Luckily they are all delightful. According to the vet, when we got them they were all around six months old. They have now been fixed and had their shots, and we have given them names as seemed to fit. Collectively, we tend to call them the Woozles, the Land Eels, the Beastlets, and so on. Jurjen tends to refer to me as "you mustelid fancier you."
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Ameena - aka Puddin'
This one is a completely sweet thing, total mensch, and trusted us completely right away. We searched some Celtic names but ended up with an Arabic one: Ameena means trustworthy and faithful. She's also tiny and very clownishly amusing.
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As you can see, Jurjen just adores her! She really likes to be held, she really is a cuddly little ball of love.
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Vasilissa - aka Insomnolenta, "The V", Snow Princess
This girl was more standoffish but is warming up. She also makes the 'rheeek' noise a lot, even when in a party mood (it's like swearing, a 'leave me alone' signal). We considered the name Greta Garbo, and were thinking of northern names due to her snowy white head and frosty nature. Vasilissa is a Russian name meaning princess, and there's a great Cinderella-like folk tale about a beautiful girl with a talking doll.
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Here we have her investigating a can of beer.
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Farah - aka Big Guy, Badger
Farah is named for the goldsmith's (or, the Iranian owner of the goldsmith's) in Abu Dhabi where Jurjen had a custom ferret pendant made for me, for Christmas 2000. Farah's got a biting problem, which hopefully will go away with the right behavior reinforcment (plus being separated from his testicles on Friday - that should make him less agressive after a couple of weeks, when the testosterone leaks away). But gosh, he's cute. Also, he's really smart - he figured out how to open the cage! ($%&*@#!!)
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As an approach to the biting problem, we have taught Farah to 'roo' up on his hind legs to get a treat; here, you see him enjoying his reward. It's actually difficult for ferrets to achieve this kind of balance, although it's easier for Farah these days, because he's put on weight around the tummy and back end for the winter. His eyes look squinty here, which is a sign of bliss, just like when you scratch a cat behind the ears.
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Carnegie - aka Otter, Galoot
This one is always the first to pop his head up when you enter the room. Hates to be left out, very social, quite friendly, a bit of a raisin whore. We were looking for names of explorers and diplomats, considering Kofi and Livingston along the way, and I thought of Carnegie due to the Peace Palace here in the Hague, and the book "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie.
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This is Farah and Carnegie napping together...can you tell what belongs to who? (Hint: Farah's tongue is hanging out.)
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More Cuteness!
Here you see Vasilissa visiting the boys' cage; that's Farah on the right. We think these two may be siblings, and I think in this picture you can really see a resemblance. Vasilissa completely loves Farah and follows him around a lot; he plays with her some, but loses patience and ignores her mostly. We call them "the Siblings" these days since they are often together (since she sticks to him so constantly).
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Here we have the boys poking their heads out to say hi, while we have the side hatch open for refilling their food dish. Carnegie is leaning all over Farah's head there (or somebody's head, I think it's Farah's), but they all walk on each other, sleep on each other, nip each other's ears, groom each other's coats, etc.
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