Taj Mah-Weasel

[Chief]

I had an appointment on Friday out at the <a href="http://www.oregonferretshelter.org/">Oregon Ferret Shelter</a> in Oregon City to have my latest girl Miss Behavior fitted with an Avid microchip. Because ferrets are such accomplished escape artists, (I can make to an open door in 3.5 seconds. Can you??!!) it is worthwhile to have the rice-sized chip inserted in their scruff, so they can be returned home if they do escape. It costs $15.00 for the chip, and $18.50 for a lifetime registration with Avid.

When I went out there, I took some laundry soap and other cleaning products for the shelter to help them with the upkeep of the numerous ferrets they get in. At any time, the Shelter has about 90 animals in house, and that varies as adoptions go out, and new fuzzies come in, and their need for supplies is constant.

Chris Mathis runs the shelter, and is the current president of the <a href="http://www.ferretnet.org/index.html">Pacific Ferret Shelter Network</a>, and I don't mind supporting their efforts one bit. You would be amazed at the number of ferrets that get abandoned by owners who made a poor choice of house pets when they purchased a ferret, and just dump the poor creatures off. Two of my ferrets were adopted out of Chris' shelter, and I do what i can to support her efforts.

A lot of the donated ferrets come in to the shelter, cage and all, and the shelter uses what ever they can, and stores the rest or sells them if the opportunity arises to help fund the shelter. One of their donations came in some time ago, with a cage that is exactly like mine. "Ferret Nation" is the brand name, and it is a very sturdy welded steel cage, with a baked enamel finish, that's really easy to keep clean. Because the shelter could not use it, Chris sold it to me on Friday.

I was going to buy another new cage section for mine very soon, but I was able to get another whole cage for a fraction of what one more segment would have cost me new.

So, my ferrets have a triple-decker cage now, that we have christened the "Taj Mah-Weasel". It comes withing three inches of the ceiling, but since it's on rollers, it's simple to move. And I still have another whole base section if I ever need it too!

Here's a pic of the finished product, and one of a couple of the residents in their new fish...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/SeniorChieftain/TajMah-Weasel.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/SeniorChieftain/innafish.jpg

My wife says I spoil these animals something terrible....what do you think??

;D

[Pat Campbell]

They had a neat ferret show on OPB last week. It gave me a whole new outlook on ferrets. Neat for some but not for us. I'll stick with my tropical fish.

There are wild ferrets about. One a couple of days ago (thin, brown with a black tipped tail was slinking quickly around our cul de sac. I saw a similar one struck by a car near Beacon Rock Saturday.

[Chief]

Those are probably someon't domestic ferret that they just turned loose or allowed to escape. Happens a lot, a lot more than people realize. The lucky ones end up at the shelters, the unlucky ones just die.

We saw that special on OPB! It was like "Best of Show" for ferrets, and ferrets render adults (like me) stoopid when it comes to showing the little critters. We just enjoy them, because the show circuit isn't our cup o' tea either.

And Pat, when ever I go to put on a shoe, only to discover that someone has pried all of the linings out of every single pair of shoes that I own, and piled them against the wall under the exact center of our King-sized bed where they are 2" beyond my grasp, I swear I will trade the whole bunch in for a fish...

;D

[Pat Campbell]

Ha! I can see they are a lot of fun, but they'd drive me nuts. I also have enough trouble everytime I move something with my wife. Ferrets would lead to a marital meltdown over here.

I think what I am seeing are wild ferrets. They might be eighteen inches long including tail and are reddish brown with a one to two inch black tip on their tail. The one I saw last week did a lot of darting and carried his tail pointing in an upward direction. These ferrets are kind of tubular in shape; maybe two to three inches in diameter. Your ferrets and those on OPB seem to have different colors and look heftier. I might look at Google to see if there are some descriptions.

[Chief]

What you are describing is likely a weasel, or possibly a variety of otter. Ferrets in this country are exclusively domesticated, and have about as much chance surviving in the wild as a domestic cat does. Since they are dependent on people for food, they do not know how to hunt, or protect themselves from predators.

