Hi FMLers,
 
I'm usually a lurker on the FML - In the year I've been subscribing, I could
probably count the number of posts I've written on one hand.  But something
I saw today bothered me enough to vent and ask advice.
 
I just came back from a pet store near my house that opened a month or so
ago; it was my first time there, but my father had been there before and
told me they sold ferrets.  Now, my reason for going today was to get a new
hammock and some litter for my little guy, but I couldn't help staring at
the adorable sable that was right in front of me as soon as I opened the
door.
 
He was kept in a decent-sized cage, BUT, the bottom of the cage was wood
shavings, no wire at all... The poor thing was sleeping in the shavings, and
when I asked the store employee if I could take him out, I had to brush the
stuff off of him - he was absolutely covered in it.  There was also no
litter pan in the cage; he was going to the bathroom right on the shavings.
 
The employee tells me "Be careful, he likes to bite." And he does... I'd had
him in my hands for maybe 5 seconds before he got the first chomp in.
Wasn't very bad, didn't draw blood or anything.  I noticed that there were
no tattoos on either ear, so I asked the employee if they got their ferrets
from a private breeder.  She looked at me as if I'd asked her to explain the
principles of nuclear physics.  She finally managed a "No", so I asked her
why he didn't have any tattoos..  She tells me "Well, some of them don't do
that." Then she comes up with "Marshall something." I told her Marshall
farms *does* tattoo their ferrets, and that kind of shut her up, slinking
away with an "Oh.  I don't know."
 
I had him out of the cage for about half an hour altogether {on and off..
I'd put him back in, but end up taking him back out again because I couldn't
stand to see him in that cage}.  I'd say he bit me a total of 4 or 5 times,
never drawing blood.  Each time he did it, he was scruffed, tapped on the
nose, and told "No!" But the time I took him out and put him on top of the
cage, he acted like it was the most wonderful experience in the world, to be
out of the cage, walking on his own.
 
He's not an evil ferret, I got 10 times as many licks as I did nips, and I
*know* that the only reason he is the way he is is because of the treatment
and conditions in that pet store.  If I'd had the money for him I would've
bought him in a second, knowing that within a week of getting out of that
place, he would be NOTHING like what he is now..A scared, biting ferret.
Plus, I live in a kill-and-test state so I'm very afraid of someone who
doesn't understand ferrets coming into the store and being bitten, and this
turning into another Kodo story.  I don't know what I should do...Any and
all advice will be appreciated.
 
Thanks,
Jennifer and Dare {my fert}
[Posted in FML issue 2016]