Paula wrote: >Ok so I had the scare of my life. I never knew that ferrets slept so >soundly. ... My little Angel, 5 months old, was laying in the bottom of >her cage when I picked her up and she appeared lifeless. ... boy did she >look dead. I was never so scared in my life. She is my first and I could >not imagine what I had done to kill her. Welcome to the "joys" of Dead Ferret Syndrome, Paula. :) Zorro, my first ferret, was the one to initiate me into this rather distressing facet of ferret behavior. I found him lying "lifeless" in the hammock one night, and when I picked him up he wouldn't move and it didn't look like he was breathing. While I was panicking and trying to figure out how in the world I was going to tell my daughter that our pet had mysteriously died, he sort of rolled his head up and half-opened his eyes and gave me this very reproachful look. It's happened again since then, and not only with Zorro, as others of my fuzzies have done the same "trick." I think they do it because they know you'll be so happy to discover they're not dead you'll give them a treat or some extra attention. *g* Dooks, Lisa Mom of Zorro, Claudia, Loki, Fezzik, and Crysin @}-}-- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ --{-{@ "It won't rain all the time The sky won't fall forever And though the night seems long Your tears won't fall forever." --"It Can't Rain All the Time," Jane Siberry/Graeme Revell, from The Crow soundtrack [Posted in FML issue 2637]