From the time I saw those pictures of the ferrets on that farm, those little faces haunted me. When they were rescued, I asked to adopt two. Not much help, with those numbers I know. A huge THANK YOU to Barb Clay who was nice enough to transport them and ADV test them. What a chore that must have been. The first boy that was marked for me, was a brilliant tangerine color, with beautiful burgundy eyes, who immediately tried to bite me. When we flipped him over someone said look a tumor on his prepuce. Then we noticed he had a crooked jaw and a tooth jutting into his upper lip. I have to tell you I was a little hesitant about taking him. Only because my favorite hob died of prepucial adenocarcinoma after three horrible surgeries that I vowed I would never go through again. I did not want to get attached to him and relive that. But he deserved a chance. The second boy, the largest and oldest is a dark eyed white with a black tail and black V on his head. He had just been neutered. He seemed very gentle and shy. Still have not decided whether or not he is deaf. On the way home, I asked to adopt another boy from the friends who were with me. Another little tangerine hob, who will eventually be a dark eyed white. I took them all in to work on Monday. I wanted to get the bad stuff out of the way so that we could start working on trust. We neutered both boys and reopened one side of the neutered boy's surgery site as he had a seroma. All were positive for ear mites, the ears were cleaned and treated. All had their distemper shots, teeth cleaned and stool samples done which were neg. After I heard about the Giardia, we also ran Giardia tests on all three, also neg. The first little hob "Snaggletooth" or Snags for short apparently had a fractured jaw at one time that healed badly, we took the offending tooth out. The problem with his prepuce is not a tumor. the poor boy has a broken baculum. I can only guess that he got both his jaw and his baculum caught at one time on what that farm called cages. He was the boy I thought I would have trouble with biting. He makes small attempts but responds to no. He has turned out to be quite the character. They are in quarantine downstairs for one month. One of the playpens is near the tv. When Snags is in it he likes to stand up like a Meerkat and watch it. He is also the only one who dooks so far. He loves to be tossed onto the hammock. He dances and dooks and comes running back for you to do it again. The big white, who I have yet to name, shockingly turned out to be quite the biter. He bites out of fear. He was petrified of hands coming at him. He would literally shake in terror. He really wants to be friends and is coming along nicely. I make it a point to pick him up once a day and give him a lick of Ferretone so that he understands he is not going to be hurt. He runs over now every time he sees me. He will climb up the playpen and let me pick him up from there. He is also a toy hog. He has adopted a fuzzy ring that he rolls with all four feet while he lays on his back like a seal and don't you dare touch it. He grabs it, puffs up and literally glares at you, like how dare you. He checks all of his toys several times a day to make sure they are still there then he relocates them to different spots. The little soon to be white hob has turned out to be the sweetest ferret. He is deaf as a stone, but has never once tried to bite. He has learned to go up ramps and today for the first time ever I found him sleeping in his hammock. He reminds me so much of my Elf, who died several years ago. I often called Elf, Sniffy because deaf ferrets always seem to be sniffing at things loudly, your ears, the bathtub drains. He does it constantly. LOL!! I am really enjoying these boys and the progress that they are making each day. They are really a lot of fun. I will try to get some pictures soon. LOL when they become the color they are supposed to be. Pat Stauffer Weasels http://pages.prodigy.net/staufferp/ [Posted in FML 5763]