From:
Pam Sessoms
Date: 2001-03-02 11:01:00 UTC
Subject: Re: [Ferret-Health-list] Re: Scooting backwards with stuff
On Fri, 2 Mar 2001, Brett Middleton wrote:
> this sounds a lot like something I saw in a documentary on African
> mongeese awhile back. The mongeese would use this technique to move
> hard things like eggs and shellfish to some nearby rock. They would
> then "hike" the item between their rear legs so it would smash into
> the rock, repeating as often as necessary to get the thing open. It
> wouldn't surprise me to learn that their polecat relatives had a
> similar trick in their repetoire.
Wow, that's SO INTERESTING! It's almost like tool use! And since others
have now mentioned having girly ferrets do the scooting backwards to move
stuff, it's sounding like it's not a sex thing.
> how many of you have ferrets that engage in "frenetic nibbling"? I
> found this term in one of Fara Shimbo's FURO books, and it sounds like
<snip>
> Do any of your ferrets do this to you? Do any of them do it to other
> ferrets?
*waving hand* I do! My guys will all do this to me if I scratch them just
right when they're itchy. Mostly when they're shedding like crazy. They
have to get into that "oh bliss, oh a little to the left, oh YEAH, RIGHT
THERE" kinda thing, and then it's all about trying to nibble me in
return. If I have more than one cuddling with me when it's happening,
they'll alternate between nibbling me and nibbling the other ferret. I
think that I've only seen Sonic, my eldest and the self-appointed mother
figure of the group, nibble other ferrets on her own without me scratching
her first.
My dogs do it to me too, but the dog teeth hurt A LOT more when they get
that little flap of my skin to pinch!
-Pam S.