This is my first post! I'm a fairly new describer and fairly new ferret owner (since Christmas), so I've been lurking for a bit. I must say I have learned alot from all of you! Here's my ferret-naming contribution: Jasmine - I originally wanted to call her Jezebell, but my boyfriend couldn't bring himself to call her that. I noticed this when he wouldn't address her by name. We talked about it and I agreed to change her name. Since we were already a couple of weeks into the Jezebell name, I didn't want to change it too drastically and confuse her, so I changed it to Jasmine. Farkus - my little boy!!! Since I got to name Jasmine, I let my boyfriend name our little boy. One of his favorite movies is A Christmas Story. Scott Farkus is the bully who pushes all the kids around and gets beat up in the end. No relation to our Farkus's behavior, but we liked the name. As far as interesting characteristics, I'm glad it was brought up because I spend alot of time observing my two's behavior and am trying to dissect their individual characteristics. I'm endlessly fascinated with these little creatures and the complexities of their personalities blows my mind! Jasmine simply wants to do what she wants to do when she wants to do it. She really doesn't like to be told what to do. And if we stop her from doing something, or going somewhere that she's not supposed to, she throws a fit! From nipping (not biting! We solved that one!) and jumping around like a lunatic to out and out acting out! At one time, whenever she was trying to vent her frustration, she was going into their out-of-the-cage litter box and rolling around in it so the litter went everywhere! (we stopped that, too!). She's persistent and stubborn. It also applies to play time. She'll play with us when she wants to, and when she doesn't, she makes it plain that she wants to be left alone. All in all she's actually very loving and playful. When she's good she's good, when she's bad, though.... Farkus is just a sweetie. He exists to play. End of story. He is just not interested in figuring out how to get into something that he's not supposed to (unlike Jasmine). If he's told not to do it, he simply goes on to the next thing. He's a dream! Don't get me wrong, he gets into trouble, too! But he's much more even-tempered and much more tolerant in any situation. He just wants to have fun. Perhaps the most fascinating thing I've learned about both of them is their capacity to sense things from us. I know they understand certain words and can respond to command and name calling, but I'm talking about sensing a situation. They both seem to know when we're helping them. For example, Farkus typically hogs all the food, leaving Jasmine to wolf down her food when Farkus is sleeping. Sometimes Farkus will bully Jasmine away from the food dish if Jasmine gets there first. If we're around to catch this, we try to correct the situation. One time in particular was a test of wills with Farkus and we finally were able to let Jasmine eat in peace. After she finished eating, I picked her up to kiss and cuddle her (as we frequently do with both of them!). Now first you must understand that I have a routine with Jasmine. When I let them out of their cage when I get home from work, I pick each of them up first and say hello with cuddles and kisses. Its the only time Jasmine will kiss back unless she's in a REALLY good mood. But when the food incident happened she kissed and kissed like never before. It was almost like "thank you, Mommy!". And a similar situation happened with Farkus. Farkus almost NEVER kisses... But last week, it seemed he had a minor blockage and my boyfriend and I spent most of the night trying to help him. When we were putting him to sleep that nite, he was so kissy! He just knew we were helping him! Just blew my mind! This has been quite an experience as a new owner and I love every minute of it! Maryann [Posted in FML issue 2648]