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Doofus, the Ferret King of Rice University
Pixxel and Rusty (Pam Greene & Bob Rhode)
Pauly and Nick (Angie Mohesky)
Ivan (Dana)
Sunshine and Shades (Kari Toyer)
Newbie (Kevin Doherty)
Moses (Kelly Bowring Berger)
Espie and Frankie (Linda Doran)
Houdini and Néfertiti (Christian Valiquette)
Bandit, Gismo, Puffy and Smokey (Bob Nixon)
An ermine (maybe a weasel?), not a ferret, just for comparison

Except where otherwise noted, all the pictures are color JPEGs. You should be able to save a copy of any of them using your browser or image-display program.

Doofus, the Ferret King

[35k] "Following the tradition of electing unique homecoming royalty, the [Rice University] student body chose Doofus the Ferret to wear the King's crown at this year's festivities." From the Rice University Sallyport magazine, Winter 1994-95. Photo by Jesse DeMartino.

Pixxel and Rusty

[27k] Ferrets usually like to sleep piled together in a heap. Here are our ferrets, Rusty, a 4-month-old cinnamon male, and Pixxel, a 7-month-old dark sable female, curled up half-asleep on a chair.

[11k] Even after you've ferretproofed, you still have to be careful where you sit. Pixxel and Rusty, shown here full-grown at about a year old, enjoy sleeping in a hollow in this bean bag chair, sometimes burrowed into a towel or sweatshirt.

[17k] Most ferrets tolerate baths, and some enjoy them quite a bit. Here are Pixxel and Rusty, at 5 months and 10 weeks, swimming in the tub.

[8k] They certainly are flexible animals. Pixxel likes to sleep curled up backward, with her head resting on her own tummy.

[12k] [21k] Ferrets' curiosity sometimes gets them into trouble, but usually it's just cute. Here Pixxel is trying to find out what's at the bottom of an ice cream cup, and Rusty is determined to get a jingly ball out of a clear plastic cup.

[14k] Even full-grown females can fit into some amazingly tight places. Pixxel likes to dig at the bottom of this spaghetti-sauce jar, then climb into it and turn around.

[8k] It's pretty easy to teach a ferret tricks. Rusty, shown here in the middle of rolling over for a raisin, also knows how to sit up and roll back the other direction.

[5k] Plastic balls are popular toys. Four-month-old Pixxel loved to push one into a corner, lift it with her nose, and let it fly back behind her.

[11k] Here's a good, basic front-and-top view of Pixxel.

[13k] This is a full side view of a young Pixxel, sniffing a hand.

[7k] Ferrets love to crawl, and often sleep, in snug tubes. Pixxel, shown here with her lighter-colored winter coat, was asleep in the sleeve of a jacket.

[18k] Dryer hoses are very popular, but if you have one as a toy, be sure your real hose is out of reach, or get a metal one, so your ferret can't dig it open and crawl into it. Here's Pixxel coming out the end of the hose she loves to play in.

[5k] Ferrets are infamous for liking socks. Here Pixxel, about three months old, leaps at an old sock wrapped around a bell.

[9k] Almost every ferret loves to stash things, and if a favorite toy is found out of place, it must be returned immediately. Here Pixxel carries off a squeaky toy which is almost as large as she is.

[12k] [16k]Both Pixxel and Rusty, shown here about a year and a half old, like to play with Pam's seal slippers, either alone or together.

[16k] Very young ferrets are little more than clumsy balls of fluff, but they're incredibly cute. Here's baby Rusty, only 7 weeks old.

[9k] Continuing with the baby pictures, here's Rusty a week or two later, perhaps 9 weeks old, making off with his very first theft: a pen.

Pauly and Nick

[8k] He's not attacking, he's not sick -- he's just playing! Whether you call it the Weasel Wardance, the Ferret Dance of Joy, or the Ferret Foxtrot, it means a ferret is having a great time. This is Pauly, Angie Mohesky's sable male.

[17k] Insatiably curious, ferrets are also very determined. Here's Pauly, intent on exploring the inside of a camera bag.

[8k] Size is no object to a determined ferret. Surrounded by his pick of toys, Pauly carries them off to his hiding place, one by one.

[7k] Like most ferrets, Nick, a sable male, had a favorite toy, in his case a jingly one. Here he is running off with it.

Ivan

[14k] Most ferrets love their hammocks, and Dana's 9-month-old silvermitt Ivan is no exception. (Dana lives in Massachusetts, where, for some reason, ferrets were banned until early 1996.)

Sunshine and Shades

[21k] Kari Toyer's Sunshine, a dark sable female, and her husband's Shades, a light sable male, look a lot like Pixxel and Rusty, but they're not the same ferrets, honest. Here they are being held up by their shoulders, facing the camera.

[8k] Sunshine likes to play in the grass. Here she is, enjoying herself.

[15k] Shades also enjoys romping in the grass.

[14k] Sunshine is shown here in a very nice side view, standing on a gravel walk.

[7k] [6k] Like many ferrets, Sunshine can have a lot of fun playing in a box of packing peanuts, as long as she doesn't swallow any pieces. She's shown here digging through a boxful, in front and side views.

Newbie

[8k] Here's a nice side view of Kevin Doherty's 9-month-old sable Newbie (short for Anubis), stretched out on a towel.

Moses

[12k] [15k] [21k] Moses, Kelly Bowring Berger's sable mitt male, likes to play around the pedals of her pipe organ. Here he is at about 12 weeks old, heading behind them, then coming back out and licking his mouth as he heads off to play somewhere else. What treat did he find back there?

[12k] Here's a nice front view of Puffy, a sable female. Puffy appears on the Central Arizona Ferret Club T-shirt.

[21k] Before he "passed over the Rainbow Bridge," Bandit, Bob Nixon's sable male, held Champion Honors at the Central Arizona Ferret Club. Here he is being held up by the torso.

[13k] Here's Bandit curled up asleep on the bathroom floor.

An ermine (or maybe a weasel?)

[23k] This is an ermine (or possibly a weasel), not a ferret, but it's awfully cute, and it's interesting to compare it to the ferrets. They are members of the same family.