Sunday, May 31st, 2009 at
4:02 am
We were wandering around a liquor store yesterday as I wanted to get a bottle of champagne to celebrate the fact that Dan and Andrew were coming to lunch at our place for the first time as parents.
Philip has always been fascinated by the huge array of different beers that are available at Dan Murphy so he was walking up and down the aisles then suddenly he rushed over to me and dragged me to a shelf.
I looked up to where he was pointing and almost squealed in delight! Goodness knows what the other customers must have thought, this silly old lady getting so excited about a bottle of beer 
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Monday, May 25th, 2009 at
12:02 pm
A ferret owner who know my fascination with all things mustelid sent me this link to a video clip showing Shawn Brihob, from the Columbus Zoo, being interviewed on a morning show and showing off two young marbled polecats.
You simply have to see this ... these two little mustelids are just so cute and just seeing them pronk around the studio floor is absolutely wonderful
Something I found quite remarkable was that he (Shawn) was happy to chat to the interviewer while the two kits were dancing around the floor - I don't think I could be that casual if I had my ferrets running around on a studio floor like that!
In fact, I would say that, quite often if I'm stressed about things, I dream about having my ferrets in rooms with open windows and doors and I'm rushing around trying to round them all up! I wake up in a total state of exhaustion and feel quite unrelaxed! Ahhhh the pleasures of being a ferret owner
However ... back to these marbled polecats ... I am seriously jealous that I won't ever see these little fellahs in the zoos here in Australia but I am really glad that they're in the USA. Apparently Columbus Zoo is one of six zoos around the States which have marbled polecats.
I hope that people seeing these two clowns prancing around will get to realise that mustelids really aren't blood-thirsty carnivores but highly intelligent and amusing little critters that bring pleasure to people.
Well, I guess we can live in hope that that will happen
Monday, May 18th, 2009 at
11:13 pm
I came across an article in the National Geographic News which talked about a new, fast-evolving rabies virus which has recently been discovered.
The thing which worried me most was that it had become contagious amongst the skunk population and, as we know, skunks are almost, but not quite, related to our ferrets.
The thing which makes this rabies virus different is that fact that it seems to be passing from animal to animal through simple socialising, not through biting and scratching.
In the past if a rabid animal bit another animal, both would die from the virus so the virus had less chance of spreading. However with this strain, it seems like it gets transmitted almost like the flu virus - just passively being passed from one animal to another.
I know that some ferrets can have adverse reactions to the rabies vaccination but I do urge all my American ferret friends to make sure that their pets' vaccinations are up-to-date so that there is no risk of them ever catching this dreadful disease!
Thursday, May 14th, 2009 at
8:08 am
If you are, you might want to check out Pet Airways. It is the only airline where pets, and only pets, fly in the cabin.
Sounds great but I couldn't see if they only allowed dogs and cats to fly with them or if they were an airline that took ALL pets. I would like to think the latter but I'm afraid I couldn't see what their conditions were on their website.
So, if you're planning to take your ferret on a long journey, it might be worth contacting Pet Airways and seeing if you can send it with them. Fingers crossed the answer is "yes"
Tuesday, May 12th, 2009 at
8:38 am
How incredible! Just recently I was contacted by an Israeli guy who asked if he could send me pictures of an animal he came across to find out what it was.
Sure enough, it was another Marbled Polecat!
I pointed him to my site about the mustelid and asked if he could give me any more details about how and where he came across it. I just got a YouTube message from him, pointing me to a clip he put up about meeting the animal in a forest in Israel.
There are some extremely clear shots of it and if you read my page about the animal, you'll know that having its tail curled above its back means its in a defensive pose, yet it didn't seem at all frightened by a human being so close.
It really is such a cute little thing ... and I can't get over how odd it looks
We were wandering around a liquor store yesterday as I wanted to get a bottle of champagne to celebrate the fact that Dan and Andrew were coming to lunch at our place for the first time as parents.