Ferrets are definitely a lifestyle. That's why they are so frequently abandoned by owners who had no idea what they were in for. These animals are insanely curious, and are perfectly capable of doing a suicide run if you let them. Our house is pretty much ferret proof, and we have a routine we go through before the fuzzies are allowed to come out. And when they are out, they are closely supervised to make sure they don't decide to try anything stupid....

We have three because they do much better in pairs. A single ferret that lives exclusively in a small cage will get bore, depressed, and will start acting out in any number of ways. thy love new things, and they love playing with people. If you keep them interested, and occupied, they stay healtheir and have a lot fewer behavioral problems; like biting.

[Pat Campbell]

Sound like a lot of fun if you are set up properly.

I looked up what I was seeing and it looks like it is like you thought Bob, a weasel. Probably the endemic long-tailed weasel. Evidently they like to eat rodents including squirrels which we have (had) many in our neighborhood. Apparently, there is only one ferret in North America; the black footed ferret which is endangered. Behaviorwise, it seems that ferrets, weasels, and otters have a lot of the same behaviors and share basic looks as well. I've seen otters in some odd spots. Several of them were in Goose Lake a few years ago. They must have gotten there overland as the Willard "Big Lava Bed" covers drainage from that mountain lake.

[Chief]

Pretty cool...

And yes, it takes some setup time to take care of them properly; hence the thre-decker cage. I can isolate a section at a time to clean it, and I have a day-pen for them as well if I need to really hoe it out.

We have pleenty of squirrels here too, and it just confuses the hell out of our cats; they can't figure out why the outdoor ferrets don't want to play like the indoor ferrets do. And when we have the whole boodle of seven fuzzies over for a romp, the cats exercise discretion, and stay outside for a while...

[Waterbuffalo]

How is Taj Mahal #3: Ferret going to fit in?

[Chief]

Glad you asked.

Since I put this thread up, it became apparent that ferret three was not going to play nicely with others in the same cage. She was trying to play "Alpha Weasel" with the two older ones, and problems ensued including back and forth rounds of vengence pooping on each other's turf. I was scrubbing the cage out every other day, and the three tiered cage was just too hard to manage effectively.

I ended up erecting the entire second cage, and we now have 2 identical 2-tiered cages side by side. The youngest is by herself (for now) and the older 2 are back to sharing theirs. They still play together, but they bunk separately.

The new girl will be in an isolation cage for a few weeks until she has a chance to calm down and get used to me and the other ferrets here. She's been through a lot in her young life just with the rescue in Ohio, and the trip out here to Oregon City. Add the spaying on top of that, and whe will definitely need some TLC and quiet time to settle down.

I have a large playpen that erects inside a vinyl liner that we put up in the guest room. That's wehre we will do the introductions, and start showing her how to play like a ferret should. Eventually she will move in with Miss Behavior in cage number 2, and I think that becasue they are so close in age, they will make better bunkmates. The will have equal energy, and will be the same size, so things will be a bit more evenly matched.

Pics to follow. I have a ton of ferret pics and will post them as time goes on...

;D

[Waterbuffalo]

[quote]<b>"I have a large playpen that erects inside a vinyl liner that we put up in the guest room. That's where we will do the introductions, and start showing her how to play like a ferret should. Eventually she will move in with Miss Behavior in cage number 2, and I think that because they are so close in age, they will make better bunkmates. The will have equal energy, and will be the same size, so things will be a bit more evenly matched."</b>]/quote]

So who is "Miss Behavior"? Sounds like from what you said there is a problem with two new ferrets?

[Chief]

We pick names for ferrets that suit their personalities. Number two is named "Miss Demeanor" and number three is "Miss Behavior". We are still mulling an apropriate name for dash four, and currently "Felonious Weasel" is in the lead...

Our Numbah One ferret is "Mippsey" and since she was 3 when we adopted her it didn't seem right to change her name, so we left it as is. She actually has 2 ribbons from a contest a couple of years ago her first owner entered her in.

Hell, what do you expect from someone who names their ill-tempered cat Squeeky....as in Squeeky Frome, the Manson hunny who tried to shoot Jerry Ford...??? (Her Momma was named Sadie Mae, as in Sadie Mae Glutz...)

;D

[Waterbuffalo]

One sick and twisted namer eh Chief? :-)

So how about "hey twist and shout" for Miss behavior?