Ferret toys:
My husband recently fashioned a really cool thing for our fuzzies to play
with. (That's one of his biggest hobbies, actually.)  He took some huge
pieces of bubble wrap, the kind with the big two inch bubbles, and taped them
together to make big five foot tubes for the little guys to run around in.
It's an absolute riot to watch!  They go dashing through them like mad, and
sometimes pounce on each other from the outside.  Our little one (Roo) sits
inside, with her tail twitching furiously, lying in wait. This is something I
have never seen her do in any other situation ( the twitching, not the lying
in wait), and have never seen her adopted sister Tigger do at all.  Does
anyone else have experience wth tail twitching?  I'd imagine that these tubes
are very similar in use to the dryer hoses everyone raves about, but I think
these are more fun because you can watch them while they are in the tubes.
Swimming:
We filled our tub up with about five inches of warm water the other day, to
see if we could get our fuzzies interested in swimming, as I've heard that
some enjoy it very much.  They seemed very cautious, which is very unusual,
especially for Roo, who will usually take a flying leap into any situation
which seems remotely interesting.  We tossed a whole bunch of their favorite
toys into the tub, to try to coax them in, but no deal.  We gave up, but left
the tub full in case they changed their minds.  A few times they trotted into
the bathroom to investigate, but didn't venture into the tub.  Several hours
later we heard a huge SPLASH, and a soaking wet little Roo came bolting out
of the tub carrying one of the milk bottle caps she's so fond of.  She seemed
kind of shocked that she was so wet.  It was like she didn't really want to
go in, but her instinct to hoard all her stuff was so strong, she couldn't
resist.  She then ran around the house like a lunatic, and dried herself off
on our flannel bedsheets. (Wet ferret smell, yum!)  Tigger made the plunge an
hour or so later, but the item she chose to retrieve was the tub stopper.
Pretty clever, we thought. She went back later, and grabbed the rest of the
stuff, too, but this time she didn't have to get wet to do it.  I guess our
guys aren't going to be Olympic swimmers, but we'll keep trying.  It's pretty
entertaining.
 
Gail Sherman Reilly, Tigger and Roo
 
[Posted in FML issue 0746]