A Joyous Thanksmas

The girls and I spent Thanksmas (that's Thanksgiving and Christmas combined) at Grandma and Grandpa's. The girls were very good on the 6 hour drive over. Grandma had cleared a special space just for their new playpen. They were so good about playing in the pen and sleeping in their travel cage. They were allowed out sometimes for high energy running through the house play and romping in the bathroom. Aside from a few attacks on the houseplants, the girls were really well behaved. Grandma and Grandpa both remarked that the girls did not stress them out like they usually do. Good job girls and a special thanks to the new play pen!

Since it was Thanksmas, the girls got to open some presents too. Grandma and Grandpa got them a tweeting bird on a tree stand and a squeaking mouse. Kyra has claimed the mouse for her own and insists that it be stowed away safely under the couch. Now the couch randomly squeaks. Occasionally Mokey will attack the bird or push it across the floor with her nose.

I of course spent a great deal on the new playpen, but what type of mother would only give her little ones practical gifts. I got the girls a plastic hut and filled it with tissue paper for them to dig and shred to their little hearts content. And some new jingly balls. (Saving the rest for Christmas.)

Pictures of Freedom and Fun!

Playing in the Garden Tub

Nothing beats a dryer tube

Run! Run! Run!

Ferrets in a cooler

I went to leave the other day and so I put the girls in their cage. Mokey, however, was running around and playing with all the toys. So I asked her if she wanted to come with me. I like to take the girls out when I get a chance and the weather is nice. A rare occasion. Especially since I've learned the girls do not enjoy going out when it is windy. Which is almost all of the time. I need some practice taking Mokey out also, because I don't know yet how she reacts and how she prefers to be held for a walk.

It was a hot and humid day so I brought a soft cold pack to place on my arm so Mokey could sit on it and stay cool. I brought a cooler with water in it for me. She did not want to ride. She wanted to run free! I tried to detain her in the cooler.

Um, I'll try again with Mokey. So far I've always taken
her in a carrier or just out front on a leash.

I took Mokey, the busy body, to a flower bed to play for a bit and then back home. She was not in the mood to be carried. Although, she doesn't allow me to carrier her anyway. Only from a sleeping place to the cage to be tucked in. We are improving though. She used to bit me if I even tried to touch her or pick her up. Even with all the squirming and noisy excitement going on around us, she never bit or nipped at me. Yay!

So with Mokey safely returned to her cage, I found Kyra quite interested in what had been going on. I decided to give her a turn.

Kyra was much more calm about the whole thing.


Kyra looked around, dug in the cooler, and then nestled down for a nap.
Ice pack or no, I think she preferred to be home.
I wasn't sure if she was tired or miserable in the heat, so we went back home.

She was so cute in that cooler!

Mokey's Update

Mokey has now been a member of the family for just over six months. When she arrived as an adoption from the GCFA she was skinny, dirty, terrified, and a violent biter--as you may recall from earlier blogs.

Taken on Mokey's first day home. Dec. 2009

How is she doing now?

I'd say she's made herself at home.

She is definitely no longer afraid of me. She is fearless. She is a happy, healthy, fat ball of energy that loves to run around, chase jingle balls, wrestle with her sisters, dig and scratch at the paper and shoe boxes in her cage, and is an expert in ferret bowling.



Despite her happiness, I still have to say, SHE IS CRAZY. She trusts me enough to let me pull her out of the sleeping ferret pile under the couch when its time to go back in the cage. I just reach in, grab something fuzzy and pull it out. No problem, she's used to this. I have previously posted a video of me waking up the girls and patting their little heads. Ohh, so cute. BUT THEN... like the other day...I reach into the girls' cage to pat them all awake for morning playtime and she sticks her head out while I'm petting Kyra , grabs on to my arm and shakes me like a dog shakes its kill. She managed to get me twice before I could get my arm out. I was cut and bleeding and it hurt so bad, and she had the nerve to look at me like "G' morning." She still has a bit of Vampiress in her and she sneaks in a very painful bite every couple of days.

WATCH OUT!

She also has a very bad habit of pooing on the third floor of the ALL WIRE cage. So poo rains down on the hammock below and I think sometimes on the food, cause all of a sudden I notice that no one is eating out of one of the food dishes. I'm surprised Kyra and Fawn haven't said anything to her because they are all very upset when they can't sleep in the hammock. As I am very upset when I have to scrub a poopy hammock and try to clean all the poo out of the wiring. Its a lot more difficult than one would think!

I am glad Mokey is so happy. But she still makes me so mad. And its very disappointing to be afraid of your ferret. Every time she comes walking over to me I panic. I know she's going to bite me somewhere! The other girls will crawl all over me and behind me and I will wrestle them with my hand. But I have to move Mokey cause I know its only a matter of seconds before she goes for the softest, most tender part of my arm. I have made a few, short attempts at hand wrestling with her and they have been successful. She does bite gentler at these times.

