Andrea wrote about Oliver becoming depressed when she introduced a new ferret - Noodle reacted the same way to Easel's introduction, and it's taken him quite a long time to get back to snuff (he isnt, yet). He's loving and playful and active, but just not the same as before we introduced another weasel. Easel was out of the house for a few days recently, and Noodle sprang right back to normal; when she came back, it was like we had to introduce them all over again - Noodle was very reluctant to accept her. However, he happily curls up with her and even cleans her ears; he's just a touch depressed. Friday, on the other hand, is benefitting from having a playmate that doesnt wallop the stuffing out of her every ten minutes. Any ideas? Any in-depth understandings of ferret psychology? Easel is *clearly* smarter than Noodle (weird how you can see comprehension on their faces) and this means she can escape his attacks. Friday doesnt care one way or the other - she pays as much attention to Noodle as always, so she's not abandoned him for Easel. When we play with them, we play with all of them equally. Any good suggestions on how to boost Noodle's mood? I give him tons of extra cuddles, but they dont seem to help. Melissa ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Melissa Litwicki "Is it ... atomic?" [log in to unmask] "Yes! VERY atomic!" [Posted in FML issue 1715]