These are some pointers about ferrets that we have picked up:
0) BUY A FERRET BOOK and READ IT FIRST!  (Ferrets, by Chuck and Fox Morton,
   Barron's, or, 2nd choice: Ferrets by Wendy Winstead)
1) This may seem completely contradictory, but:
        males appear to be far more rambunctious, harder to tire out, bigger,
        etc., BUT are mellower and more affectionate than females when
        being handled.
2) Females *HAVE* to be spayed sooner or later.  No exceptions.
3) Look for ferrets with good coats, bright eyes, and that are relatively
   gentle.  You don't *have* to rule out babies that nip - they'll probably
   grow out of it.  Further, all three of ours will use their teeth, but
   never hurts nor has broken skin.  But, remember to pre-warn visitors...
4) Colouration: there may be a sort of link between colour and personality
   (eg: albinos and other exotic colours *seem* a little gentler), but
   probably insignificantly.
5) "General configuration": good markings (depends on time of year, colour
   variety, age...).  Look for ferrets with black noses (personal preference)
   and broad faces (females usually much narrower faces than males)
6) Do not descent unless you really have to.  Usually unnecessary.  Unless
   your ferrets starts spraying a lot (at other ferrets or children).
 
 
Cages:  I was thinking of starting a discussion on this myself...
   - We have two cages that are about two feet square and a foot high.
     They're rabbit cages.  Toby lives in one, and the two girls in the other.
     Quite roomy.  All three could live in one.
 
   - Furnishings:
      Toby has a large litter pan, heavy ceramic dog bowl for food (they
      love moving things around), water bottle, and a large piece of
      velvetine (from a defunct housecoat) for a bed.  The velvetine is
      better than terry-cloth because their claws don't get caught in it.
      They sleep under the towels and appear quite comfortable.
 
      The ladies have similar furnishings, but the water is in a bowl because
      Nicia doesn't seem to be able to use a bottle.  They have two litter
      pans wedged into the back.  Bottles are preferable (Mocha loves
      overturning or spilling things...)
 
    - Litter pans are actually the plastic bottoms from small rodent cages which
      we were able to buy separately.  Not particularly high sided, and the
      ferrets will back over the edges sometimes...  Those stacking plastic
      shelf organizers work pretty well too.
 
    - Cages have removable metal tray bottoms which we used to line
      with newspaper (ends up smelling sometimes), but have switched to
      plastic garbage bags.  Much less smell.
 
What are people out there using for beds?  The books talk about building
nesting boxes.  We decided to not carve the cages up because the ferrets
frequently travel in them, and the towels seem good enough.
 
Further [mis]-adventures of Toby the Silvermitt male:
 
You may remember a couple issues back that Toby was descented (because of
spraying problems with Mocha...).  Perfectly normal descenting - two anal-sacs
removed intact (specimens to prove it).  Then he develops an abcess back there
which is removed by another vet (our regular one was out of town).  Appears
to be an anal-sac abcess!  Hard to tell because it burst.
 
Well, our regular
vet has been talking over the phone with the vet that did the second bout
of surgery, and he's really curious and asks to see Toby.  Toby goes in
and is examined.  He does a physical exam and squeezes the other side because
it appears a little bigger than the side that was operated on.  Holy shit!
More ferret scent!  We all freaked out.  Apparently Toby is a mutation and
was born with *two* pairs of scent glands!!!!  It looks like Toby is going to
have to have his rear operated on again.  Poor guy....
 
We're going to see if the breeder and the pet store kept sufficient records
that the parents of Toby and his siblings can be tracked down and checked
or owners warned.
 
[You might wonder why our vet didn't see the extras when he originally
did the surgery.  Well, the technique he uses makes that very difficult.
He clamps the gland shut at the opening and then starts cutting around
it with the scalpel.  He keeps doing this, teasing the gland away from
the muscle and eventually the whole thing comes out intact like a little
balloon.  Then he sews up the hole with one or two stitches.  He doesn't
get to see anything else internal.  Simple but somewhat tricky because
everything's so small.  Presumably the extra set were considerably smaller.
 
I'll post the results of the next bout of surgery.  We're giving him
at least a month before we put him through it again.
 
He's done several hundred descentings with ferrets.
Toby was his second anal-sac abcess, the first was a spontaneous occurance
in a non-descented male.  The other vet who did the abcess surgery has
been treating a number of ferrets for five years or so and has never seen
an abcess before).]
                                                                          
[Posted in FML 0012]