In December of 2008, we found Bella. She also came from Craigslist, but this time in Lexington. A guy said he got two ferrets, and then found he was allergic to them. Pretty sure that wasn't what happened; he also sold off a little Italian greyhound from the same meail address, and he was all concentrated and happy going through the cash when we met him to get Bella.

Bella was five months old, and had not yet been named. She was used to being handled, but not to playtime; she wasn't afraid of the dog or of the other ferrets, though. I asked her last person what he'd fed her, and he said it was something with "fruit pieces and chicken rings" - in other words, absolute crap. She had the biggest frame I've ever seen on a female ferret, and she weighed 1.3 pounds, the same as Tasha at the time we got Bella. People comment on how tiny Tasha is, and her health was very poor when Bella arrived.

Bella gained over half a pound in the first two weeks she was with us, getting up to 1.9+, the biggest female ferret I have ever seen. She is now chubby, but that will probably be converted to muscle with all the energetic playing and roughhousing she's doing with Riley.

Riley drags Bella aroud by her ears the same as he does with Tasha, but Bella doesn't seem to mind. If we make him let go, usually she'll jump right back into the game. She never seems to grow tired of playing chase and tube.

Bella was also very soft and sweet and cuddley, and at first was found cuddling in her sleep with just about everyone at one point or another. She doesn't cuddle with Joey, but she seems to quite like him, too.

When we got Snickerdoodle, we got to see another side of Bella. BellaDonna wants poor sweet little Snicker DEADDEADDEADKILLKILLKILL. Bella is still beautiful, and still sweet and cuddly with everyone else. But she tries to attack Snickerdoodle through the bars of the cages, and has leaped over two foot gaps to where I stood with Snicker in my arms to to attack her (she got Snicker by the neck, but fell off as I stepped back). Poor crazy Bella; Snicker would be such a good friend for her.

Update, December 13: kept up all the little psy-ops tricks to get Bella to accept Snicker. Switched bedding after it got stinky, all that. A week ago we tried letting Bella out to play with Snicker again, since Snickerdoodle had gotten so big and is actually quite a bit heavier than Bella now. Bella went straight for her, aggressive and frantic, and they rolled around fighting until we broke it up. Bella was very upset, all bushy tailed and lemme at her; Snicker was frightened and only wanted to hide. But - no screaming, no poo, no blood.

Over the past week it looked like something had changed in the way Snicker and Bella sniffed each other through the bars, and Bella no longer devoted all her time to climbing on Snicker's cage hissing and trying to bite Snicker through the bars. So Saturday, 12/12, I let them out together again. Bella went for Snicker and then chased her around and around the room, but no one seemed to be getting too upset...and after a little while, things seemed normal.

I thought at first that I would keep them to limited playtimes together in one room, closely supervised, for a few days, but by the end of the day Saturday things were going so well that they had full run of the apartment together. And so it has been today. After a short time chasing each other around in my bedroom, I opened the door and let them out. Snicker still in doesn't quite get the idea that she can chase Bella, but they're wrestling and playing chase and tube, ferreting together, sharing licks of ferretone I put down. For the first couple of minutes Bella seems kind of aggressive and goes straight for Snicker's scruff, but then it's just play. And now no one will have to go so short on playtime.

April 10, 2015: Bella seemed a little off the past couple of days, but nothing serious. Today at half-house playtime, though, she didn't come out with Snicker. I went to go wake her up, and she wasn't in my bed under my covers, where she'd usually be. I checked the hammocks, and they were empty. I found her, cold and stiff and dead, half in, half out of her bed in her cage. That was a few minutes after 8 pm. She'd been up and about and alive and well at 3. She was taken to the emergency clinic to besent for cremation. At bedtime, Snicker finally seemed to realize something was wrong when she went in her cage and there was no Belladonna.

7/2008 - sometime between 3 and 8 pm, April 10, 2015.

She was my itty-bitty-fuzzy-bellied-busy-bibby-Belladonna