One of our ferrets, Chitterbox (who has since gone to wait at the Rainbow Bridge), used to go crazy when we would squeak his rubber squeaky ball. He would come tearing out from wherever he was and attack it. If you held it up out of reach, he would repeatedly jump straight up and let himself flop back down, or try to climb your arm to get it. He would get so excited that he would occasionally bite your hand if it got in the way (accidentally). I'm pretty sure that, in his case, it was an attack instinct. As soon as he would get the ball, he would start biting it. He was the only one of our ferrets who ever figured out how to bite it in just the right way to make it squeak. He would squeak it, then shake it like he was trying to break its neck, and continue this for at least five minutes, at which point he would "alligator roll" it across the bed, then start the whole thing all over. BTW, he finally did manage to kill the thing. He put so many holes in it that it wouldn't squeak anymore! Bright Blessings, Becky with Pixie, Kodi-Bear, Twizzler, and Yozum (that's Yah-zum!) Missing Cinnamon, Coke, and Chitterbox [Posted in FML issue 4381]