As a former shelter mom, my gut instinct is to say "No".  If she couldn't
take proper care of the ferrets before (no time out, crappy cat food), I
doubt she would have time to take care of them now.  And if she couldn't
manage to contact you for a month and you ended up having to pick them
up, that's a bad sign.  One thing you didn't mention - have these ferrets
ever been to a vet?  If they're not current on their shots, that makes
for an automatic "no".  Of course, you can't stop her from going to a
pet store, but you can try to persuade her that she doesn't really want
ferrets.
 
Good luck.
 
Sara
[Posted in FML issue 4931]