I just had one of my ferrets bite me, for the first time in the 3 1/2 years
I have owned ferrets.  I am posting this not b/c I want anyone to flame me
(or feel sympathy for my finger) but b/c if anyone might recognize the
situation they won't feel so bad/frustrated with their own ferrets if it
happens to them.
 
Okay, so Sybil my 11 month old ferret bit me yesterday and this is why: I
was packing to move, Sybil's a stealer, I had put a bunch of sweaters on
the bed and she ran to steal one.  I didn't particularly want her to, esp.
that sweater, so I told her no and picked her up but she was holding fast.
I knew if I tried to tug it she'd play tug of war and rip the sweater.  So
I scruffed her, but this didn't work.  she really wanted that sweater.  So
stupid me put my fingers near her mouth to try to get her to open her
mouth.  she did, briefly, then promptly bit down only the second time my
finger was in the way.  Thus the bite.  Once though she had something else
in her mouth and not my sweater she let go when I yelled "no!".
 
Anyway that was obviously my fault, not Sybil's.  that's the sort of thing
that being proactive avoids, and I usually am proactive.
 
Onto to something less painful...my ferrets and where they got their names:
 
Elsa--a minor character in a Seinfeld episode (she told George he had
beautiful hands and should be a hand model...i'm sure Seinfeld enthusiasts
will remember that reference)
 
Zooey--character in a J.D.  Salinger novel (real name Zachary
Glass--nickname Zooey)
 
Martin--Martin Amis, a British author
 
Linus--Linus T. Pauling (NOT the guy w/the blanket!)
 
Sybil--being a one-eared ferret, I thought this sort of fitting
 
Leonard--Leonard Cohen
 
My next ferret will be named Guernsey, after the herd of cows in the Jane
Hamilton book "A Map of the World"...
 
Minta
(& Linus, Zooey, Sybil & Martin)
[Posted in FML issue 2648]