Great news on the Luke front!! For the first time since he arrived, Luke was seen stealing items and hoarding them behind the toilet in the powder room. The items were dirty laundry, particularly kitchen rags and hot mitts. Hey, I did not ask, I was just thrilled to see something truly ferrety going on with him!!! It started out with a hot mitt that had some bbq sauce from a cookout the other day sitting in the laundry basket waiting to go down to the basement. Yeah, dirty clothes are always a play pile for the guys, figure, heck they are already dirty, what's a little ferret smell...... Well, Luke carried that dang mitt all over the rec room, in and out of the bathroom half a dozen times before he finally picked behind the toilet for his hidey hole. Not much cover, but hey, he is new at this ferret stuff!!! I have been letting him out for playtime with some of the ferrets and he has been doing pretty well. He still gets a little aggressive at times, but it seems to be more of a territory or possession thing now. I have two ferrets who are a ball to watch, Jack and Angel. I put a pile of stealable goodies in a plastic bin on the floor and watch them first empty out the bin, then go to each other's hidey holes and carry items back and forth. Gotta admit, I've been guilty of stealing the items back myself and laughing at the look they get, if they could speak, it would be, 'how the hell did this get here????' oops off track there.... Anyway back to Luke, he is doing wonderful with the two youngest (5 mos and 2-1/2 years), so-so with the 4 year old (but Barney is a loner ferret, enjoys a wrestle now and again, but usually wonders off), he does not mix real well with the 4-6 year old Jack, but then Jack can kick some serious ferret butt for a skinny guy with insulinoma; and as for Moe, the 7.5 year old, I don't even allow Luke to see him. Luke has been terrifingly nasty to him (oh, that is me that was terrified). My sweetie jokes that it is the old ferret smell Luke hates. Okay, this is mean, but you know how old people smell, like, well, old people??? I swear old ferrets are the same way. My younger guys barely have a musky smell, but Moe, always leaves my shirt with a smell. AFter spending time with the fuzzies and holding Moe for a long time, my honey always says, 'hmmm old ferret cologne' when he cuddles near me. I usually tell him he should get a whiff of what he smells like after working in the yard..... Anyway, in a nutshell: Luke is a) lousy with litterpan - prefers to sleep in it; b) breathing much better; c) great with young ferrets; d) acting a little more ferrety; and e) a geriatric basher. About sums it up!!! Hugs to all, Jen [Posted in FML issue 3047]