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Post by Deleted on Jan 10, 2013 1:28:01 GMT -5
Well, I recorded a video of Finn muttering to himself tonight hehe... Heather, is this what you call a "hob song?" Hehe... I think it's so funny when he does it, and how he grunts when he jumps down from his cage, etc. It's also funny how he paws at my feet to get my attention when he wants something. In the case of this video, when he does it, he is asking me to let him in the big cage so he can get at Fiona ;D I have gotten to where most of the time I know what he is asking for when he gets my attention. It can be anything from food, to boredom, to wanting out, or in, or wanting to be picked up if we're on a walk and he's tired out, etc. ;D Anyway, here's the video. Finn's muttering is not very loud, he does it kind of softly, so I hope you can hear it. I think it's really cute
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Post by Deleted on Jan 10, 2013 2:13:11 GMT -5
How precious!!! He is such a handsome boy!
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Post by Sherry on Jan 10, 2013 9:58:42 GMT -5
That is one intense boy with ONE thing on his mind ;D
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Post by Deleted on Jan 10, 2013 10:11:06 GMT -5
That is one intense boy with ONE thing on his mind ;D LOL yeah... I think it's especially funny when he paws at my feet. In the video I say "What do you want?" but I'm just joking around, I really I do know what he wants, he wants me to let him in the cage so he can get at Fiona!! He is actually pretty good at telling me what he wants ;D And this time of year, what he wants is GIRLS!! ;D
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Post by Heather on Jan 10, 2013 11:10:56 GMT -5
That's what I call the "hob song"....singing for the ladies. It's really cute, but you know when that is being sung, they're really on the prowl. It gets really intense when they do pick up the scent of a lady. ciao
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Post by Deleted on Jan 10, 2013 11:38:05 GMT -5
I love it... I feel a little bad for him that he's so focused on his task but not getting any success, but at the same time, it's so cute! One thing I noticed is that he also assumes a different attitude in general when he gets like this. Sort of a more swaggering, confident, more forceful way of carrying himself. For example, normally the way he moves around the room shows a kind of gentler, more relaxed movement that conserves energy. Like when he gets in and out of his cage, normally he would stand up, grab the bottom edge, and sort of slowly, almost lazily pull himself up into the cage, then when he would jump out, he would sort of flop onto the ground. Then walking around the room, he would normally just sort of trundle around, walking softly, more relaxed, and sort of just slide over obstacles. As for standing on his hind legs, normally he would only do that if absolutely necessary, and even then, he would be kind of unstable, too much movement and he would flop back down on the ground. Now, however, he puts a lot more strength into every movement. He hops up into the cage in a single bound, and when he jumps back down out of the cage, he hits the ground with more of a spring in his step (and grunts with the exertion as well haha). He carries himself a little higher off the ground, and as he's moving around the room, he will often just stop and stand on his hind legs to look around and survey his surroundings. While up on his hind legs, he now is much more steady and can actually move his head around, bend over, then back up again, etc. without losing his balance. My little skinny female Fiona always shows this level of stability and maneuverability while standing, but Finn is only like this when he's in rut and it's a very noticeable difference. Then moving around the room, he's more likely to hop over things and navigate obstacles very quickly compared to when he's not in rut. The differences in the way he carries himself are VERY noticeable, even though he is still pretty heavy (about 4.5 lbs). I suspect that as his rut continues, he may lose more weight, and become even more agile. Even though I love his big boofy winter chub, at the same time it really makes me feel good to see him show a stronger, more agile, "sporty" movement. Some of you guys probably have hobs who stay more active and agile year round, particularly those who don't get super fat, but Finn really tends to get lazy, fat, and soft when he's in winter mode, so it seems important for his health that he become more active and agile at least part of the year The other thing that is pretty noticeable is that even though he has lost over a pound of weight, his chest and neck feel thicker and more muscular. I think this is just the increased testosterone levels for the last month or two showing results. Body builders take it, after all, it builds lean muscle Anyway, I'm rambling. Long story short: I love fat fluffy winter Finn, everybody loves the winter chubs. However, it also makes me happy to see how much stronger, more active, and more capable he is lately It's fun, as he slims down and becomes more capable, it makes it easier to imagine him out in the wild, hunting prey in burrows, patrolling his territory, winning a mate, etc. He really is a beautiful specimen IMO.
