Ferrets know a little bit about doors and what magic they perform.   Close your bathroom door for some privacy, and a ferret is sure to appear, scratching to get in.  Why is this?  Well, they’re just so curious they can’t stand the idea that something exciting might be happening in there, and they’re missing it.

Also, doors provide treats in many forms. A case in point would be the food gifts that come forth when humans open the refrigerator door.  In a ferret’s world, doors have possibilities, especially when they go from closed to open.

After Bun’s First Outing, he sat by the french doors out of which his adventure began, hoping he’d get to go out through them again.  That one time, boy did those doors produce great things.  Bun got to rub in some real dirt, snake through the plants, and get lots of whiffs.

So, for my ferrets at least, doors are magical, powerful, and full of possibilities, all good.  So what does it mean when ferrets leave messages on thresholds of doors?  After Bun’s Second Outing, he left a message on the threshold of the door we had gone through.  He’s done it before, after someone had left for the day.  An old ferret used to leave messages frequently, at the threshold of the main door to our apartment.  It seems to be linked to having just gone through that door…today Bun seemed to be saying, I know how you get out there, and just letting you know that I know.  And I’m jealous, so here’s a quick note to remind you that I’m jealous.

It’s true, it’s like they want the door to open again, want the magic to occur, so they communicate this with a poop message.   They are posting messages right where you’ll be sure to see them when you’re exercizing your enviable ability to move between the inside and the outside worlds.

Hippie has come such a long way. He’s had quite a few roles since entering our household: from stressed out shelter ferret to warrior fighter and now communicator with humans.  He’s learned that good things come from humans, namely food.  Specifically: CHEESE.  When he first arrived, we noticed that he didn’t like the same treats our other ferrets craved: raisins.  He just wouldn’t eat anything but his kitten chow and the Marshall ferret food.

But he was very persistent about getting into the fridge.  Come to find out, he was after our cheese supply.  The cheaper the cheese, the better.  His favorite is American singles.  A few weeks after that, he learned that begging will bring him cheese.  Yes, it’s our fault we have begging ferrets, just can’t help it.

Now Hippie keeps tabs on our every move, knowing just when to come bounding into the kitchen after us.  He knows the sound of the fridge door opening, just as Bun and Pig know the sound of the spoon against a bowl when we’re eating cereal (soup is such a disapointment!).

Because Hippie is larger than life in so many ways, (just look at him), he does everything to the max, including begging.  We call this the “Strong Beg”.  It’s so intense you can feel his beady eyes boring a hole right through you.  He’s trying to look you directly in the eye and comminucate: Cheese Please!

The Strong Beg

Cheese Please!

Macchi's Strong Beg

Bun's Beg Isn't Very Strong

Ferrets are forever using their noses to guide them through the world.  If a window is opened, it’s at least an hour’s worth of exciting new things to whiff.  Hippy got a leg up onto the sill and he’s catching some whiffs right now.

In fact, ferrets have a very keen sense of smell, and they use it a lot to seek out fresh water.  I’ve seen Pig, one of our ferrets, a girl, run across the room and stop in her tracks, smelling something.  It’s just a bowl of fresh water I’d put down earlier.  They can smell fresh water vs. old water!

When Pig was young, she was so big and aggressive we actually thought for a day or two the pet store was mistaken and she was really a male ferret.  Pig bounded everywhere she went and loved to play fight.  She also thumped her tail, which we read was a male behavior.  What she lacked in concentration and booksmarts, she made up for in pure warrior strength.

What’s this about tail thumping, you say?  I’d never seen it until Pig came along.  We have long mailing tubes which ferrets just love to scurry into when play fighting.  Pig will sit inside a tube when being chased by humans, and vibrate her tail back and forth.  It makes a thumping sound, and according to what we read, this is male behavior.  Pig is our little Amazon Warrior Ferret!

Pig isn’t afraid of anything, even though she now lives with two adults and two male ferrets who are of course twice as large as she is.  She attacks them all, full on, nothing held back.  She is unrelentless and thorough in her mission to sublimate every member of the household.  When Pig, Warrior Ferret gets worked up, everyone watch out!