I've been receiving FD for about a week now - and have enjoyed every minute
of it!
Ferrets have been part of my family ever since the first one (Duke) in 1981.
I have had up to 4 at a time, but right now have only 2 males: Drifter, a 3
year old, and Judah, who is 7.  The oldest ferret I have raised lived to be
11 years old - 2 females, in fact.  Sethra (an albino) and Whisper (a silver
mitt) each lived to 11 years old, and died in their sleep, with no illness
or pain that we were aware of.
 
As for the current fur-rats, Drifter is the one on constant "ferret patrol"
of the trash cans & waste baskets around the house - we've had success with
putting bricks in the bottom of the cans so he can't turn them over, but he
can still occasionally figure out how to remove or slide under the lid & get
inside.  Drifter is the ferret who uses his paws in such a way as to lead us
to believe he has opposable thumbs!!!  He will grasp something with his
paws, and that one inside toe wraps around opposite all the others.  .  .
we figure if he starts figuring out how to forge our name on checks to buy
ferret toys, we'll have to shoot him!
 
Judah is pretty laid back - he has NEVER raised a tooth to anyone EVER in
his entire life (we got him at about 8 weeks of age).  Drifter, on the other
hand, had to be taught not to nip.  We have had the greatest success with a
light finger thump on the rear when they nip - they turn around to see what
just smacked them on the rear, and let go.  They learn very quickly not to
nip.  The thump should be VERY LIGHT though!!!  you don't want to hurt the
little guy - you just want to divert his attention.
 
Re: hiccups - Judah gets them a lot.  Our vet says it's normal, and not to
worry unless they last abnormally long or happen ALL the time.  Re:
litterbox training - HAH!  ours won't use it if the cats have used it, and
the cats use as many as we put out, so we put linoleum and papers in the
favored corners, and clean up a lot.  They do use the floor AROUND the
litter box, occasionally - - - to the extent of propping their front ends on
the edge of the box and doing their business all over the floor NEXT to the
box!  But this is in the bathroom, and easily cleaned up, so I don't worry
about it much.
 
Re: names for ferret antics: we call the dances ours do, especially when
there's a bedmaking happening (which they love) their "Daffy Duck woo-woo
dance".  We also call them (the ferrets themselves) "bed-moles" for their
propensity for tunneling under the sheets all the time (they sleep with us).
Alternate names for them are "muskel-rats" and "fuzz-rats".  The muskel-rat
title was given by a 2-yr old son of a friend, who suggested the muskel-rat
get a squirrel mask for halloween .  .  .
 
We are lucky to have a vet who is good with ferrets, and have only had a bad
health problem once, when we had Rommel, age 5, to the vet for a
tooth-cleaning.  We then discovered he had congestive heart disease, which
had been unsymptomatic until discovered due to his having problems coming
out of the anesthetic.  We had him on Lasix (spelling?) for over a year,
which with added vitamins and plenty of food & water, kept him a happy
ferret until he finally gave in to congestive heart failure at the age of
6-1/2.  The Lasix inhibited his body's ability to process protein, and he
absolutely HATED to take it, even with petromalt, but it did give him
another 18 months.
 
Looking forward to many issues of FD!  keep up the good work.
 
C J K
"We are all related"
[log in to unmask]
Drifter ("hey - I can oppose my thumb!!"
Judah ("if you can do it, I can sleep through it"
Muggsie (16 yr old cat) "what WAS that masked thing????"
Shiloh (18 yr old cat) "ferrets - harumph!"
[Posted in FML issue 1468]