In November of 88 Sukie and I visited Path Valley Farms to pick out a new
ferret. PVF is run by Chuck and Fox Morton, authors of what strikes us as
the best general ferret book (If you have a ferret you need this book) -
Ferrets - A Complete Pet Owner's Manual.
 
They are located in Willow Hill, PA which is a essentially a rural community
50 miles West of Harrisburg on the PA Turnpike. They are one of the major
ferret breeders in the US and are not set up as a retail shop, although
they welcome ferret enthusiasts and will sell you an animal. It is
important to call ahead as they can tell you when they will have kits.
The number is 717-349-7818.
 
The operation is larger than I had anticipated. Several steel frame
buildings and some covered area with outdoor ferret cages that are used
in good weather. The Mortons hire local teenage girls to ferretsit rather
than the babysitting. The result is that the kits and breeding crew get
quite a lot of human interaction. The girls will find favorites and carry
them around in their pockets as they work. Especially friendly individuals
are noted and kept for breeding purposes as the Mortons breed for
personality as well as interesting color variations.
 
We were interested in unusual colors. A gal came in with perhaps a dozen
very small kits and we played with them on the floor for what must have
been an hour as we swapped ferret stories with Fox and Cathy (can't
remember her lat name - I think she is the forewoman). They are very
interested in the legal status of ferrets and have employeed the services
of an attorney in CA (the notes we posted a few months back). They were
very interested that an electronic ferret net existed and we have been
sending them hardcopy as we accumulate it.
 
The reason for going there was to replace Helix - our 11 month old who
died of a lymphosarcoma. They have a one year guarantee on their animals
and told us they would arrange to let us pick out a replacement at the
store where Helix was purchased or from them directly. When we finally
picked out Meltdown (a silvermit with some unusual color patches) they
gave us another one year guarantee and some ferret food.
 
We were impressed that the place is not in business to make a fast buck -
they really are interested in ferrets and ferret folks. Highly
recommended.
 
On a different subject you might try Ivory bar soap on your ferrets when
you bathe them. All of ours dislike baths to some degree, but all are
much calmer with I soap rather than baby shampoo or some of the special
stuff we've tried. Fritter thinks it is delicious and will sit and work
on the bar while you wash here -- this is a ferret who can climb tile
under normal conditions!
 
Steve, Sukie, Fritter, Hjalmar and Meltdown Crandall
                                                                          
[Posted in FML 0051]