Hello! I haven't posted about my new ferret, because things have been hectic over here. Last week, Mary June brought me my adoptive ferret...it was supposed to be a she, by the name of Princess Ferri <heh> and turned out to be a 3.5 pound boy. He is a blast! He chortles with every step he takes, can leap INSANELY high in the air (so high that when he comes dooking at you, and leaps, you can catch him in mid air!), and is so fat that he almost can't fit down the ferret tubes we have (and DEFINITELY can't turn around). He spent his life in a tiny, crappy little cage that looks like a rat cage, and his "hammock" was a deathtrap of holey old sweatpants tied to the top of the cage. First thing I did to the cage was lowered the shelves so he could actually fit, and took down the sweats and put up a hammock (and cut up the old one so he couldnt get stuck, and gave it to him as bedding). As soon as introductions are over, he will be moving into a much nicer cage, with my lonely girl, Azrael. I have a feeling he will lose some of that weight, because he and Azrael have (mostly) hit it off, and chase each other constantly. I was at the hardware store, and picked up a box of dryer hose which I thought was 20 feet. Turns out we have 50 feet of dryer hose strung out all over the whole room, with slits cut in it (originally for airholes, but the littler ferts can cram themselves in and out) and they LOVE it! One will dive in the end, and another will hear it and charge over to leap in after the first, and a grand chase will ensue. I always break it up if it seems too intense for the boy (we're calling him The Mighty Quinn right now, but I expect he's gonna have about a dozen names. My sister loved "Princess Ferri") but otherwise we just let them have at it. On the bad news part: when Mary was here, she noticed the listlessness of one of my older girls, Sybill, which prompted me to get her to the vet. (The boy went to the vet too, for a check up and shots). Sybill has been diagnosed with insulinoma. She is on 1 mg prednisone twice a day right now, and weighs about a pound--she did weigh 1.76 pounds, so she has lost a lot of weight. (WHY did I not notice this???! I hold them every day! I thought she just looked skinny because she blew her winter coat--they all did) She was very lethergic for the first few days on the meds, and I have been feeding her every four hours. Last night was the first night she has shown any energy at all, and she proceeded to attempt to kill Quinn. Very weird seeing a 3.5 pound tub running as fast as he can away from a 1 pound demon. They were so fast I couldnt catch them as they went under the bed, through the laundry, over the cage, etc. I managed to nab her as they passed me, and calmed her down and put her away for a while--I was afraid that much effort would mess up her levels. Not to mention poor Quinn, panting and flat ferreting on the carpet. I have him plenty of love, too. So now I am reading everything I can about insulinoma, trying to decide our next steps. Mary, thank you for bringing our new boy to us! AND, for spotting Sybills illness. It was great to meet you! Our home is open if you're ever in this area again... :-) -cobalt [Posted in FML issue 3377]