Anyone else have Ferret Fur-Kids?

Usually the love of reptiles extends to other pets as well, so I was curious who else has ferrets? What colors? What are their personalities like? Pics needed! I love hearing stories about other peoples' ferrets, they are just such funny animals.

I have 2 champagne males, both Marshall (my search to find private breeders, let alone ones with champagne stock, has been fruitless). Sophie is a year old, and Mickie is brand new at only 6 weeks. Yes, Sophie is a boy -- when we first got him, I was a total noob to ferrets, and the manager of the store (my friend) told me he was a girl. He was 8 weeks old and very light blonde at the time. Well, as a month or so passed, he darkened a tad, and all of a sudden it dawned on me one night that that was NOT his bellybutton in the middle of his tummy. LOL! BUT, he already knew his name and answered to it, so it we had to keep it. Oddly enough, it fits him perfectly.

Sophie is already a very integrated part of our lives, pretty much like a child, for lack of a better term. My boyfriend and I have our own human daughters from our previous marriages, and got Sophie together shortly after we first met, so he's kind of like our "kid". He spends pretty much all day every day running around the house as long as someone is home, and has lots of playtime and cuddletime with both us and the felines in the household. He sleeps in a playpen at night with lots of comfy beds and his favorite blankie, plus obviously his litterbox, water, food, stuffed animals, and toys, and during the day the pen is open for him to come and go as he pleases. He has toys just about everywhere, loves to play tug of war with those stuffing-free squeaky squirrel dog toys, and likes to chase the kitties and pounce on them when they aren't looking. He even knows where Daddy's apartment is down the hallway and will beg at the front door to go visit, then run down the hallway and wait to be let in at his door. He remembers where he stashed things in Daddy's shoes and has to check on them all, and even has his own pool balls to roll around the livingroom so that he doesn't steal the ones from the set for the table. He likes to go outside during the summer and dig in the grass/dirt and splash in his kiddy pool, and I recently discovered that he LOVES to romp and roll and tunnel in the snow on my patio, so now he gets to play outside almost every day in his little ferret hoodie. Getting him to come inside is a challenge, he just freaks out over snow and never wants to stop. LOL!

When Sophie turned a year old this January, I decided that he would probably love a little brother to play with. I just figured maybe he'd like a friend to cuddle with at night and get into all his ferret hijinx with, so I had my friend Danny put in a special request with his next order from Marshall (he's the manager at Pet Supermarket). A week later, I stop by, and voila -- there are 2 super dark sable boys and one adorable champagne boy. In the year that I have had Sophie, there has not been one single champagne ferret in any batches they've gotten. He was one of a kind, which is why we made the special request. However, they all had horrible colds, especially the little champagne boy who is much smaller than the other 2 and very obviously younger. Turns out they were shipped right before we were hit with an awful blizzard, and while Danny was waiting at Dane County Regional airport for them, they were actually grounded in Milwaukee and had been left in their crate in the belly of the plane for 6 hours. So Danny had to drive 3 hours roundtrip to get them. My poor little guy turned out to be only 6 weeks old, which I'm assuming meant Marshall didn't have any champagnes ready so they plucked him from a litter too early just to fill the order. One reason I wish it were easier to buy from private breeders. Luckily he is in good hands with me and has been doing really well rebounding from the fever and the cold, eating solid food now, and is doing AMAZING with his potty training. He is so young and so fragile and small, but he is almost 100% reliable already with his litter box. Sophie took 2 months to get it down, so he's got one up on his brother. He is a rambunctious little guy, even more than Sophie was as a baby, but is also very tender and gets upset/scared easy and climbs to be held and protected. He loves to sleep on my chest while watching TV, wrapped up in the fuzzy red couch blanket. He has an obsession with toes that I will need to work on, but so far it's more funny than anything. He thinks it's great fun to chase you down and pounce on your feet, but doesn't quite know what to do with a foot once he catches it and just sits there confused. LOL! Sophie has taken to him really quickly, and they are like Pete and Repeat now after only one week. Just as I knew he would, he's already being the bad influence and teaching Mickie all the naughty things that make Mom and Dad chase him (which he thinks is fun). I think maybe he figures if Mickie does it too, then the blame won't be solely on him. LOL! They are so cute when they play and cuddle together, and I think Sophie is really happy to have a little buddy. Mickie seems happy to have a big brother to care for him and keep him warm since he's so little and everything is so new, he just follows Sophie everywhere like a little shadow. It's adorable. I love my boys, wouldn't trade them for the world. I may seem a little weird or obsessed, but ferrets are such a unique animal, truly one of a kind. The sweetness and cuddlyness of a cat, the friendlyness and playfulness/interactiveness of a dog, and the mischief of a toddler. I couldn't imagine not having Sophie, and now that Mickie is here, couldn't imagine not having him either. They just crack me up every day and put a smile on my face. Ferret kisses can make anything seem better.

Sophie as a baby, all curled up in Daddy's hand the first week he was home:




1 year later, barely fits!




Sweet boy sleeping in one of the kitties' beds:




One of my favorite Sophie pics:




I think SOMEBODY got into mischief. I won't say who. Just SOMEBODY.






Me holding Mickie for the first time at the pet store:




The obligatory baby pic in Daddy's hand:




He is so tiny he even fits in MY hand!




I think it's love at first sight:




Two peas in a pod: