Pandamonium!

[Chief]

Here are some pics of our new girl. She's calmind down quite a bit already and is much less nippy, but she still likes to go after a finger now and then and will hang on tight if she gets ya; so for now we handle her with leather gloves on. The images are fuzzy because my camera isn't fast enough to keep up with her.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/SeniorChieftain/Ferret%20Follies/P1010004.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/SeniorChieftain/Ferret%20Follies/P1010005_edited.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/SeniorChieftain/Ferret%20Follies/P1010006_edited.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/SeniorChieftain/Ferret%20Follies/P1010007_edited.jpg

Yes, some ferrets really do have red eyes...

She is a black and white shetland with a faint set of mask circles around her eyes. We're naming her "Panda"monium as a result. She's in the playpen right now and just goes nuts playing in her tubes; she's very energetic. She's young, fast, and strong, and should be a great companion to Brun Hilde who outwighs both of the small ferrets together..

;D

[Waterbuffalo]

:-p

Why do I think that nickname happens better on her male owner than her?

[Chief]

We try and fit the name with the ferret...Miss Demeanor, Miss Behavior, and now Pandamonium...our vet gets the grins when he sees me coming with another fuzzie, just to find out what the name is this time...

This is a cool hobby....

[Waterbuffalo]

:-) Oh I bet he does.

Your vet probably loves animals as much as you do Chief. Because he knows you take care of them well and looking out for them. Wonder what he/she would feel if he had the upteenth beener who really shouldn't have animals near them? (Long list to show here. But one knows most of it when you see it.)

[Chief]

Updating to add a couple of new pics...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/SeniorChieftain/Ferret%20Follies/P1010002.jpg

There's our girl, playing mountain goat in the playpen. She's sitting on a maze I built out of plywood circles, 3" cardboard tubes, and a 10" waxed cardboard concrete form. There is a tube inside at the Tee so you can get between the two sections. It's all glued and screwed together, and is quite sturdy. There are a total of 6 exits to the outside, which makes for hilarious games of follow the leader. My wife found the fake fur at the fabric store, and I applied it using spray contact cement. They haven't shredded it yet, so I did something right. I have several legs that I cut off of old pairs of flannel pajamas stuffed inside of this thing, so it's a great place to sleep too...

I have a set of plastic tubes that you can see in the background, and those are big, big news too! You would be amazed at how fast these little critters can move when they want to, and a mad dash game of "chase me" through the tubes is hilarious to watch.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/SeniorChieftain/Ferret%20Follies/P1010005-1.jpg

This is her new sister, and future cage mate, Miss Behavior, inspecting a basket full of wind-up toys I keep handy for bored ferrets to chase...

We are letting the two of them play together right now in the playpen, and as long as things remain calm, I'll let them spend the night together to start getting used to the idea of bunking together. We had a minor argument earlier, but nothing bloody (thankfully!) so things are looking up. Panda has a ways to go along the path toward socialization, but I'm pleased with her progress to date.

[Waterbuffalo]

I remember miss demeaner and miss behavor, how about the next one be miss appropriation? 8-D

[Chief]

Actually, the next name in the queue is "Stinkerbell"... ;D Another name with potential is Itchy-bon, (a take on the Japanese diminutive "Ichi-bon"...)

We had significant progress last night on the road to socializing a very traumatized fuzzie. Everyone was let out for a romp last night, including our new girl. She has been out several times by herself, and a couple of times with Miss Behavior, her future cagemate; but last night was her first group romp with all four of our kids participating.

Until last night, Panda stayed puffed up (meaning she was scared) and hid under the cages or the hutch, and stayed there with just her little nose peeking out to see what was going on. Last night she did the same thing for about 15 minutes, then all of a sudden her little lightbulb came on, and she decided to have some fun. She did a 180 degree turn, and started playing with the rest of the girls, with me and the wife. She un-puffed and started nucking and clucking like happy ferrets do.

I cleaned cages while everyone was playing, and when it was time to go back in the cages, I put our new girl in with her new sister to see how they would do. They each have a fleece catbed on a hammock in their cages, so I put each of there beds together, put them both in the same cage, and watched them to see what happened. They have been together enough to be familiar with one another, and usually last about an hour before Panda got too agitated and had to go back to her own place.

This time was much different. I checked them 15 minutes after closing the cage, and they were both sound asleep, in the same bed, and snuggled together like they had known each other forever. They spent a quiet night in the same cage with no squabbling whatsoever...that is very significant for any ferret who is as young and edgy as this one is. Her sweet personality is beginning to emerge, and she is shaping up to be an excellent addition to our boodle.

The other thing that was hilarious was watching her run as fast as she could move. She has short, stubby little legs, and she looks like a little old Chinese woman waddling along...its funny as hell to watch her scuttle around, and try to make a fast escape under the couch, only she's too fat to squeeze under the furniture as fast as the older, and smaller ferrets do...

I'm extremely pleased that this little rescue fuzzy is calming down so quickly, and responding so very well to our TLC...

[Chief]

I forgot to mention that last night, when we went looking for all of the girls to round them up and put them back in their cages, we had to play "hard to get" for a bit with our new girl...

While we were looking for her, we tipped up the living room loveseat, and Lo!, there was the remote control for the TV set that's been missing for almost a month. I was considering where the best place to buy a new universal remote is, because I couldn't find this one. Sure enough, there are fang marks on it where someone decided to drag it under the exact ceneter of the bottom of the loveseat, where they could do who knows what with it and it would be as hard to find as possible...

;D

[Waterbuffalo]

Is some one guilty of steeling Daddy's comfort and sane controller? (aka television remote for football?)

Sounds like a too much fun!

Have fun with the ferret troupe and catch you some time.