My little one is growing up fast, but then don't they all?
 
When I brought him home he made this bear cub sound which is how he earned
his name.  When he'd get tired he'd come & lay up by my neck & lick it &
then try to nurse.  Within the first week of his being here he made his
first great escape.  The front door was put in new last summer & it doesn't
shut properly, you have to slam it.  Grizz is allowed out in the other
rooms with me in the mornings so he has extra out of cage time.  The big
boys are running around in here then.  Apparently when I put the bucket of
litter on the front porch to take to the dumpster later on, the door didn't
shut tight.  I am busy & then I hear the clear sound of birds calling back
& forth, which should have been muted.  I go to look & sure enough the door
is open.  I notice I haven't seen Grizz in awhile.  I look all over calling
his name & no Grizz.  I panic & run outside calling him, no Grizz.  Back
inside frantically looking & calling, nope.  Back outside calling, then I
hear the sound of a little bear & look up & here comes Grizz running as
fast as his little legs will allow from towards the west where the aviary &
birds are.  His whole body fur was all poofed out & he was so happy to be
back with mama.  Not near as happy as mom was to have him back.  If he had
gone south as far as he went west, he would have been dog food.
 
Mom took him outside in the old ferret pen to dig.  He didn't know exactly
what to do so I showed him.  The next day he was found in my plants that
are in for the winter, digging happily away, dirt flying all over.  He
learned fast.
 
Then I found him in another plant called a egg plant.  Not eggplant.  This
is a fruit that is suppose to taste like melon, he had eaten half of one
already.  He still doesn't weigh a pound & he was dragging a 5 pound bag
of potatoes across the floor trying to hide them, after sampling them of
course.  He loves fruit.  He acts like he is starved & I do mean starved
when he smells fruit.  And this has transferred to his treats also.  I had
a bag of pears on the table & missed him & found him on the table, where
he had put a hole in the bag & taken out a few of them, they all had bites
taken out of them & he was about half done on one.  He has pounced on
tangerines in the refrigerator when I had the door open & I had to pry him
off.  He can smell a grape before I close the refrigerator door to give it
to him.  Last night I was eating a plum when he was out of his cage, BIG
mistake.  He attacked the plum while I was holding it.  I had my PC mouse
in the other hand & inadvertently clicked on something & I looked to see
what had happened & he snatched the plum away.  I tried to catch him but he
ducked into a tunnel & I couldn't get him.  He finally came out with part
of the plum, a small part which was all that was left.  *sigh* I scruffed
him & man I have never heard such a racket from a ferret before!  Barking,
not just one or two little barks, but continued barking combined with
hissing & growling.  I finally had to use a towel to get the plum away from
him, which I wouldn't have done but he had already had eaten most of it.
It was like trying to take a piece of meat away from a wild....bear.
 
And that is how he is with any fruit you give him or his treats.  I have to
throw the treats into his cage before putting him in otherwise he just goes
wild to snatch them away from me.  It really is like he is starved & will
attack anything to get & keep it.  Has anyone else experienced this?  It
isn't like he is just eager to get it, he is SAVAGE.  He isn't starving by
any means.  He has & eats his chicken & Superior Choice & judging by the
output is eating good.  He was probably at the most 7 weeks old when I got
him on December 31st & has always had food available to him.
 
Tommy still wants to tear him apart, but the other day I opened the bottom
of Grizzly's cage while he was still asleep up above.  Tommy went in &
found him & after sniffing him & not having Grizz run from him, lost
interest in him so hopefully they will be together soon.
 
When Grizz first came he was put in tiny cage but as he got bigger I moved
him into a full sized cage.  Before this, he was running around in here &
must have got tired, climbed up, over & into his cage & put himself to bed.
The top was open.  He will still put himself to bed when he gets tired.  He
is Grizz the Whizz!
 
Lynn & Clan War Weasels
[Posted in FML issue 3318]