Hi everyone!
I'm Angie & have been married for 16 years (tomorrow by the way!!!).
Dh & I have 5 kids (3 boys, 1 girl, 1 boy) ages 11, 7, 6, 4, 1.  I also
homeschool.  We live in New York state about 45 minutes from Buffalo.  We
are also in the process of adopting a sibling group from a local agency
in our area.  We are in the stage of meeting with the adoption specialist
& are praying for the good Lord to bring the children He has picked out
for us to us!  It is very exciting!
 
My only hobby is feeding the wild birds & other wildlife as I am totally
in love with animals of all sorts!!!  We have 2 large breed dogs (adopted
from SPCA), 4 indoor cats (rescued stray & adopted from 2nd chance
shelter), 1 lop-eared house bunny (rescued from someone's garage after
the novelty of Easter bunny wore off), about 8 or so fish & aquatic frog,
and just recently one beautiful sable ferret we adopted from the SPCA on
Tuesday!!!  He is a neutered male about 1 year old.  He was
found/abandoned & brought to the SPCA.  We FINALLY decided to name him
Rosco!
 
Rosco loves our cats, but the cats don't quite feel the same, LOL!  He
also absolutely loves the dogs, but they don't enjoy his nips & biting.
I'm in the process of trying to nip train him by using the "scruff"
method & saying no and when appropriate, timeouts.  The rabbit of course
is NOT fond of Rosco, I'm not sure what Rosco thinks of him either!  They
are always kept away from each other...only one or the other is allowed
out of their cages at a time!
 
Rosco isn't litter pan trained (YET!) I did buy a ferret starter cage kit
from Petsmart which is a 2-tier black wire cage & has a spring-locked
door on each level.  It came with a water bottle using the 2 balls in
it, a bowl (which I'll need to get one to anchor onto the cage since he
keeps tipping this light plastic one over), a hammock, a bag of Kaytee
Forti-Diet for ferrets, & a bag of corn cob litter for the litter pan.  I
bought a litter pan that has a high back & fits into the corner but also
has a square space enterence for him to back into.  He only uses it when
I put him in it, otherwise he'll go right next to it.  I've recently
tried laying a blanket on the floor around it to deter him from going
on the bedding, but he still does.  I'll keep working with him!  The
supervisor at the SPCA told me to also get Kaytee's Fiesta Mix & mix
it with TOTALLY FERRET (50/50) but I've been combining it with the
Forti-Diet & he is doing well.  The only thing is there seems to be so
much fruit in the Fiesta Mix & I believe it is giving him runny, wet
stools so I've been picking some of the fruit out to save for treats in
the future.
 
His first vet's visit is Saturday.  Any advice on what to ask?  The SPCA
did NOT give any vaccines & I've discovered there is quite a bit of
conteversouy on whether to get them or not since they could have
reactions....PLEASE help me to decide if I should get the distemper or
the rabies or what I should do.  I love Rosco so much already & don't
want anything to happen to him.
 
I've always wanted a ferret since I was a teenager (LONG, LONG time ago,
LOL) but dh just never wanted to go there.  Well, I've been researching a
lot over the last couple months & calling to check at the SPCA for when
they had a ferret for adoption & they finally had one this week.  So I
asked dh if this could be my anniversary present & between that and the
kids, he finally agreed!
 
I feel like there is still lots to learn as I'm not experienced yet, but
I've been reading several different website articles & visiting some
message boards.  We all love him so much already....he is such a cool
ferret.
 
I look forward to getting to know all of you & I eagerly welcome anyone's
advice & recommendations as a new ferret owner.
 
Thanks & God bless,
Angie        [log in to unmask]
western New York, zone 5
National Wildlife Federation
Backyard Wildlife Habitat #30089
[Posted in FML issue 3855]