Another A-hole on Craigslist

Here's an ad from Craigslit:

Marjorie is a relatively young and petite ferret. She's very well behaved, and is one of the most chill ferrets I've ever met. Of course she loves to play too!! And gets along with the cat and the 7 month old puppy I previously had. Marj (as we call her) has a 2 story cage with a hammock. It has a plastic slide out bottom for easy cleaning.. we lay newspaper on the bottom and she does her potty business in one corner. She likes to take a shower with you or be bathed in the sink :) So I'm asking a rehoming fee of $50 including Marjorie, her cage, the leash/harness. **I'm actually the roommate of the owner and the only reason she agrees to get rid of her is because I'm 5 months pregnant, due early Dec** If you have further questions you can contact me by email, Thanks! -- Lindsey

Oh I'm pregnant BOOHOOO I can't possibly allow the OWNER of the house where I am RENTING to allow a pet. I am the only person who ever gave birth in the world and everyone must cater to me me meeeee!

Seriously??? What a f***tard. If she were my roommate, she would come home to all of her crap being out on the front lawn in a charred, smouldering heap. Buh-bye!

I met a Facebook Dumb*ss

I stepped into the middle of a ferret-based conversation on Facebook. I am so stressed out now.

Sabrina: I wish they were legal in CA. I would totally have one. Maybe I should get one anyways. lol

Toby: I wonder why they aren't??

Sabrina: they are considered 'rodents'. and they breed like crazy.

Toby: Oh yah, I think I heard that the female will die if she go's into heat and cant mate!

Jeni Clark: Sabrina, ferrets are not rodents. They are strict carnivores. They EAT rats and mice. Also, since 99.999999 percent of ferrets in the United States are fixed before the age of 4 weeks, they are completely unable to breed like crazy. Come see my website oregonferretshelter.org to learn more about these adorable pets.

Sabrina: um. ok. well that's what i heard. I'm not too concerned with it

Sabrina: "Ferrets are illegal in California because the California Department of Fish and Game claims that if ferrets are let out into the wild, they would mate, multiply, become feral and could threaten native wildlife". Let's see mate, multiply, OH and they carry rabies very easily in comparison to other animals. That seems pretty rodent-like to me. I wasn't hating on them. I was just saying. Plus, I think they are ADORABLE and have friends that own them.

Jeni Clark: Actually, there is a rabies vaccine for ferrets. All of mine are vaccinated. In addition, they don't carry rabies more easily than other animals. If they do get it, they are far more likely to die before they can spread it than other animals, so the OPPOSITE is true. And, again, I tell you that 99.999999 percent of ferrets in the United States are fixed, so the Dept. of Fish and Game is wrong in their statements that they could breed. I have a boy that was not fixed until yesterday, and I had to go through hoops to get him. There are only a handful of ferret breeders in the US, largely because it is difficult to breed them (yes, Tony is right when he says that females have to breed when they go in heat or they will die, and if you don't have a hob [male] in rut or a vasectomized hob, you can lose your female). I am working hard to inform the community and get these guys legalized. I wish I could recruit you to help inform people -- you sound like a very passionate person!

Jeni Clark: OMG Tony I am so sorry I am hogging up your FB page. This is my career now, tho, ferret and animal rescue. I apologize.

Sabrina: i really dont care. its not that important to me

Sigh. Some people are really ignorant. But do they have to be rude too?

Pix from my new camera

Bendy ferret is bendy! Tekkie on left, Millie on right, and Snoball is bendy in the center.

Tekkie sleeping on Snoball's butt.

Group shot: Tekkie on left, Tiberius in center, Snoball on right, and Darkpaw on top. Aww!

I have to say that I am pretty impressed with the new camera. It takes great pix!

Getting a New Camera!

I am so happy! I just purchased a Nikon Coolpix P6000 13.5 Megapixel over ebay. And it was only $280! (Target sells them for $499 -- yikes!)

I know, I know, buying electronics from ebay? Well, this guy I bought it from seems very solid. He has good feedback, and the purchase is covered by Paypal if something should go wrong. I am a very experienced ebayer, so I know the ropes. However, if something does go wrong, you, my readers, can taunt me at length.

If all goes well, we will have some beautiful new pictures in the next few weeks. And lord knows we need some -- we have a ton of new faces to get on the web!

Rescued Breeder Ferrets!

This is Cameron. He's only a year old. He has lived as a breeder for most of that, so he doesn't know humans very well. We don't know if he likes socks, or if he hates squeaky toys, or if he steals ice cream whenever he gets a chance. We don't know if he will beg for N-bones. Not yet, anyhow.

Cameron is an albino with butterscotch coloring. We don't know if he is that color because of the food he ate (he was being fed dog food). All we know is that he needs to be neutered and given a good home where he will be treated like the sweet pet we know he can become.

This is Cameron's buddy Brutus. Brutus is a huge ferret! He is also very alert. (An alert fert lol) He follows you as you walk by his cage. He is magnificent! At three years of age, he has had the benefit of growing up with all of his man-bits intact, so he is quite a bit larger than the usual group of kids we see. He also has quite a royal bearing, and his coloring is amazing! In short, this guy really lives up to his name. When he gets adopted, he will be the center of attention wherever he goes.


There is another ferret that I want to mention. I did not get her picture, but her name is Aurora (my camera is really going out now, and many of my pictures are screwed up -- so sad!)

Aurora is a tiny little sable who looks a lot like your average female ferret. But when I picked her up, I got a huge surprise! She is SUPER-DENSE! There is not an ounce of fat on her -- she is all muscle! She is super sweet too. Chris has to keep her a while because she might be pregnant. But after that, she is going to make someone a very happy ferret owner because, with all of that muscle, she'll probably be a great gymnast!

Garret the Ferret!

I have a friend named Garret. (OK, my husband has a friend named Garret, and I am just kind of along for the ride.) Garret has made it clear to me that he doesn't like ferrets. Even though his wonderful, gentle, and extremely intelligent son loves them, Garret always has a nasty thing to say about our poor little weasels. It's just a damn shame.

Today, while I was volunteering at the shelter, I came across a recent addition -- Garret the Ferret! Surely my friend could not hate his namesake! Especially such a cute namesake with a little black dot on his nose! So I photographed Garret with my phone and shipped the picture off. (Yep -- that's why the quality is so bad -- it's a phone pic!)

Turns out that when Garret was a child, they used to mock him by yelling, "Garret the Ferret! Garret the Ferret!" Being a child, he did not realize what a very great honor those children were paying him. All he remembers is the silly rhyme that made him sad. So he takes it out on poor helpless weasels by shunning them and putting the hate on. Poor Garret. Poor weasels!

I suggested to my husband that, maybe after 40-odd years, it might be time to put the hate away. I can only hope he passed on that message to Garret. Because, if Garret doesn't stop badmouthing the weasels, I know what I am going to do -- bring a weasel-shaped cake to his summer BBQ with "Garret the Ferret" written on it!

He Eats Everything

OK, I have always heard how difficult it is to get older ferrets to eat new kinds of kibble or soup. Ferrets form their ideas about what is food and what isn't food within the first year of their life. It's hard to get them to accept new food ideas after that point.

However, I did NOT consider the corollary to this: Ferrets below one year of age will, if Tiberius is any indication, try to eat any kind of food. Especially if you are eating it. He just has to try it -- yogurt, cereal, peanut butter, dog food -- it all goes in his face unless I catch him in time. This is quite surprising to me.

No, I don't have children. Why do you ask?