Hi Sherri,
 
I have one suggestion which may help your case a little.  If you find a
ferret shelter near you, volunteer there.  Work with the ferrets there,
help to feed, clean up after and play with them.  If you do it regularly,
and your mother sees that you really are serious about this, then she's
more likely to agree.  Plus that way you get to find out what ferrets are
like on a more full-time basis :o)
 
Several US shelters are listed at the FML Shelter list site:
http://members.aol.com/jewels118/FMLShelter.htm
 
Hope this helps!
 
Sam
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To see some awesome ferret cards, drop in on
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~fanmail/cards/ferretcard.htm
[Posted in FML issue 2965]