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Post by Heather on Jan 10, 2013 12:04:59 GMT -5
I agree....there is a different "swagger" to the hobs. There is purpose to their swagger ;D Yes, you know they're a bit frustrated but they're not unhappy or don't appear to be. It's hormones that saved Odin when Lady "B" passed. He had just been treated for adrenal and his hormones were over the top (adrenal + the initial effects of the DES). He too, was signing a hob song. To bring him out of his depression I put him in the bachelor pad. He had gone down there totally curled up on himself, refusing water, food and care. I figured I had nothing to loose except Odin. When I went down to pick him up about 3 hrs later (I had left him curled up in one of the darkened sleep boxes), I actually heard him before I turned the lights on to find him. He was roaming around the room, slithering and bouncing and dooking up a storm. I let him go down there a couple more times and he's been absolutely happy ever since. For him over the top hormones cured his grief. Now, he's living on his own and is happy. His DES is working and he's no longer singing and he's more relaxed. When they're hormonal they are intense, their whole demeanor changes. They're more direct, more confrontational...they're not any less friendly with their humans, in fact I find them even more snuggly (stinky wee things they are) but there is a total personality change. They're more alert, their bodies of course are much stronger. During the winter they're very relaxed, you get used to that...when spring roles around the difference in their personalities and their body structure is really quite astouding. ciao
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2013 12:08:22 GMT -5
Just a status update. I need to get new pictures of Finn but it is hard since he never holds still lately. I'll have to catch him sleeping, which he also does less of now days. Finn is so much skinnier now! He is down to only about 4 pounds now! He is so busy and mutters to himself constantly now. He "talks" more this rut than he ever did in past ruts. He literally runs around the room now patrolling and marking each of the multiple litterboxes in the room. He is very intense now. Every time he sees or hears me outside of the ferret room he will go nuts jumping at the baby gate, trying to get out. As he has been getting thinner along with getting stronger, he has gotten closer to reaching the top of the baby gate when he jumps, but fortunately he still isn't the best jumper and can't reach the top. But he certainly tries! His form is not very effective: Instead of coiling himself for a big jump to get as high as possible, instead, he stands up against the gate on his hind legs and hops up and down on his hind legs over and over trying to reach the top. He will never get enough of a vertical leap this way to reach the top ;D I am glad he doesn't realize that. The patch of fur on his chest where they shaved it when he donated blood has not grown back, which I guess makes sense, he had his winter coat on already when they shaved it and he has not shed his winter coat yet at all. It's funny though, it's mostly bare skin, but a few dark guard hairs here and there did grow back! Weird. Just a few sprinkled around on the bald spot, that's all. He is still a pretty good boy even though his hormones are driving him crazy. For example, I usually have a routine that he likes: When I get home, he is out free-roaming the ferret room with Rosco. I then quickly clean the litterboxes in Fenton and Fiona's cage (the 3 story FN) and then I pick up Fenton and Fiona, and open the lower door. Finn jumps into the cage and proceeds to start patrolling it. He can smell Fiona in there so he spends a lot of time sniffing everything, peeing in every litterbox, etc. Sometimes Rosco climbs up in there with him, sometimes not. I close the doors so that either Finn alone or Finn and Rosco are now shut in the 3 story cage. After Finn has patrolled the cage for a while, he usually takes a nap in the toy box at the top story. Meanwhile Fenton and Fiona run around and play in the ferret room. Then after a few hours I come back and switch them so Fenton and Fiona are caged again and Finn and Rosco are out. I have to be very careful. The other day, I did this routine, but I guess I didn't latch the door to the 3rd story securely. I usually come back a few minutes after putting Finn in the cage to check things. I came back about 5 minutes later to check on everyone, and everything was quiet, but the door to the top floor was wide open! Normally Finn is