Fuzzball's winning personality

Holding Fuzzball is just asking to get scratched and maybe nipped.

Lately, I've been working a lot with Fuzzball to try to convince her that being held isn't all that bad. I've taken to holding her against my chest with one arm while I do my Latin homework and giving her treats after I've held her for a long time (waiting, of course, for her to have stopped fidgeting for a while first).

Well, yesterday, I took the little dears outside, behind the building (see picture here). I put them on leashes and tied the leashes to a light pole, so they had somewhere between a 6 and 8 foot radius to play with. There were little kids out back, and they of course insisted on petting them. I let them. Chaos was quite stoic about the whole thing and even romped around with the kids who squealed in delight or fear...it's not always clear which. They kept at it, so they must not have been too frightened.

Fuzzball ambled around amiably (heh...alliteration...) until she got tired. She always gets tired more quickly than Chaos. She lay down in the grass and just hung out. I think that she might have nipped at a kid that got too close. The kids' parents and I told them to leave her alone. They eventually told them to leave both ferrets alone since they were trying to sleep.

The people, who had immigrated from Mexico, were new to me. However, because of the ferrets, they started talking with me. We chatted about animals and kids and they gave me some Jello with whipped cream and fruit, which was really nice.

Anyway, after a while, I went over to where the ferrets were and sat down on the grass. Chaos came over and crawled into my lap. Fuzzball came over and circled me a few times, trying to burrow under me. Then she climbed into my lap (or maybe I put her there...I don't remember). She poked her head around and moved a bit, but she eventually settled down to take a nap. We just sat there, and I was able to pet her without her biting or running away. It was nice.

So, there are a number of possible reasons for Fuzzball staying put:

1) She figured that I would protect her from the children
2) My lap was more comfortable than the ground
3) She likes being with me.

My guess is that it is some combination of 1 & 2. She never likes being held in the apartment, where she can run off to one of her hiding spots, though she sometimes follows me around, looking up at me expectantly when I stop.