My name is James and I am a long time lurker on the fml.
 
  About Hagen and their woodchips:  I too bought the starter kit that
they provide when my brother and I bought our first ferret and I must
admit that I wasn't too satisfied with it.  First off was their inclusion
of wood chips as a litter, incidentally no pan was provided so I guess they
expect us to use the shavings to cover the entire cage, but our bundle of
hyperactive joy really didn't look too comfortable with it so we took a
trip to a dollar store for pans and then to the pet store where we got
our first batch of real litter (mentioned again later.)  Some of the
products were worth it: for instance the bottle and brand ferret food
were much appreciated.  All in all the kit was good, we still use that
cage for our ever-increasing population of mustaelidae.
    Another thing about the package is a mail response survey that you
can mail in to Hagen.  The form had a few good questions but I'm not sure
if the cedar shavings were mentioned.  In return for the survey the
company will mail you a little package of goodies, all though in mine was
another of those big sturdy rubber balls which are ferrets tend to ignore
and some "Cat Gems" ; a vitamin supplement that is supposed to give cats
bright shiny eyes ?  At least the company is interested in a consumer
response.
   Hagen also has starter kits for various other pets, of course all
ferret owners know that there is no need for other pets after ferrets 8)
 
   About the litter:  My brother and I know use a brand of cat litter
called "Yesterday's News."  It is a recycled and recyclable newspaper
product.  I think that it is flushable as well but our plumbing is bad
in our apartment so I don't try it.  I wholly recommend  Yesterday's News
as our ferrets have had no problems adjusting to it, and they don't do
anything too stupid like eat it !
 
    Last thing for me is an announcement :  We are the proud owners of
our third little ferret.  We recently acquired a Sable Female to
accompany our other two women.  Although we haven't chosen a name for our
2 month old baby, Trouble seems to be fitting so far.  We bought her from
a pet store in Sherway Gardens, Etobickoe (near Toronto) solely because
she was sooooooo  cute, we hadn't even considered BUYING a new ferret
before seeing her playing with her brother who we had to leave behind :(,
at a PJ's Pet store , the store I don't recommend because they couldn't give
me any info. on the ferrets or their breeder.  I tried finding a shelter
for ferrets in the greater Toronto area but the only shelter/Human
Society that could give me anything on ferret's gave me the wrong number
twice !  If we could have found a shelter then we wouldn't have had to
buy one.
 
  OK well that's all for this month, I hope everybody has a good day.  Why
don't we all take the day off tomorrow and pay some extra attention to
our beloved  :]
 
  Greetings from Iain  Calico, Aries and the little one as well
 
  JAMES N
[Posted in FML issue 1071]