Here's a question that I'm sure has come up before but I haven't seen it around HERE in a while: Have any of you out there with oodles of ferrets noticed any particular trend in pattern determining behaviour? I've put off writing my observations for a few months just so I could get some more data and this is what I've found (note this is just about as unscientific as you can get!) - Of the 6 dark sables we've had (we run a halfway house) 5 have immediately taken to chewing the buttons on our couch. None of the other approximately 20 ferrets we've had (variety of colors) have shown any interest in them. The one dark sable that didn't chew the buttons was an elderly gentleman who was rarely on the sofa. - There seems to be a tendency for clever-naughtiness in the dark-sables I've been around. I'm not saying other ferrets are dumb, but by contrast the DEWs, REWs, and lighter colored ferrets have generally seemed to be a little less on-the-ball and likely to be followers, not leaders. - Dark sables seem to dook more than other colors/patterns. This is about the weakest relationship I've seen since we DO have a few mitts (one young boy, one 3 yr girl) who have been known to dook on occasion. - Mitted ferrets seem to be crybabies. When fighting/playing/posturing, anyone with white feet around here cries like a baby. The dark/light sables hardly speak a word (dooking excluded). - Ligher sables (chocolatey) seem to be quiet even when off-the-wall excited or fighting (panting/hissing excluded). More often than not it seems such a ferret is the head of the household. I have very little data here and this could be due to the majority of ferrets being sable patterns. - Darker colors seem to be 'busier' than light ferrets. Most of the lap-ferrets I've seen are light colored and/or mitts. The really dark ones seem to have better things to do than snuggle. These are the dynamics of OUR house for our crew. They also reflect my observations of trends based on seeing about 20-25 ferrets move through our halfway house and talking with friends and observing their lot on occasion. FWIW, we've also had 2 pandas, 3 blazes, and 3 DEWs come through here and none (0) were deaf as is commonly suggested. I saw a statistic SOMEWHERE that said 9/10 such ferrets are deaf. Ya can't always believe what ya observe...:) -Erin... ======================= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = | Mr. Erin M. Ennis | Any sufficiently convoluted argument can | | eennis(at)zoo,uvm,edu | be made to appear to be science as the | | Water Resources Major | layman equates incomprehensibility with | | Biology Minor | science. | | Uni. of Vermont | - Unknown | ======================= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = [Posted in FML issue 2497]