When I saw the post regarding Chinese Polecats, and having never heard of them, I ran to my reference books; I found nothing. I called up a mammalian data base, and found nothing. Frustrated, I asked the source, and was told they are steppe polecats (Mustela eversmanni) that originated in the inner Mongolia region. The Chinese epithet may be a local name, a reference to origin, or a subspecies name. None-the-less, they are steppe polecats. It is interesting to note that these animals have been reported to leap distances longer than one meter, and can inter-breed with the BFF. Regarding water in the ears. This made me curious, so I got out the 'ear-looker' and surveyed the tympanic membranes of 13 not-so-cooperative fuzzies, and saw nothing which would keep water in the ear canal. I failed to find anything on the vet school database. Since the polecat is at least semi-aquatic, and the domestic ferret displays many of those physical qualities, I wouldn't consider it to be a problem. My ferrets swim all the time, and have even swam in marine tide-pools without problems. The combination of warm water and soap may tend to remove wax from the ears, which could be a plus for some. Problems could result if the water was too hot--what might feel good to a large body can be deadly to a small one. We all know the dangers of soap ingestion (boy--could I tell some stories about soap, boy scouts, and grape koolaid...), but some shampoos might be a problem. I have one question. My ferts get so worked up when wet (its like they are on speed!) how do you keep them from biting, you know, stuff? Inferreting minds want to know... While I am not yet ready to discuss dominance interactions (still reading stuff and trying not to drool on the pages), I have noticed a few things with the introductions of the Troy Four to the MO Business and I was wondering if anyone else noticed this. At first, the only ones bothering anyone was the alpha males from each group. For several days, Bear (MOB) amd Gus (T4) took on each other and all other males. Once those relationships were defined, the other males started on each other, and the alphas just watched, and only occasionally joined in. The same occurred with the females, but slower; alphas first, then others. There was the occasional male-female barking, but usually between any male and Tori, who is an avowed ferret-feminist. Actually, she is still young, and displaying juvenile behaviors, so I have to consider her as the anomaly. In any case, the relationships have just about been defined, and yesterday there was only one squabble. The only fuzzie having a hard time fitting in is Apollo, who is missing his upper canines and can't defend himself very well (yesterday's squabble). One other thing, for the first day or so, NONE of the beasties squabbled--they were too interested in sniffing each other's butts. Imagine a ferret daisy-chain of 11 ferts, each nose to butt, walking in unison. I have noticed this same sort of 'delayed response' in other mammals and mustelids. Any one else notice? One last observation. I have commented on Razz looking like a bowling pin. Now that she has put on some weight, the effect kind of frightened me, so I went over her physical condition quite carefully. I noticed her upper body to lower body proportions were different than the others. Out came the calipers, and sure enough, Razz is very different. She was also declawed. I have been watching her carefully, and find that when the other ferrets jump up on something, they leap with their rear legs and pull up with their front. Razz can only use her rear legs--without claws she cannot pull herself up. Plugged the numbers in a stats program, and she was significantly different in body proportions from the others. I really noticed the difference over the scapulas and around the shoulders. Playing around, I compared her body proportions to those from kangaroo rats and mice, and they compared more favorably than those of her own species. Its amazing. I never considered this in my earlier objections to declawing. I have since built her ramps to get up on everything. Bob Moose, Stella, Daye, Tori, Bear, Apollo, Foster, Buddy, Razz, Gus, Simon, Nosette, and Balistic. Remember pacheko (sp?) games? After a bath, Balistic highly resembles a metal ball bouncing between hundreds of steel pins. I swear I saw her run across the ceiling... [Posted in FML issue 1406]