For those of you who may have missed my request to be added to the list,
I'm new here.  For those of you who did see it, things have changed since
then; Last week I picked up a 8-week old male from the pet store.  His name
is Ta-Tai (tah tie) and we are both doing incredibly well, considering my
fears about it.

  Ta-Tai is my first pet in years, certainly my first since living on my
own.  With that in mind I solicit any advice any of you may have to me
as a new pet owner and especially a new ferret owner.  I suspect that you
people who have been on the list will know if this belongs in private
email or on the list.  I'd hate to clutter up this list with something that
has been covered hundreds of times, is in a FAQ, or whatever.  :

  Things have seemed to work themselves out quite nicely (like litter training)
however, I am starting to notice that the room is starting to smell a little.
Even after vacuming, new litter, and a bath (Ta-Tai, not me!) I can still
smell him a little.  Any advice?  I'm not the greatest hosekeeper in the world,
so I may be overlooking the obvious.  Also some suggestions as to what kinds
of cat food (or ferret foods) don't smell too bad would be nice.

[You should get a book on ferrets.  "Ferrets" by Chuck & Fox Morton (Barron's),
or "Ferrets" by Wendy Winsted (TFH).  They'll help you along quite a bit.
Spaying usually helps with the smell.  And you'll want to do that anyways
(unfixed males sometimes get a little over aggressive).  Descenting is
usually not warranted, and does carry some significant risk]

Phew, enough already.  I still have a million questions, but I'll save some
for later.  Thanks in advance,

Brian

[Posted in FML 0195]