Aimless ferret chatter
Wow, I have had absolutely zero time to post. Things are definitely starting to get busy! Pain in the butt Christmas season. I've only been able to spend about half the time I usually do up in the ferret room, and I think they're mad at me. Sophie, Cheeba, and Jebabba all stared at me defiantly while they backed right up NEXT to the litterbox. That's my ferrets - the passive aggressive floor poopers.
Sophie seems to be feeling a little under the weather, I'm concered it might be time to up her dosage of Prednisone a little. Right now she's at .25, and I think it might be time to go to .3. I was hoping we wouldn't have to do that so soon, but I've definitely seen her laying around more like she was before she was diagnosed with the Insulinoma. I definitely don't want her to have another seizure, that was absolutely terrifying. Thankfully her first and only (that we know about) was shortlived, only about 8 minutes, but it took her a full 30 minutes to bounce back after we rubbed Karo syrup on her gums.
I had the ferrets down in the family room again on Friday night, but Steve had the camera down in Southern PA, so no more fun pics! There would have been some great ones too - they were all bouncing around like little maniacs. I love watching them play. I think they're getting bored with their room upstairs, though Steve swears he hears them playing up a storm around 2 am. In January, I think he's going to build them some stuff to climb in so they can have a new jungle gym.
So this is my new thing - I've decided to offer up some knowledge as bribery for the reader(s?) who make it through my ramblings! Today's ferret tip is about ferrets and christmas trees. While ferrets may find Christmas trees to be wonderful fun toys, trees can actually be dangerous for ferrets. If you're going to have a live tree, I would recommend blocking it off with a ferret playpen, putting it up on an unreachable table, or putting it in a room where the ferrets don't go altogether. If you have to have it in the same room, make sure you block off the water or soil it's in (if it's a live tree), put all ornaments beyond their reach, and use ferret safe ornaments (metal or plastic) attached to the tree with yarn (as opposed to metal hooks). Don't use any garland or tinsel (potential blockages), and make sure the tree is securely weighted so your ferrets can't knock it over.
posted by Ms. Ferret @ 10:26 PM
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Sophie stares adoringly at her papa - what a little daddy's girl!
Bonk getting all tangled up - he loves that toy!
Bonk attempting to make friends with Maceo. Needless to say, Maceo was less than thrilled about this, and the shot you see here is after Maceo gave Bonk a good warning whack on the nose.
When faced with the difficult choice of fight or flight, Cheeba somehow manages to go with both! Little waffler that he is...
Sophie and Bonk share a tender moment on the couch...and in the next moment proceed to throw each other off the couch! Ah, such is love!
Mojo and Jebabba having an important pumpkin summit. Don't they look serious?
Jebabba going for the pin - little does he know...
Sophie's about to kick his fuzzy, wussy little butt!!
Inspired by Sophie and Jebabba's brawl, Mojo and Cheeba square off!
Augh! Let go of my tail!
Mojo bites Cheeba on the butt...and after this Cheeba promptly runs away. There were some pictures of him on top (really, he does win sometimes!), but they were all blurry. 
Contrite now that he has no one to play with, Mojo attempts to lure Cheeba back into combat. Cheeba is unimpressed.
Sophie lunges for her elusive enemy...the vibrating bee!!
Dinnertime! Out comes the duck soup, and into the bowl goes the little piggie faces of Mojo, Cheeba and Sophie. Wait your turn guys! (Nah, it's flattering - they like my cooking!)
And finally, dessert - it's NBone time! 
Mojo has put on so much weight since he started on the Lupron and the duck soup! Just look at that little fat belly! As of this past Sunday at the vet's, he was up to 3.4 lbs. That's his pre-sickness weight, so we're pretty happy.
Jebabba is the king of speedbumping! If I stop paying attention to him even for a second, this is the face I get.
What a little cutie! Finally, I was able to get a close up picture of Bonk! Usually he's going so fast I can't manage to get more than his butt as he runs out of the frame. I love the shape of his head - it's still so short and fat. My mother said he looked like a "baby harp seal" when he was a kit. I say whatever, he's precious!
Bonk is somewhat of a horder - this is one of his stashes of jingle bell toys. Everytime I bring some new ones home, this is where they end up. I was pulling them all out last night. Tried to get a picture of him trying to put them back, but he was too fast!
As they wind down from their crazy playtimes, Cheeba always gets sleepy, so I pull him into my lap. He loves to curl up and sleep on his momma while the rest of the ferrets run around. He's the oldest (of the youngest that is - we call him honorary grandpa), so he usually slows down first. I love lap naptime with him. Doesn't that sleeping position just look so incredibly uncomfortable? He almost always sleeps curled up in a little ball. 
This is Smoke, and the resident grandpa. He's about 7, and he was our first rescue. He was living in deplorable conditions at a pet store, and found his way into our home and our hearts about 6 1/2 years ago. He was a horrific biter at first, and his favorite toy was white socks - with or without a foot in them! Over the years he's turned into the biggest sweetheart, and we were very worried about him when we lost his cagemate earlier this year. Rascal was 2 years older than Smoke and the only ferret that Smoke would ever tolerate. But he seemed to deal with Rascal's passing well enough, and we moved him downstairs to live with us. He's our only free roam ferret.
This is Cheeba - he was "my" first ferret (our first two were my fiance's), and he's a total spoiled brat. I went to Petco the summer after I graduated to find a part time job, and walked out with a ferret instead. I used to take him to work with me for the first 8 months after I got him, so he was used to lots of alone time with mom. He's a tough little guy, and can never be accused of not having a mind of his own! He's about 4 1/2 now, and aside from a scary ulcer episode earlier this year is going strong!
This is Mojo, our second rescue. He was adopted from Oxford Ferret Rescue when we lived down in Delaware as a cagemate for Cheeba, and the two ferrets bonded in about 2 hours! He's about 4, and he's currently suffering from adrenal disease with prostate problems. He's not a surgical candidate because of a heart murmur, so he's getting monthly Lupron shots. He's doing quite well, and he's regained all the hair that he lost! His favorite things to do are pig out on duck soup and get scritches on the back of his neck.
This is Sophie, our third rescue. She belonged to the son of a friend of a friend, if that makes any sense. She was living in a tiny cage with no litterbox or even newspaper. She got no human contact, and no time out. The first time we let her out at our house, she was so excited to have space to run around in that it took us 30 minutes just to round her up to put her away. She's our only female, and the queen of the roost. She was diagnosed in early October with Insulinoma, and she's doing quite well on twice daily feedings of duck soup and doses of prednisone. We're not sure how old she is, but probably around the same age as Mojo or a little younger. She's a total daddy's girl.
This is Jebbabba, our fourth rescue. Our friend found him running around the woods in Northeast PA in October. He probably hadn't been outside long, given how healthy he still looked. We're not sure how old he is, but we estimate him at around 2 1/2 or 3. He's a little lover, and a big kisser! Whenever I'm hanging out in the ferret room with him, he loves to curl up next to me in a sleep sack or blanket and snuggle. He's a big jumper, and when he gets worked up, he dances and dooks around like no ferret I've ever met before!
This is Bonk, our baby. He's 2 years old, but I still think of him as a little kit. He's deaf, though recently we've started to think that maybe he can hear very high pitched noises, which might be why he loves jingle bell toys so much. (He stashes them in various places around the room, and then jumps around and dooks at me when I throw them all out again.) He isn't a big cuddler, but he loves to sit on my shoulders while I walk around the upstairs in the morning.
