Hi everyone,
 
We have been gone for about a month so I have missed out on what you had
to say about Marshall Farms.  I know they have done a lot of messing up
this past breeding season, such as the problem with the lighting which
has lessened their new kit population by about 30%.  I guess they are
having problems with their sales this year too, maybe they are finding
their ferrets aren't as genetically perfect as they thought and the labs
don't want them, don't we all wish!  Or else the pet people of the world
don't want to support a company that sells to labs.
 
We have three ferrets from Marshall, none of which we purchased.  Marty,
a white faced, partly mitt looking sable, was given to us by a pet store
after he bit many people and also attacked me.  He is really a strange
fellow, very much nicer now, but rather dumb.  He runs into walls often
and just acts silly.  He gave himself a bloody nose once he ran into the
wall so hard.  He even looks different.  He has a funny glazed look in
his eyes.
 
Aussie is a sable that was given to us by my sister.  She is very dark
and very pretty.  Aussie is gentle and loving and and overall ideal pet.
She has to date, never bitten a single person.
 
Quincy is a cinnamon and was given to us by a family who had no clue how
to care for a ferret.  They thought she was a gerbil or something.  She
was kept in an aquarium for almost three years before we got her, never
held, never allowed to play with the dog.  She lived in pine chips and
didn't know how to use a litter box.  She was so thin and frail we didn't
even think she would live long.  Now, six months later, she is a chubby,
and very happy ferret.  She doesn't like to be held though and is very
independent.
 
The rest of our ferrets, Kodiak and Peanut, both butterscotch, Kit,
Nanook, and Beauty, all red eyed whites, and our newest additions, Smokey
and Sweet Pea, both charcole colored mitts, probably becoming sables, are
all from different small time breeders and are unaltered.
 
Before I go I was going to tell you a story.  We recently made a 300 mile
move, in which our ferrets got a new and nicer home.  They live in their
very own heated building.  At night they all go in their "condo's" and
the building is locked up.  A couple weeks ago, it was so warm outside
we decided to leave a window cracked so they could have some fresh air.
Our largest and nicest ferret, Kodiak, proceeded to get out of his condo
that night, and decided to leave for a while.  When we discovered he was
gone, not more than an hour later, we called everyone, the police, the
shelters, all our friends in the area.  We looked for Kodi none stop for
two days, in fields and a little forest we live in front of, at the
stockyards and the housing districts.  Knowing that my brother lost three
ferrets in this town, to neighbor's dogs, we didn't think we had a
prayer.  Kodi is so friendly he would walk up to any dog and try to
play.  I received a phone call two days later from the police, with an
address of a place we were to go look at an animal someone had caught.
We drove to this house, on the other side of town, and saw these people
with a 5 gallon bucket over an animal.  It was Kodi.  They thought he was
a wild mink or something and found him playing with a to-cat, who didn't
like Kodi at all.  Kodi came right up to them and climbed up their legs
and they were scared to death.  I think it is a miracle that we ever got
him back!!  I would have been so heart-broken to lose Kodi!
 
Well, take care everyone!
 
Tarra, Matt, and all our furries
 
[Posted in FML issue 0808]