Hey! LittleRhunGirl!
by Todd Leuthold
Rhun, my little girl ferret in the “kids” play group (second shift), is one crazy little furnut. She came to live here with Mr. Bump, about two years ago. She lived in a home with a family that didn’t know how to care for ferrets and a dog that was too tightly wound. They were offered for sale in the local paper, and I rescued them.
The biggest problem that Rhun had was a habit of biting feet. Bump had the same problem, but after about a week here, they learned that feet aren’t for biting (wearing shoes helped, as did Bitter Apple spray). They also learned that the cat can (when he has a mind to) defend himself quite well (a well-placed paw smack can send a ferret flying through the air with the greatest of ease!), and isn’t the push-over that the dog was at their previous abode!
She has, however, learned that, if she’s ticked off, or if the cat is doing something she just doesn’t like, there are certain places on a cat that can be bitten to achieve the desired results. She has used this to her advantage several times over the years! She has also taken up the trapeze for those times when the cat decides that he’s had enough of a 14 ounce ferret trying to push him around and he sends her flying! (Schmack! Weeeeeee! I’m a fur-bat!)
Rhun has a special talent for making others do what she wants. When it comes to me, she just comes up and sticks her little snout in front of my face, no matter what I’m doing. I’m reading the paper and she’ll climb up on the couch, walk onto the newspaper and put her cute little nose about a quarter of an inch from my nose, then just stares at me. I then say “Ok, you can have your snack…right now, your highness.”
If the cat is eating a snack that I gave him and she wants it, she will just walk up to his snack and start eating it. The cat looks offended, meows at her, maybe swats her back end, then he comes and cries to me. It’s just easier to give the cat another snack. I don’t want her biting my “certain places” because I took a snack away from her! She’s got them little bat-fangs, you know!
When she gets out of her cage for playtime, she doesn’t do what the boys do, which is run to the couch and wait for snacks. She goes off to find where Ghost (the one who’s play group is just before hers) stashed his snacks! He usually gets three or four of them in the morning, then another one before he goes back in his cage. He only eats one or two of them, and hides the rest for “later” in the day. Like a squirrel, he then promptly forgets where he put them. Rhun considers it her sacred duty to find them and wolf them down before the boys catch on! She also vacuums up any kibble that was tossed out by messy ferrets during the day. Think I should give her a maid’s outfit? ?
One might think that, since Rhun is so small, she might get picked on by the over-energetic boys that run around in her play group. Nope. In fact, they actually try to prevent her from killing them, on occasion! There has been more than one occasion when I’ve had to rescue Chewy from her clutches. I figured he was just getting beaten up and ignored the little wedding gown and veil that I found nearby.
Bump used to try to wrestle with her. He would chase her around the house, then toss her on her side and jump on her, ready to just smack her silly. Suddenly, there’s a flurry of fur, several deep-voiced squeals (yes, boy-ferrets can squeal, too!) and Bump is fighting for his life! I have to pluck little Rhun off of the big, bad Bump and put the sweet little girl on my shoulder. I walk around the house for a minute or two, to give Bump a head start, then put Rhun back down and watch her shoot off like a furry little bullet, trying to catch another victim!
She also is guilty of swiping Bump’s snacks quite often. Bump has finally learned to take refuge inside objects so Rhun can’t squeeze in and take it from him! ?
Rhun also has another fetish that most of my other ferrets don’t have. Any time she catches me eating something, she just MUST eat some of it. I could be eating brussel sprouts and she’d want one. She especially likes pasta and beef, so I have to make sure she’s sleeping if I’m going to eat anything containing those items. It doesn’t matter how bad it tastes to her, either. She will make these screwy little faces while she’s eating whatever it is, but she will eat it! ?
She also knows how to get even with me if I take something from her that she took from another ferret, or if she is trying to steal something that I actually want to keep. She will prance straight into the kitchen and purposely make a “deposit” on the floor, right next to the newspaper! She will look directly at me while she’s doing it, too, just to make sure that I know what she thought of my actions!
Rhun is also an electronics hound. She loves remote controls and cordless phones. If it has batteries, she will attempt to steal it. I’ve buried a television remote inside several blankets and watched her spend a half hour digging it out so she could stash it in one of her hidey-holes! I, of course, took it from her and she then left me a gift to show her appreciation.
If she gets really mad, she will hiss at me! She had fought and tussled with Chewy to take his snack away, and then I took it from her to give it back to Chewy. She was so angry that she ran right up to my foot, tipped her head way back to look me in the eye and then just hissed her little lungs out! She calmed down when I gave her a snack of her own. Wait…is she training me? Nah, that isn’t possible. I’m smarter than a ferret!
Last night, I was digging out a snack for her when my pager went off. I
pulled my pager out of my pocket to see who was trying to get my attention.
She leaped up and grabbed my pager in her tiny little jaws and hung on tight!
She was mad at the pager because it interrupted her snack time! You don’t
suppose she’s a little spoiled, do you?
Todd and the Fuzzbutt Rodeo Clowns!