Mary and Ralph,
 
Ralph sounds a lot like Tasha.  Does he also have a mostly white neck?
Our vet said that it is common for animals with a large percentage of
white fur around their ears to be deaf.. He said this is true of all
breeds, but doesn't necessarily apply to albinos.  Deafness and white fur
must somehow be linked on one of the chromosomes.
 
We are actually pretty lucky with Tasha's nipping.  She likes to
"explore" with her mouth but doesn't bite.  We might try the bitter apple
(which we already have for the plants) on our hands because I think her
play nipping scares other people who are not familiar with her or
ferrets.
 
Tasha being our first ferret, we don't have anything to compare her to
but she is extremely sweet and people oriented.  She is 3 months old but
will seek us out after playing around the house and sit on my lap while I
pet her for quite a long time before falling asleep and she loves to
crawl into our shirts to take her nap.
 
It is hard to remember what life was like before our little fuzzy friend
came along.
 
BTW, after closer examination I saw that Tasha too has "eyeliner" under
her eye that doesn't have the "patch".  It is very thin but noticable.
 
Michelle, John, and Tasha (I didn't steal your pickle Mom)
[Posted in FML issue 1092]