Great news on the Luke front!!  For the first time since he arrived, Luke
was seen stealing items and hoarding them behind the toilet in the powder
room.  The items were dirty laundry, particularly kitchen rags and hot
mitts.  Hey, I did not ask, I was just thrilled to see something truly
ferrety going on with him!!!  It started out with a hot mitt that had some
bbq sauce from a cookout the other day sitting in the laundry basket
waiting to go down to the basement.  Yeah, dirty clothes are always a play
pile for the guys, figure, heck they are already dirty, what's a little
ferret smell...... Well, Luke carried that dang mitt all over the rec room,
in and out of the bathroom half a dozen times before he finally picked
behind the toilet for his hidey hole.  Not much cover, but hey, he is new
at this ferret stuff!!!
 
I have been letting him out for playtime with some of the ferrets and he
has been doing pretty well.  He still gets a little aggressive at times,
but it seems to be more of a territory or possession thing now.  I have two
ferrets who are a ball to watch, Jack and Angel.  I put a pile of stealable
goodies in a plastic bin on the floor and watch them first empty out the
bin, then go to each other's hidey holes and carry items back and forth.
Gotta admit, I've been guilty of stealing the items back myself and
laughing at the look they get, if they could speak, it would be, 'how the
hell did this get here????' oops off track there....
 
Anyway back to Luke, he is doing wonderful with the two youngest (5 mos
and 2-1/2 years), so-so with the 4 year old (but Barney is a loner ferret,
enjoys a wrestle now and again, but usually wonders off), he does not mix
real well with the 4-6 year old Jack, but then Jack can kick some serious
ferret butt for a skinny guy with insulinoma; and as for Moe, the 7.5 year
old, I don't even allow Luke to see him.  Luke has been terrifingly nasty
to him (oh, that is me that was terrified).  My sweetie jokes that it is
the old ferret smell Luke hates.  Okay, this is mean, but you know how old
people smell, like, well, old people???  I swear old ferrets are the same
way.  My younger guys barely have a musky smell, but Moe, always leaves my
shirt with a smell.  AFter spending time with the fuzzies and holding Moe
for a long time, my honey always says, 'hmmm old ferret cologne' when he
cuddles near me.  I usually tell him he should get a whiff of what he
smells like after working in the yard.....
 
Anyway, in a nutshell: Luke is a) lousy with litterpan - prefers to sleep
in it; b) breathing much better; c) great with young ferrets; d) acting a
little more ferrety; and e) a geriatric basher.  About sums it up!!!
 
Hugs to all,
 
Jen
[Posted in FML issue 3047]