Howdy all! I've been reading the list as often as I can but I've been having trouble keeping up. My apologies if this has been covered, but I haven't seen mention of it in the FAQ either. We have two males -- one (Arthur) is about 4 months, and the other (Merlin) is about 6 months. We had Merlin for a couple months before I took pity on him and got a friend for him to play with. So I'm new to ferrets, but I'm really enjoying it. Merlin is a light sable, about 3 pounds and starting to calm down a bit. Arthur is a dark sable, about half Merlin's size and completely spastic. Arthur seems to startle pretty easy. If you walk into the room and startle him, he'll puff up his tail and hiss at you like a scared kitten until you talk softly to him, then he calms down pretty quick. Merlin never did that, so I was pretty shocked the first time it happened. Anyway, when we first brought Arthur home, Merlin was all over him. Merlin would throw Arthur from the bed, drag him around by the neck, and play pretty rough. I had to keep them in seperate rooms for a couple days, and only let them play together while I could watch them. After a couple days of that, the roles reversed. Arthur is now the dominant one, even though he's much smaller. He plays pretty rough and Merlin now has some small bite marks on his back and neck. I'm trying some Bitter Apple rubbed into Merlin's fur (just a bit sprayed on a sock and rubbed on him) to see if that will discourage Arthur. The question I wanted to ask (whew) is about ear sucking. When Merlin is asleep, Arthur will curl up next to him and suck on his left ear. It always seems to be his left ear, and Merlin doesn't seem to wake up while it's happening. When I pick Merlin up, his ear is completely soaked and plastered against his head from all the ear sucking. It doesn't seem to be bitten or damaged, just wet. Has anyone else seen this? Should I worry? Will Arthur "grow out of it"? Another thing... This past Saturday I was at the local PetSmart (Preston Road store in Dallas) and discussed this mailing list with one of the employees. I did not catch her name, but I would like to talk with her some more. If you are reading this and remember me and Merlin from Saturday, please drop me a message. --- Dave [log in to unmask] 214-250-8120 KC5KJM [Posted in FML issue 1305]