Ever hear of a devil in disguise?

Indiana Series: The Bathroom

When you return from a vacation everyone wants to know the best parts, your favorite activities from the trip.

Any place a ferret runs free must be ferret proof. So when you're on vacation you must improvise with the safest place available. I usually find this to be the bathroom---for both ferrets and the human hosts who have allowed these trouble-causing, fun-seeking, cute, smelly, poo machines into their clean and fresh scented home.

My girls were in their small travel cage for this trip, so I made sure they got plenty of trips out. They had bathroom play time, outside time, and Kyra even had some time in the barn with the cows. But I'm going out on a limb here and speaking for my girls' opinion when I say bathroom time was their favorite. Take a look and see if you think I'm wrong.

"What are we going to do in here Mama?"

Here's what my girls found to do....!

Cleaning out the shower drain!

When I was taking my shower, all three girls pushed the door to the shower open and joined me! These three bath hating girls could not be kicked out of the shower. They just kept coming in and got soaked. Adding to their already glorious scent! Pew!

Some favorite "toys" included the waste can lid and old toilet paper tube.

Mokey making fun.



Mokey's favorite activity was to steal the poo bag.





Everyone had so much fun they were ready to go back to sleep.


Thanks to my cousins Jeff and Donna for allowing me and my fuzzies into their wonderfully air conditioned home. And for feeding me food that was not thawed in the microwave. Truly a rare treat!

Ferret Safety note. Ferrets must be monitored while playing with toilet paper or paper towel tubes. They have been known to squeeze in and not be able to squeeze back out--ending very badly.

The First Dooking...

But Not The Last

When I first brought Kyra home from the pet store I was armed only with a ferret info book read cover to cover, a bunch of new ferretty supplies, previous experience and knowledge with other animals having no bearing on what to expect from a ferret, and my good friend Allison who came with me to pick up the pet who would soon rule my life-and my pocket book.

I carefully placed my new ferret on the living room floor of my recently ferret proofed apartment. I had followed every bullet point in the book for a ferret safe home. Kyra's paws touched ground, she paused for the briefest of seconds to glance around and BECAME AIR BORN! This new creature could fly. She jumped straight up and twisted her body in the air before crashing back down only to fly again. Some sort of squeaking sound was coming out of her. I stood back completely freaked out. The book said nothing about air born seizures. I thought she was having some sort of episode. I mustered a scared, "What's wrong with her?" to my friend. She, squinting her face in an analytical way at Kyra, turned to me and said in a halted reply, "I think... she's...happy."

She was! Kyra was happy. She was out of the square glass cage she had lived in for the past few months. She was on the ground and free! I have since seen much dooking, but never again have I seen a dooking display like her first dook of freedom.

Now I have heard of this event (I did lots of internet searching on the topic shortly after) labeled "the war dance." I hate this term. I did from the moment I read it. There is nothing war-like about this dance. It is a pure expression of all good feelings...love, joy, excitement, and energy! It says I'm happy, come play with me.

Six years later, I captured Kyra in a dooking dance. She's in her land, preparing for another straight up in the air jump. Look at her. If you're a ferrent you'll see in her eyes and posture what the picture can't show you. ;)

It just goes to show you, no matter how much research you've done or experience you have, there's always a ferret who can throw you for a loop. And we love em!

Indiana Series: Holy Cow!

I took Kyra down to the barn to visit the cows. See Kyra meet cows....

"Ok, Mom, this is close enough!"


Awww


I had to feed the cow myself.

I put Kyra on top of this barrel so I could feed the cow. She thought this water bottle was really cool!

These cats were not impressed by our visit. In fact I think they were a little pissed.


Here's me feeding the cow.

Here's Kyra playing with the water bottle.

Indiana Series: Taking a Walk

The ferrets and I, along with other human family members, went on vacation to Indiana to celebrate my aunt and uncle's 50th Wedding Anniversary. This is one excerpt from our many adventures.

The ferrets and I were awaiting our morning pick up to be transferred to air conditioning before 11am. As ferrents you know you have to monitor the temp very closely. We were staying at my 95 year old Great Aunt's house, but temps were rising quickly. Plus she had the heat on???? So I guess it wouldn't have mattered if her home, built sometime in the late 1800's by her grandparents, had a/c or not. But I had checked the weather's hourly forecast and knew my girls had to split before 11am and temps reaching 80 and higher. (As a side note - On this day. The first 80 degree day. All three of my girls began their shedding! It was suddenly raining fur.)

Since the heat came on inside, we took refuge outside in the shade while we waited.

The leashes are attached to the cage. I tried to let them chill outside the cage, but all of them weaseled right out of their leashes.

So I took them for one-on-one walks with Mom.

