jennifer,
i have seven ferrets, and it took some convincing for my mom too.  her close
friend still tells her they are elongated rats, but she absolutely adores
them now.  they can be a pretty expensive undertaking though.  the cages are
what is expensive, but if you only have one or two ferrets you don't need as
large a cage as i do! :)
 
ferrets can be very sweet and make wonderful pets.  they are usually rather
easily litterbox trained, and they are clean animals.  tehy eat, sleep, and
mess in different spots in their cages.  if you check out ferret central,
tehre is lots of info you can give your mom to look at.  i believe thier
web address is http://www.ferretcentral.org
 
basic supplied for a new ferret owner are a cage, hammock, heavy food bowl
or bowl that attatches to cage, water bottle, good quality FERRET food, such
as totally ferret, litter box, and a type of litter like recycled newspaper.
clay kitty litter isn't a great option, though one of my ferrets prefers it.
 
a few small cat toys such as plastic balls with bells in them make good
ferret toys to help keep them occupied.  If you only have one ferret you
need to spend a lot of time with it.  if you won't be able to do that, it
is best to have two or more.
 
hope you get your mom to come around.  ferrets really are wonderful pets.
they are very intelligent little creatures.
 
Jay, Sue, and their zoo :)
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PS.  another toy my ferrets love when we let them out is clear dryer tubes.
they lvoe to run through them.  i ordered mine from ferret depot on the
internet for about 13 dollars each.  a store like home depot or lowe's
might also have them though
[Posted in FML issue 2371]