Dear Jess, Edward Lipinski here again. Got some more information that should've been included in my post of yesterday, 01.09.09. I didn't come right out and say it but the thread of the 14 steps is to get the toothy one to use his tongue/nose every time he's intimate with you and when naked skin is within his reach. The objective is for him to develop an association with your stink. And you do stink (smell) by emitting a complex gas from your skin, hair, clothes and mouth. Particularly your mouth, Your stink, well maybe *scent* would be a preferred word here, your scent is unique in this world and nobody scents the same as you. I am certain, that presented with a knowing reward, your ferret could unerringly pick you out of a milling crowd of a hundred Pilgrims. This, done with his olefactory neurons in his brain as delivered from the scent sensing nerves in the sinuses of his skull. Is this not what the bloodhound dog can do also? If him, why not the ferret too? I am of the opinion that the smell sense of a ferret is very highly developed, perhaps even more so than the sense of taste, albeit taste and smell may be closely related in closely associated parts of the brain. The smell sense of the ferret is demonstrated vividly by placing a source of water on the floor in a large room wherein a thirsty ferret lurks. If you watch him his behavior will reveal that his sense of smell is so acute its just like an Israeli missile homing in on a Hamas militant. The ferret will home in on the water by repeated head lifts, obvious sniffing the air, and lateral movements that gradually decrease in width the closer the ferret gets to the water. It's doubtful if you can smell water from across the room. I can't. Yet your ferret can. Knowing this much about a ferret, why don't we take advantage of this characteristic and use it for our benefit? This I have done . . . repeatedly. Now I offer it you you for your benefit, as well as to others who may have the same problem ferret as you. So to avoid repetition of my previous post, let's just assume now that you have been successful and have achieved the end result of having your Frettchen licking your home made Meat/Vegetable soup out of the palm of your hand. And you also have him licking the few drops of Ferretone (or equivalent, such as safflower oil) out of your palm without any foreboding of a follow up skin bite. When you totally trust him, drizzle the oil on your finger for him. Dieser ist ausgezeichnet, as the folks in Deutschland say. It's not all that easy to pronounce, either. What it means is, This is excellent. So OK, you got it made. That is for the time being. For the future you've got to be locked in to the forever bribe and you need to add a little twist here. Palmate you left palm with a little extra oil. Perch the ferret on your right forearm and hold the arm horizontal and as high up on your chest as comfortable. AFTER he starts licking the oil from your left palm. gently burrow your nose into his fur and TALK, TALK, TALK to him so that he can smell your breath fully and deeply. Repeat this deep breathing like an erotic exhalation most every time you pick him up, until you have faith in him that he's become your favorite licker. NOTE. I recommend that any new person being introduced to him first accept a ferret kiss in the palm of his hand. Add a drop or two of oil into the stranger's palm and watch his face. I guarantee you'll see a smile of pure delight. Oh, and be sure to ask the licked what the licker's tongue feels like. Like a cat's, rough? Or does it feel like a dog's tongue, smooth and flat.? And which way does the tip curl ... up or down ... or neither? Shelter operators will find that the Newbie introduction to the ferret, as I've written directly above, will most likely result in an immediate adoption of a lick, lick, licker-kissy ferret. And just like me, you'll probably take all the kisses you can get. Maybe one in five from a ferret - all the others punctuated with erotic exhalations? Oye veh! Having been into ferrets now for some 28 years, I couldn't help but learn a little bit about them. If you have bred ferrets or may be intending to, I can offer a few tips on rearing kits so that their needles, their baby teeth, will not bloody your fingers. Handling kits without gloves may require some special considerations, depending upon how many mummy functional teats are available to the litter and how many kits are in the litter. Candide et caute. (Latin: With candor and caution) Edward Lipinski Gosh, 28 years of shoveling ferret poop. . . must've done a couple of tons by now. [Posted in FML 6210]