Fawn's walk was short as she would not sit still and was set on escape!

Kyra got to explore the barn and visit the cows (Blog entry Indiana Series: Holy Cow!) But here are some pics of her checking out the outside of the barn and burrowing through the grass.




Nothing like digging in real dirt! "Does it feel different from digging out the inside of my couch, Kyra?"
Kyra The Great Explorer

Safety Notice: It's important to know your ferrets. Kyra has experience from Ohio in exploring fields and even hiking in the park with me. I know what she'll do when I put her down. I know she is a slow explorer and will stop if I yell her name. Fawn and Mokey require a leash for exploring. A result of being city ferrets I guess.

The Secret to Low Maintanence Shedding

My girls shed twice a year. Once at the start of summer and once when switching to their winter coat. Each shedding lasts about two weeks. Kyra has used shedding to significantly change her coat color. She was jet black when I got her and lightened with each shed. Now, in her old age, it sort of looks like she is graying.

This is Kyra just two weeks ago.

This is Kyra (and friend Toto) maybe two years ago. I didn't have any good pics from when I first brought her home. It was before I had a digital camera. But you can still see the difference.















When Kyra first started shedding and she was just my first new ferret, I thought I should brush her as I had done with my past cats and dog. However, after wasting much money on all kinds of brushes that never worked on a ferret, I gave up.

A few years later, while using one of those sticky rolling brushes for removing their hair from my furniture, I had a great idea. Why not remove the hair at the source? I have been lint brushing my girls during shedding time ever since.

Please make sure this is a pleasant experience for your ferret. Only brush downward on their hair. If it seems too sticky brush it over your couch or something a few times and try again. All three of my girls have never displayed any discomfort with this. Just give them a few strokes to get the loose hair. This is not a shearing.

The best way to do this is to just take the brush and let the ferrets wrestle with it as you rub them. They love this!

Replace hand with brush. Enjoy!

Fawn and Kyra Play Hide N Seek

"Kyra, what are you doing?"



"I want to play Hide N Seek!"

"Okay, I won't look."

"One, Two, Three, Four...."

"Here I come!"

Okay, this was the location for the video of the Hide N Seek game, but with the inability to upload videos, it has now become like a joke without the punchline. This is very sad. I started this blog because I was unable to send videos by email! Boo!

Who Did This, Too?

This is what happened when I slept in on a Saturday. Geesh, it was only til 9am. My ferrets know their weekend rights. And weekends involve very little cage time. Slack off and they'll find their own weekend fun in the cage.

This is a shoe box filled with tissue paper, balls, and sometimes a squeaky elephant. Usually it lays flat and they play or sleep inside it. They like to chew and scratch at it. Periodically I fill it with new tissue paper, they shred it, then I replace it, and the cycle repeats. This morning someone decided to turn it on its side (quite impressive actually) and pull all the paper out across three cage floors.

Who could have done this?

Now, I don't know, but there's a certain ferret who always seems to be around in these situations.

I'm just saying...

Who Did This?

I came home from work to find this...

Yes, that's an elephant in the water dish.

"Girls, who did this?"
"Did what? I don't notice anything odd." replied Mokey.

"I'm just going to take a drink out of my water dish that is completely normal. La la la, slurp, slurp."

I'm not going to point any fingers, but a lot of things have been happening around here since Mokey's arrival that were never a problem before. Hmmm? Good thing I also have a water bottle in the cage. Although it doesn't seem anybody minded sharing the water dish with a squeaker elephant?

Waking up the Girls

A video speaks 1,000 words!







What a Yawn!

Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa

A post by Mokey

Two weeks after my adoption, I spent my first Christmas with my new family. Mom took us to my new grandparents' house! It was kind of a long drive, but Mom said we were really good (after we finally settled in). Grandma and Grandpa were so excited to meet me.( I was a surprise!) They were ready for us though. They had had a carpenter friend come and seal up all the holes under the cabinets so we could play safely. Apparently Kyra had caused some trouble last time by getting in between the cabinets and the flooring. Grandpa saved the day by taking apart the dishwasher and getting her out. Yay, Grandpa! But I didn't let a couple of patched up holes stop me. I still took my turn exploring inside the dishwasher. Ha! (See pic below). Even after all the trouble we caused (including pooing behind the Christmas tree) they still showered us with presents.

Oh, and Mom wanted me to be sure and thank Grandma for supervising Fawn's play in the middle of the night when she woke up and started causing a ruckus in the cage. I started crying and Mom was yelling at us to be quiet and go to sleep. Grandma came in and offered to play with Fawn in the living room. Mom was so thankful! Thanks Grandma!

I'm In!

Fawn and Mokey

Kyra and Mokey (See how thin my tail is? Its as full as a feather duster now!)

Kyra with a big slipper and octopus.