  A pretty good trick for
a spay.  Everytime she went into heat she was bred and in a short while
would develop all the signs of motherhood, rounded belly etc.  then just
fizzle, strangest thing.  She was a sable.  I've noticed a few posts about
ferrets pining for lost friends, yes I think it does happen but when Felicia
died the soul went out of her human.  He died about a year later.  He was
never the same and had a terminal illness that progressed.
 
Next came Maggie, a silvermit jill, and a biter of ankles, toes and little
girls.  She had a litter and was eventually returned to the adoption center
as a breeder.  She never did become a pet.  These were neighbor ferrets,
only visitors but they worked their magic.
 
My first, was a sable female called Keeper.  Sweet tempered affectionate and
fond of cashmere mufflers.  I had her for about a year when she started to
act kind of lonely, and listless.  So we took a trip to the ferret farm to
find a playmate.  That's where we met Ferris.  He was in a cage by himself
and was the only guy that showed any interst in us as we walked around.  We
were told he had an attitude problem, was great with people but didn't get
on well with other ferrets.
 
I held Keeper up to his cage, they sniffed and seemed ok so we put them in
together to see what would happen.  Nothing!  Then we turned our backs and
all hell broke lose.  The ferret guy at the farm said they wouldn't ever get
along but I had a feeling and suggested that we wait for a while to see what
happened.  They calmed down and just stared at each other from across the
cage.  So Ferris came home on a trial basis.  He was the finest of ferrets.
Everything that can be said to extoll ferret virtues Ferris had in
abundance.  Curious,affectionate, loveable, playful, you know the drill a
reall heart stealer.
 
It took a while (about 6 months) for them to start getting along.  Keeper
would walk up to Ferris, start licking on his neck, work her way up to his
ear and CHOMP!  She had him afraid to sleep.  They didn't really fight, he
would just go somewhere she wasn't. I finally had enough.  I picked them up
one day, one in each hand and said, in a stern Baptist voice "We all live
here together and we are going to get along.  Now bump noses!"  The most
amazing thing happened!  The next day they were sleeping together in the
undershirt drawer.  She was curled up and he was wound around her.  After
that they played together and behaved like litter mates, he even started to
fight back.  He had a very unique way of letting her know he didn't want his
ears bit.  He would wait till she had licked up to an ear then draw his
front leg under himself, push himself with his back legs and steamroll over
her.  She hated it!  She would squeal, hiss and dance around when he was
finished.  She wasn't hurt, just indignant.  I never saw him bite her even
in play.
 
I had to give them away, I was not well and just couldn't care for them any
longer.  I recovered and about a year later I was out to lunch with a friend
and she said, "Charles, I think you miss your ferrets."  I allowed as that
might be true.  Later that evening she called and told me of an ad add in
the paper.  "Free to a good home"  I called and Grendel came into my life.
A six month old sable descented/n male with the funniest red hard rubber
troll squeaky toy.  It was actually about as large as he was at the time.  I
would throw his monster down the hall and he would chase it and drag it back
to his cage.  Glaring at me all the while for playing w/ his toys.  He
couldn't carry it it was so large.  He would bite into it and start to move
and trip over the thing.  It was hilarious.  then one day I threw it and he
actually picked it up and carried it.  That was when I gave up any belief
that animals don't feel emotion.  The little guy was bursting with pride!
He didn't just carry it he pranced!  A note: Ferris started me thinking that
maybe more went on behind those beedy eyes than I was giving credit.  I took
him out for a walk once.  He didn't really like going for walks.  Walk a few
steps and lay down.  Since his walk was really an errand for me I put him in
the big pocket of a down parka and went on to the sttore.  On the way back I
felt in my pocket to get him out and it was all wet.  Oh no the ferret had
pissed in my pocket, yuck!  But he hadn't.  He had been crying.  I didn't
believe it.  His eyes were all wet and the wet wasn't smelly or yellow or
anything.  He didn't go back in a pocket ever again.  If he didn't want to
walk I carried him.  My time w/ Grendel came to an end, I moved halfway
across the country and found what I hope has been a good home for him.
 
So the other day (about a month agao) I was missing something.  I was
watching TV and the comedy show kept talking about "your lonely apartment on
23rd street".  Yep I live on a 23rd, but I didn't think of it as a lonely
aprtment.  The thought stuck and a few days later I started having "ferret
thoughts".  Went to a pet store looking, just looking I wasn't about to buy
anything.  And there was this huge cage on rollers, 4 stories of ferret
townhouse with a sign warning about biting ferret inside.  The store lady
said only one of the two bit and his name was Skipper.  A 10 month old
silvermit ex-male.  Very sleak very wolf like and very bitey.  His buddy was
older about a year and a half just like a sable only black and grey and his
name was Nipper.  (He didn't though.) So I bought them.  Something came over
me, like I was drugged or under the influence of a greater power.  I heard
myself saying only $250 and that includes the cage and delivery, kewl I'll
take them" So now I have two terrific little guys!  They have had a name
change.  Nipper who didn't nip but talks up a storm has become Chatter and
Skipper who didn't skip has become Streak because that's all you see of him
when he gets going.  And my apartment on 23rd street is no longer lonely!
 
If you've made it all the way to this point (and I didn't really mean to
keep going on and on) I should tell you that I I started out by responding
to a post from yesterday about a curiousness of ferrets.  I believe that a
multitude of ferrets is called a busyness of ferrets.  I think that it's a
curiousity of weasels when refering to a group, but it might be otters.  I
saw a poster once that had about 50 or 60 any way a lot of "pluralities"
listed.  I wish I had bought it.
 
Thanks I feel better now,
 
Charles
[Posted in FML issue 1556]