Message Number: YG11753 | New FHL Archives Search
From: - Z -
Date: 2002-03-08 09:51:00 UTC
Subject: Behavior question: Pillowcase-sucking weasel

From: "Dan Muldoon" <dmuldoon@c...>

>One of my neutered young boy fuzzies, Oscar, has a peculiar habit. He >goes
>to his favorite sleeping spot in my bedroom closet and he'll >clamp his
>mouth shut on a pillowcase, the rest of the cloth bunched up >underneath
>him while he's "hugging" with all four legs. I observe >nothing sexual in
>his behavior. He'll spend quite a while like this, >with a "dreamy" look on
>his face.


My neutered male ferret Cully would do this with his blankets, but only when
he was in his cage. He had lived alone and largely caged for his first
three or four years of life, so I had assumed it was just something he'd
come up with to amuse himself. I did think it was some sort of sexual
behavior however, as he also made little chortling noises and it really did
look like a mating posture, as he sort of tucked his hips under.

Ultimately he did have adrenal disease, and I did wonder if this behavior
might have been an early tip-off, though for all I know he could have been
doing it since he was a kit. I would maybe be extra observant with Oscar,
but I really don't have any way of knowing if the behavior was linked to the
development of the disease. Guess I wasn't that helpful, but to answer one
of your questions, yes, other ferrets have done this...

Regina

Regina Harrison regina_z@h... or regina@c...
http://www.channel1.com/users/regina/
blog: http://www.channel1.com/users/regina/zblog.html

“Is that my business? Well, what is my business? Do I know? Did I ever
know? Let’s not go into that. You’re not human tonight, Marlowe. Maybe I
never was or ever will be... Maybe we all get like this in the cold
half-lit world where always the wrong thing happens and never the right.”
--Raymond Chandler, The Little Sister




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