This post is in response to the family whose ferrets are reading their e-mail and discovering new things to get into. This reminded me of a situtation I have had with my ferrets. In the past I have had ferrets that just wouldn't get along and needed to be kept in different cages, which also resulted in the need for different play times. My first two ferrets Ebony and Ivory were like this, and then years later Sugar and Spice would not get along with Spot. Anyway, there were multiple times that one group of ferrets would begin doing a behavior and then wouldn't you know the other group would start up with the same thing suddenly. Now it would be easy to explain that one of the ferrets saw the other one doing something and thus copied them. But the strange thing was that living in a bi-level home, most of these behaviors have occurred on a separate floor, out of sight of the other ferrets. Examples have been suddenly and obsessively digging at a door, dumping over their water bowl in the kitchen, getting into the couch from underneath, playing with a toy or climbing on furniture that was previously ignored. The only logical theory I can come up with is that maybe there are scent clues that influence their behavior. But what I really wonder is, do my ferrets talk to each other? :) Has anyone else experienced this? Sincerely, Betsy Bonnie and Clyde, and Satchmo and Dizzy. [Posted in FML issue 1824]