afraid of heights and won't jump off of things, but driven by hormones, he had no problem jumping down from almost 6 feet off the ground. I searched and quickly found Finn in a corner under some blankets with Fiona. He had grabbed her and drug her off into the corner, of course, and had a firm grip on her, she wasn't going anywhere. I picked them up and put some Ferretone in Finn's face, then he let go of her and I let both ferrets have a nice treat. Fiona didn't seem too upset by all this but I always have to check and make sure something like this hasn't happened - If he had been with her for a long period of time, there is no telling how long he would have kept her pinned down, and it would be traumatic for her. He has never hurt her but I have to make sure things like this are caught quickly. Accidents happen but it's important that they be caught right away, I can't predict what he would do if he was left with her for a long period of time. This is one of the difficulties of having an intact hob during rut. I suppose that I am lucky Finn responds as well as he does to Ferretone, letting go of her when I put it in his face, so it doesn't have to be a big dramatic thing getting him to let go. This is the first time we have had an accident like this since he went into rut this year. I think if Finn was more rough with her or if we had accidents like this more often I would have to start keeping them in completely separate rooms. For now, I just will be more careful about making sure the cage doors completely latched shut before I leave the room. Anyway, just thought I'd give an update on how things are going
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Post by Heather on Feb 4, 2013 12:23:00 GMT -5
You are lucky that Finn responds to ferretone, he is an absolute sweety. I do know what you mean about intensity though. Tico doesn't do ferretone or treats when he has ladies on his mind. You're right you have to be on your toes with these guys. Hobs are very determined creatures and Tico managed to slip between my feet the other day when I was medicating my guys (he's usually very polite and just waits at the door)....Lady Morgain was loose in the ferret room. He had her in a flash. It took 2 adults about 3 minutes or more and some gentle persuation to remove his grip on her scruff (no nothing happened ;D). I really thought he would just close his grip on my finger (I managed to wiggle a finger between her scruff and the back of his mouth) because whenever we had managed to shift her he would just adjust his bite. He didn't clamp down(of which I'm really glad, it would have been a nasty bite, I was a little horrified at the pressure from his jaws). He wasn't a happy camper to have his prize removed and he spent the next 4 hrs sitting outside the ferret room door singing his songs to Lady Mo under the door (one very frustrated hob). Lady Morgain was plenty interested and not the least bit fluffed by her close call. She spent a good portion of her out time teasing him under the door (unlike him she went and ate, played in the tubes, the blankies....but she would come back and snuffle at him under the door every now and then) ciao
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2013 12:33:56 GMT -5
good to hear from you, mikey! (or maybe it's me, just missing your posts..)
It's fascinating to me to hear your finn-stories since this is the first time we've had other ferrets around with an intact hob. Pimm still isn't terribly whole-hob into rut, I think. He tries to practice on Raven most days, but still lets me remove him and even dissuade him before he grabs scruff. It's so pathetic that he'll try sweet-talking to Raven (who is pretending to be asleep) and licks Raven's feet and ears instead. Pimm'll check to see if I'm still watching before he bumbles off to the next adventure...
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Post by Thérèse on Feb 5, 2013 7:23:59 GMT -5
Even though he's in rut Finn is always such a gentleman, he knows manners matter
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Post by Deleted on Apr 23, 2013 18:29:10 GMT -5
We need Finn update !!!!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 23, 2013 19:24:44 GMT -5
seconded!
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Post by Sherry on Apr 23, 2013 20:27:45 GMT -5
Thirded! If that's even a word ;D
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Post by Heather on Apr 23, 2013 20:56:24 GMT -5
I agree...we really need to see and hear about our favourite hob fuzz and his little family ciao
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