Hi folks!
 
 Well, we have gone and done it just like we said we would never do. We have
just picked up 3 more fuzzies to go with our original 4.
 
Two of the new members are females, both sables and rescued from the
S.P.C.A..  One, Squeek, is at home now and the other, not named yet is
waiting for her turn on the table to get spayed.
 
The third new member of our family is about the biggest Hob I have ever
seen.  Bandit weighs in at a whopping 16 pounds and I can attest to how
strong his jaws got on attaining that weight.  (I now carry a 3 inch scar on
my right thumb and 10 other bite marks from a psycho moment he had in a new
and strange place)
 
Bandit and Squeek are starting to settle in nicely now (excluding the slight
problem of the psycho moment) but I now have a new problem I never thought I
would ever see.
 
Bandit has been raised on a water bottle and from what I can tell has never
seen a water dish before.  He has decided that the bowl is the perfect place
to sleep and with his girth the displacement factor creates a flood that has
not been seen since biblical times.  I am a bit worried that he is going to
end up floating with the fishes with his new past time, not to mention what
problems this may cause his skin if it takes place on a regular basis.
 
Has anyone else had a problem with a Ferret sleeping in a full/once full
water dish? Any ideas how to break him of this?
 
Another thing that I should maybe point out is that Bandit is just under 1
year old and has spent most of his life stuck in a 2 foot X 1 foot cage with
little to no outside exercise while being fed a high energy diet kitten
food.  I have hopes that him being in with the other 6 ferrets in a large
cage will reduce his flabby backside into something less resembling an
average size cat and back to a lean ferret.
 
A question for the Vet folk out there, should I be concerned with his weight
and the exercise as with humans and have an extra medical done on him before
I put him on Slim Fast ??  :)
 
I no longer wonder how some of you folks ended up with 10 or more ferrets.
I now know the answer.  They are far too cute and we are far too soft!
 
Thanks in advance for the input on the questions.
 
Gord and Lorraine
 
Jester>  Hey Spazz!! Check it out! They got a new cat for us to bug!
 
Spazz>   That's not a cat, it smells like one of us! My god its a Whale
         Ferret!
 
Trouble> Am I the only one who noticed the female Ferret behind it ?
 
Mischief> If he is playing "Ferret pile" in the bed box, I am leaving!
 
Squeek>  Umm, Scuse me, can someone show me where the quiet area is for a
         while ?
 
Bandit>  Hey!! I am not fat! I just retain a lot of water from sleeping!
 
Not Yet Named> I dont need to be Spayed! Honest!!
[Posted in FML issue 1441]