One evening, back in June 2009, we were, minding our own business, when the phone rang.... An hour later, in the front door comes a smell... shortly followed by a guy, his girlfriend and a pet carrier.
They had just turned up to drop off a full polecat coloured hob that had been found by their dad while he was out walking his Rottweiler’s, apparently the ferret just walked straight up to the dogs with no fear for his life. He had fleas, ticks, and ear mites, and did I mention he smelt, but he was also a real cutie, and wanted to give kisses from the first moment we looked at him, not that we were letting him anywhere near our faces smelling like that.
At the time we had 8 chocolate named ferrets, all except 1, Albinos, in 2 groups. Someone on one of the forums suggested that as he was the 9th ferret, he should be called “After Eight”, Arfer for short.
As he had already been with the other guy for a week and he seemed as fit as a fiddle, apart from the Smell, did I mention that?
I decided to see what he would make of our other guys. I thought the divide and conquer approach would be best, rather than overwhelm him with the 5 in the group he was going to live with, all at once.
First I introduced our other kit, Twirl, I reckon they were about the same age, about 8 or 9 months. They spent an hour rolling around the garden, and chasing each other. That went well, so then I introduced Ruffle, but I knew she would not be a problem, she liked any friendly ferret. Next came Wispa, she was the queen bee, and biggest whinge bag of the group, after a bit of squeaking, she realised she could get into his cage and pinch his food, and as he let her, they were instantly best buddies...
So only the hardest two left... Twix came out, and went nuts, seemed he couldn't believe he had another "Non-Blonde" to assist when he was out numbered.
So finally to Bounty, our Tank, and the one I was most worried about, as when he did fight, he took no prisoners... I opened the door to the cage, and let Bounty out, and he went round the house, as usual giving me a running commentary all the time, but he could not find the new guy, it was like they kept passing, but not seeing each other. Bounty kept coming over to me, and tapping me on the leg, then going back round sniffing everything. Eventually he walked right into the new guy, who by now was passed out exhausted on the cushion by the sofa. He sniffed him, then carried on wandering around. It was like he did not realise that he was the new guy. Later, they all climbed into the main cage, and fell asleep in there, worn out… After that they all played like they were best mates, and that had to be one of the easiest introductions we ever had.
During his time with us, he out lived all the ferrets he was first introduced to, and went on to live with many more ferrets over the years. He was one of those “Main stay ferrets”, always there, and always involved when someone was misbehaving, but not normally the starter of trouble. One thing he was very good at was standing in his hind legs, MeerKat style. This enabled us to use him to enter some photographic competitions with pictures like this.
I do not have many stories of things Arfer got up to, rather than do major things, he was one of those ferrets that consistently did little things to make sure you would not forget him, he always had to be in the kitchen under your feet when you were out there, first into the beds when you cleaned out the cage, first into the food when you filled up the bowl, things like that. He had his playful side as well, I made Shoe shaped ferret beds one year, and Arfer dived straight into the first one, as I passed it over to Suz to have a look at, and when she tried to pick it up, he kept darting his head out to nip at Suz’s hand. He did share it with other ferrets though.
He loved the house, garden, run and caravan, but absolutely hated walking on a lead, so we only ever tried him a couple of times, but he just did not enjoy it.
Arfer has been acting “old” for a while, but was still always under our feet, and one of the first into any treats. He was one of the first to learn how to use the cat treat dispenser my mum donated as her cat was too stupid to use it.
I think a group of ferrets that live as a single group are like a Jigsaw puzzle, every part is different, and you need all the bits to see the whole picture, but every part has its own importance.… Arfer was never an edge or corner piece, which are the bits that stand out in the pile, he was one of the centre bits, who all look the same at the start, but you realise are just as important to make up the whole picture when you step back and look at it as a whole.
Sweet Dreams Arfer, we will definitely miss you, every time we go into the kitchen, and you fail to trip us over, and every time I clean out the cage, and you are not there getting in the way. Have a ball at the bridge, and find all those guy who first welcomed you into the “lazy-Ferret” household, making you feel at home from day one.
