Gentlefolk,
 
Our little Nabiki turned into demon spawn when a certain squeak toy was
"squeakinated." We gave the toy away, and haven't had a problem with her
since.  This toy didn't bother Kasumi--after a squeak or two, she'd just
stare at us with a look that suggested "You don't expect me to chase after
that stupid thing, do you?"
 
Apparently some ferrets just go bonkers when they hear certain sounds.  It
was suggested to us by a friend (who knows ferrets pretty well--certainly
better than me) that young ferrets were more prone to this than older
ones, and most eventually outgrow the tendency.  Nabiki was about 4 months
old when we discovered that she had a berserker bloodline.
 
On to birds...
 
We have several nesting starlings outside our west windows, and they've
picked up on all the sounds my ferrets make.  They also imitate owls,
hawks, ducks, geese, child calls, TV "background" gibberish (unintelligible,
but its easy to figure where that sound came from), auto sounds, you name
it.  Their hawk calls are so good that I thought they were real until I
watched a starling make the call right in front of my window.
 
-best,
 
Wolf & Silven Read
Jaxom, Kasumi, Oscar, Nabiki, Piemur, Ripley & Samantha
[Posted in FML issue 3111]