On Sunday, July 23, my fiance Dave and I rescued four ferrets from the
Yermo, CA agriculture checkpoint. Below is an email Dave sent to the
Vegas Ferrets Yahoo group about them:

"What I do know is this: They came from Illinois & their previous owner
had them in a so-so cage with no hammocks or sleeping aids (sleep sack,
t-shirt, etc). All of them seem to be 'floor sleepers', as only one has
attempted to use a hammock or sleep sack in their new cage. Three of
the four are boys. The biggest boy is a champagne & seems to be the
youngest - I wish I could adopt him myself, he's so charming & playful!
The next biggest is a DEW (Dark Eyed White) & has a good disposition
but seems more passive - if I had to guess (mostly from looking at
teeth & watching behavior), I'd guess he's 3-4 years. The third boy is
a chocolate, almost sable & tiny compared to the other two. He's either
very young or maybe the runt of a litter, I'm not sure which. At first
I thought he was older since one of his canines looks darker, but his
other teeth seem fine so he may be quite young. The girl is similar to
the small boy in color & size; she has early signs of adrenal disease,
an enlarged vulva & the loss of some fur at the base of her tail. We're
hoping it improves with better nutrition & living conditions, but it's
there. She's probably about 3-4 years but ???"


After having them a week, I can tell you that they do seem to really
get along and play well with each other. The young champagne is always
the play instigator, but I haven't found his siblings to be reluctant
to play with him. They are very well-behaved. In fact, the only
mischievous thing about them is the female who decided it was a good
idea to hide under the dishwasher. Our other kids never poked around
in there, so after I got her out and duct taped the gap, she tried to
claw her way inside again! These rescues are good-tempered and are all
Marshalls. The only odd thing about them besides being floor sleepers
is they don't seem to know what ferretone is and don't like it. Oh, and
the DEW might be deaf. I tried a squeaky toy on him once, and it had no
effect. I haven't tried a second time.

We want to adopt them out all together. I know this is difficult with
four kids, so that's why I emailed the FML. We live in North Las Vegas
and might be able to drive a little to the border of Utah or Arizona
to rehome them. We will NOT be giving them to anyone who lives in CA
because of the conditions of removing them from Yermo. If the ferrets
are found there again, they get put to sleep without a chance of
someone being called for a pickup. Since there are so many, and they
seem to be middle-aged or older, we are setting their adoption fee at
$120 for all four. Please email me at [log in to unmask] or call
702-401-8952. The links below show some images we got of the ferrets:

Champagne (the baby)
<http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b155/delgadobb/Rescue%20Ferrets/DSCF0584.jpg>

The DEW (old one)
<http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b155/delgadobb/Rescue%20Ferrets/DSCF0588.jpg>

The female (really soft fur)
<http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b155/delgadobb/Rescue%20Ferrets/DSCF0578.jpg>

The chocolate boy
<http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b155/delgadobb/Rescue%20Ferrets/DSCF0573.jpg>

Natalie Fontane

[Posted in FML 7501]