In response: >Rascal (1 year old female MF Silver-Mitt/Silver) does this as well. She >gets on her back, puts her front paws together, and then moves her paws >from above her head down to her chest ... My ferret does this as well (MF Sable male)usually right after he wakes up. He will even do it while I am holding him (like a baby). It's the cutest thing I've ever seen! I think he is stretching, what he likes to call his "big beefy muskles". >Rascal has a really BIG biting problem. Nothing seems to deter her. ... Is she biting hard? Has she broken the skin? My ferret comes at everything with his mouth wide open and making a kind of hissing sound. He's not being mean, he's just playing. If I reach down, or pick him up he shuts his mouth as if to say "Oh, it's just mom" (anyone else can pick him up also, w/o getting bitten). He does "play bite" (puts his mouth over my hand, but does not bite down). Masque has never bitten me hard, not since the day I got him. If yours is truly trying to bite you, I've seen some people put the 'bitter apple' deterent on their hands to make it not worth the ferts time or taste buds to continue to act this way. Maybe this will help. >She got her first bath yesterday. She peed and pooped in the water and >absolutely hated me. ... Sorry you had a bad experience with the bath, but maybe she'll get used to it once she realizes that it is not going to hurt her. I've also heard that it is normal for them to shake (shiver) after a bath and when they first wake up (I am not a doctor, just reading everything and anything to make me a good fert mom). Masque loves his showers (he takes them with me, easier that way, I don't have to worry about getting wet, already there!), I take a towel and towel dry him then set him free to run around while I finish my shower. Then he gets blow dried. He likes this part to, he grooms himself while I attempt to get a good angle to blow-dry him. Have you hugged your fuzzy today? Charlee and the "Masqued" Marauder! [Posted in FML issue 1551]