Giger the Mink

Giger is a mink.  Although he lives with ferrets, and is related to ferrets, he's quite the different animal.

 He's not a wild mink, he's a farm mink, semi-domesticated, raised on fur farms for use in coats, gloves, and other fashionable things.  My one wish is to let everyone who has or wants a mink coat meet Giger.  I think after they met him, they'd change their mind.

He's so smart.  He's smarter than my ferrets, and he's pretty close to being as smart as my dog.  This is a good and bad thing.  Good because he's very interactive and smart which makes playing with him and teaching him new things a blast, and bad because it also means he picks up bad habits and teaches himself things that make keeping him safe and healthy a challenge.

Minks are wonderful pets, but they're not for everyone.  They need constant interaction/attention.  Why?  Because, minks are very mouthy.  They put their mouths on everything.  My job is to teach him that I have soft skin without any fur, and the bites he does in play with his dog and ferret friends that are fun and playful, hurt me.  He does not like it when I'm hurt or when I fuss, so when I say "easy" to him, he immediately backs off.  It took a while for us to get this message and let him know that when I say easy, I really mean it.  But now that he's getting older, he's getting a lot better with that.  When he was a wild & crazy little(r) baby, he would get me bleeding sometimes daily.

Like I said, not for everyone.  But, good for some.  :)

He eats the same type of things that my ferrets eat; fresh meat, fresh fish, and whole prey.  He loves chicks and fish, especially whole small mackerels and sushi-grade tuna.  No, he's not spoiled!

We're still working on the litterbox, and when he's upset, no matter how much time out of the cage he's had that day (I've had him out for upwards of 11 hours) he will pace the cage like a tiger.  I don't know why and I don't know how he learned that.  I hate it when he does that because he must be so frustrated.  

His favorite thing in the world is when he does something good or something silly and he makes me laugh.  Which he does everyday.  You can just see the joy in his face.  His favorite trick is to get on top of the ferret cage right by the half door and stand there and wait for me to walk over, and then he will take a nice long jump into my arms.  I like that jumping much better than the one flying jump he takes to get into the kitchen trashcan.  :sigh:  LOL

I have Jean from Ferrets Unlimited to thank for Giger, and everyday I do thank her, even if it's just in my head when I'm watching him do stuff.  He's such an amazing animal, and I'm very lucky that he is wonderful with the ferrets and the dog, and currently lives with two tiny little Marshall Farm ferretgirls who, when he deserves it, have no problem handing him his ass when he's naughty.  It doesn't matter that he's 4x their size, they are so funny....fearless girls who won't tolerate an ill mannered mink baby cousin.  LOL

He also loves to swim.  Usually he will swim in the bathtub, but the other day I filled up his kiddie pool and loaded it up with six goldfish.  It was amazing to watch him chase and catch and eat the goldfish.  He's so very graceful and maneuvers like a dolphin in the water.  He doesn't like the water if it's the slightest bit warm or god forbid hot.  It has to be ice cold water for him to enjoy swimming in it.  Weird, I know.  The goldfish made for some very festive "leavings" if you know what I mean....his poops were gold and sparkly.  Quite amusing, at least to me.