So our guys have been together for a whole week - they're so settled that it's like they've been together for months! Harry keeps dragging Sam (the littlest off) - he used to do that with my slipper but I don't let him and he's substituted Sam, poor Sam. Harry does seem a little bemused at all the company now and doesn't quite know what to do it seems. Sam is now a little porker - he just eats and eats and being so little he's starting to look round - he only has little legs!! He also spends a lot of time hissing which I can't work out why? Probably to stop people dragging him off - I think it's bravado! LOL

Max (was Whizz) looks in such good condition now, at a quick glance you can now mistake him for Harry and he's so HAPPY at being here, bouncing off the walls and he's so much like Casper (a previous ferret of ours) that's it uncanny. He does have a bad habit of trying to mount everyone - I don't know if this is dominance or cos he was only recently castrated, but it's not done nastily or too much.

I've noticed that Sam and Mitsy seem to go together and Max and Harry like each other, them Mitsy and Harry and then Sam and Max - so all making friends.

Mitsy is starting to get the hang of friends and is starting to play a little with them. Strangely enough I've not really seen Harry play with the new boys properly yet. Harry used to follow Bingo everywhere and play/wrestle with him but I've not seen him to do this with the new boys yet - I suppose it's such a big change it may take a bit of time. I know he enjoys their company and all the beanies sleep together all the time - but during the day Mitsy likes her own space.

My other group is really summer skinny and seem a bit put out still. I don't think they like change much or new faces. I think they're a little jealous!!

WE'VE DONE IT! THEY'RE ALL TOGETHER!!! The group was settling down so nicely over the week that we had no doubts that we could put them together this weekend to live. So we let them all out to play in the dining room on Sat. morning and Tony made some adjustments to their homes - opened up the trap door and put the ramp back so there was access from top to bottom - changed some hammocks and tidied up the cage. By this point all the beanie group was tired and wanted back anyway - so we popped them all back and they all settled down immediately in the sleep area. Well, apart from Whizz who felt it needed the addition of straw! A little later, Mitsy came back out and had a look on her face saying "Yeah, so when are you going to take them back out? eh?" Fortunately, they're here to stay. LOL.

When we first got Sam 2 weeks ago, he was undeniably little, but I've never seen such a little ferret eat and poo so much!!! He's really filled out and looks normal ferret shape, albeit with a short tail and not much bigger than Mitsy!

Yay...it's my birthday!! Tony drew me a special card featuring our new beanie group - it was so sweet! Well, a lot happens in a week. The boys all seem to be getting along well and infact, Harry looks really upset when we put them back separately. As things have been going so well, this week we added Mitsy into the group, and surprisingly she's been very good. Whizz has started to stand up for himself more and no doubt has learnt not to give Mitsy the advantage. Maybe cos he's settled in more he feels more confident, maybe Mitsy is confused by so many white ferrets!! LOL. Fizz...who we've renamed back to Sam (it just got too confusing) being the littlest does unfortunately, get quite a lot stick from the others. Harry likes to drag him off (I think Harry thinks he's a slipper), Whizz likes to straddle him and Mitsy would pick a fight, but he does stick up for himself. Despite all this, all in all things have been very good and they are really starting to settle and even play together.

I'm really starting to love this new group - they just seem to fit so well together - the beanies love each other and follow each other everywhere. Whizz is defo. a nutcase - and is so excited to be in a forever home and runs, plays and wrestles like mad. Sam is a little sweety - I think a couple more weeks and his full character will shine through - but he's so cute and also playful, but more steady. They're really helping me get over losing Bingo. I can't wait for them all to be living together. The new beanies are eating like horses and putting on condition - Whizz is looking very sleek - can't wait to see how Sam looks in a few weeks time.

Last week, we took Harry to the vets as for a couple of weeks on and off his poos have been a bit loose - could be stress or a bug he picked up from the rescue - who knows. Anyhow, after a short course of antibiotics he's back to normal.

Intros with the beanies are going well. The new ones are renamed Whizz and Fizz and they too have been settling in with each other this week and there's been a little argy bargy, but certainly nothing serious. We popped Harry into the mix later in the week and he seems happy with the new group - again has been dragging Fizz (the littlest one) off to hide him. Today, we've even put all Beanies back into Harry's home to sleep together and get further used to each. Unfortunately, this does mean that Mitsy has been put down the bottom of the court on her own, but then it's a good lesson that she can't get everything her own way. Managed to get a few photos of the new boys - it's a bit difficult as they're doing a lot of exploring and don't want to stay still.

I felt inspired by our new boys to write a poem:

Yesterday we went back to the rescue centre - they had a lot of ferrets needing homes and there were some really lovely poleys and quite a lot of beanies. We tried to do the introductions more systematically this time and it was far better...however...Mitsy the minx threw great big spanners into the works. She decided that pretty much she didn't like anyone! including some huge lovely soft poley hobs. She also picked the mother of all fights with a lovely poley jill which sparked off everyone else picking fights. So as a matter of elimating ferrets she obviously didn't like or that picked on her, we almost came back with just Whizz.

However, at the last minute there were two albino hobs - a larger one and a small stubby one. I thought Whizz might be trying to pick a fight with the larger one so the rescue woman suggested we take home the stubby one. So Whizz now has a friend to play with until we try intros again.

The little jill was happy to go back and settled right back in with her sister. We took the two new beanie boys home and there's been a little argy bargy - to be expected but so far they're ok with each other. We gave them a wash this morning and boy, were they mucky. We'll give them a few more days of settling in here and then try the intros again.

This does mean that we've got a LOT of beanies now!!!!