In response to [log in to unmask] (Alinda Privitt), who wrote: > He seems to enjoy playing games like chase and tug of war just as > long as we don't touch him anywhere on his body. [...] > Do ferrets in general not enjoy being touched and/or held or is > Oscar a unique case? Is this a "stage" that he will eventually come > out of or is it just his distinct personality? It's not a general thing at all. Of our two ferrets, one is only happy to be held for a few minutes at a time, but the other will climb into my lap to fall asleep. As for Oscar, it could be an individual personality trait, or it could be just a stage. In either case, I'd recommend that you continue trying to socialize him, playing while he's down and trying to get him used to being picked up by giving him a treat each time you do. If he won't tolerate being held at first, at least talk to him and put your hands (possibly holding treats :) near him. You can also wear gloves, or spray your hands with Bitter Apple, if he nips too hard. Although I don't have first-hand experience training a ferret who completely detests being held, I'd be surprised if he doesn't ever learn to tolerate it. Chris Lewis appended to a note which mentioned ferrets exiting emacs: > [I'll have to remember that. Whenever I've accidentally gotten into > emacs, I have to turn my terminal off ;-)] If you don't have a ferret handy, try CTRL-X CTRL-C, or ESC x kill-emacs <return> :-) But you don't want to know how long it took me to figure out how to get out of vi when I started that up accidentally. Sure wish I'd had ferrets then! :) - Pam in Rochester, NY ([log in to unmask]) friend to Pixxel and Rusty the shedding torpedoes Ferret FAQ - rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/news.answers/pet-ferret-faq/general [Posted in FML issue 0802]