The Edge of Empty

With ferrets, one learns to keep closet doors shut unless you are okay with things disappearing from the closet. It is also a good idea to put child safety latches on cabinets with cleaning supplies. Bela discovered this open door in the bathroom very quickly and was discovered after she had a nice nap in the washcloth basket.

How could I let the big day go by without sharing a picture? Here, Ash was doing a check of our old shower pan... And if you want to learn more about these furry friends, check out this great post on ferrets from  Mental Floss .

Ferrets are incredibly curious and love to be in the middle of the action. Although I have titled this post in a way to make them seem helpful, they are more likely plotting the "disappearance" of whatever the Hubster was holding when this picture was snapped.

About once a week, the ferrets get an egg as a treat. I thought it would be fun to share a quick video of Bela enjoying her egg.

Before heading back to school after Spring Break, I said one last goodbye to the ferrets. It wasn't until I was back at school that I noticed that one of my socks had made its way into their cage.

Last week, we saw Bela pondering her move from bed to chair. She is the planner. Count is a do-er who doesn't take time to ponder. He will see something and go for it. Sometimes that works out for him, and sometimes it doesn't. Here, if Hubster's cup didn't have a lid, Count would have been nose deep in coffee.  I wonder if he is attracted to the coffee or the  ferret crack  that A.E. Ferret   loved .

Ferrets are curious critters. Here, Bela is watching the Hubster and plotting her next move. You can almost see those little gears turning as if she is thinking "How can I get to where he is sitting?" or "What does he have in that cup?"  You will see next week that Count went way beyond thinking about the cup...

This semester, I have been enjoying the Property book selected by our professor. The book was written by John G. Sprankling and Raymond R. Coletta, and I have found the book to be very approachable. I have really enjoyed the interactive elements that make the book quite engaging. The authors seem to have a sense of humor as this line from the preface indicates: "As authors, we own any errors in the text, at least until someone with better title comes along." Instead of making the study of law as painful as possible with archaic language and cases that are difficult to fathom, the authors seem to have sifted through related cases until they found the most interesting ones to illustrate the rules. With many text books this year, I have spent much time flipping through a legal dictionary just to decipher the lesson. So far, that is not the case with this book; the authors have used language that is easy to follow. I am not saying that important legal terms have been left out ...

Ferrets are domesticated, but they still have many of the same urges as wild ferrets. Because a ferret's natural instinct is to back in to a corner to do their business, humans need to block access to all corners  discourage bad habits by strategic placement of litter boxes in corners. Here, Bela is checking out one of the new bathroom annexes that serves the dual purpose of providing an acceptable toilet and blocking what would be the natural choice. If the humans keep the toilets area clean, ferrets will use the acceptable spots more readily. By paying attention to the natural habits, humans can learn how best to help their ferrets be good housemates. For example, a napping ferret is not going to climb out of a nest and go down three ramps to the big bathroom annex. He wants to do his business as quickly as possible so he can get back to sleep. Providing a small litter box near the sleeping hammock is one way to prevent messy corners in the cage. We have trained Count and Bela...

Count thinks he is sneaking up on the cat here, but the cat is ready and waiting! Count will get a swat on the nose and the cat will run away.

One moment they will be wrestling and the next they will be sleeping. The positions can be the same.

Most of the time, the cat feigns indifference to the ferrets. However, when the ferrets run through their tunnels, the cat just can't help himself and has to get closer. He will pounce on the tunnels and bat at the ferrets as they run past him. Here, Bela is in the tunnel near Count's hind end and Count is "sneaking" up on the cat.

Count is our tunneler. He is never content to be on top of things and will figure out a way to get under something as soon as possible. Here, he has tunneled from one end of the bed to another. This is no problem unless your feet happen to be under those covers. Even though ferrets have been domesticated for many years, Count is our second ferret that retains the wild instinct to hunt and kill whatever he finds in a tunnel. Do you understand where this is going? Yep, the innocent sleeper is quite likely to be awakened by teeth embedded in a foot or calf. He never went through the phase that many young ferrets go through where they bite anything anytime it moves. He does like his tunnel biting though, so we will continue his training. Besides, who could stay made at this little guy?

It seems that ferrets are fascinated with anything wrapped in plastic. If there is a plastic bag, they will be in it, on it, and dragging it to their hiding spots if the humans aren't careful. Bela decided that this plastic bag of pennies was going to be her bag and is pictured here just as she begins her attack.

After a busy afternoon of play, Count and Bela are enjoying a nap in their favorite hammock.

With ferrets in the house, there are never any boxes that don't get a thorough inspection. If you are not paying attention, they will unpack the box and hide the contents too.

Bela and the boy!

Count has the suitcase under control and is ready to head off on an adventure!

Here is Bela, anxious to know what her humans are doing. She can get on the bed via the chair on the other side, but she knows that I won't make her go around.

So it is long past time that Bela and Count were introduced. I can't believe they will be a year old in just a few weeks. Time sure does fly! We brought them home at the end of February when they were about 9 weeks old. Bella  is our sweet girl on the right. She is a very mild-mannered girl who loves to stalk the cat. Often, we will find the cat laid out on the floor with Bela's nose gently buried in the cat's fur. When she gets too nosy, the cat runs away. I truly think Bela wants to be friends with the cat, but the cat is too dumb to play along. Bela likes to be close to anyone that sits still. She isn't a lap ferret, but she will come lay her head on a foot if given the chance. Where Bela is sweet, Count is sassy. Count is an active boy who loves to wrestle. His favorite activity is to climb the bookshelf in our room and push every book off. He then noses them around the room. He is quite territorial about them and gets upset if he sees anyone putting them away....