Heather and I are proud mommies to 8 fuzzbutts.  We also have 1 ferret
angel, Ally, who we lost in January of 2002 to a sudden accident.  Lets
see, chronilogically:
 
Abby was a Christmas present from Heather to me in 2000.  I had been
asking for one for awhile.  Heather got her from an ad in the paper and
kept her in her cage in a back hallway (that we never used) for 3 days
until Christmas.  She had me "discover" a series of clues that led me
to her.  Her whole name is Abigail von Girlie the Christmas Ferret, but
Abby is a whole lot easier.  ;) She is a silver something-or-other and
currently is about 5 years old.  Ally came next in April of 2001.  She
came from Petland.  She never had the time of day for us, but she had a
squeaky toy that she would respond to.  She was a cinnamon-ish little
girl, very tiny and always very busy adding to her hidey hole stashes.
In September she had surgery to remove bladder stones, and 4 months
later, she got stuck in the back of our stove and was electrocuted before
we could pry the back off.  One of the worst experiences of my life.
 
Andre, or "Chunky" came next in June 2001--also from Petland.  Our first
blaze, our first male and our first deaf ferret.  He is a couple months
shy of being 3, and we havent yet been able to break him from his
fondness of nibbling the backs of knees and the inside of elbows.
 
Annie came in August 2001--she's the same age as Chunky.  She came from
Petland also.  She is a blaze, also deaf.  She has a fascination with
things with rubber buttons, such as tv remote controls and earplugs.  We
are convinced that she is Chunky's sister.
 
Farty Pants came in January 2002.  We rescued him from a petstore called
Animal House, where he was in very poor shape.  He is a Dark Eyed White
and is about 2 now.  He is also deaf.  When we first got him, he was
nearly emaciated.  He was so young he didnt have many teeth and the pet
store people werent wetting the food for the kits, so he wasnt eating.
You'd never know it now though, as he started making up for lost meals
as soon as we brought him home, and he hasnt let up since.
 
Sleepy was also in January 2002.  He is a silver-ish boy, not sure of
his age, but at least 5 or 6.  We got him from Widgets Halfway House in
Winter Haven, which is sadly no more now.  We found his picture on the
internet and fell in love immediately.  Sleepy needed a lot of TLC.
Someone had found him outside in the rain wandering around in Tampa.
Thankfully the guy who found him knew of Widgets.
 
Bob was a Valentines gift in 2002.  He came from Petland also.  He is
a blaze, our only hearing blaze.  I guess he is about 2 now.  He has a
beautiful full coat and tail and is probably one of our sweetest ferrets.
 
Peanut came in May 2002, also from Widgets.  He was abandoned by his
family, along with two of his companions.  His companions were adopted,
but Peanut was in really bad shape.  He almost died in July--stopped
eating, lost weight.  We hand fed him duck soup and he pulled through.
He's a cinnamon-ish as well.  He may be 3 or 4 or even older.
 
And last week, we got Egan.  She was living in a car with her family, in
a cat carrier, eating nothing but cereal.  She is a blaze, and both blind
and deaf.  We're still getting her transistioned, but she's doing well.
Our "business" is already split into two groups because of personality
clashes, lol, and I think we're going to eventually house her with Peanut
and Sleepy.  For right now, she is in a single cage.  Its hard telling
how old she is.  Her teeth are atrocious, but her body is solid and she
doesnt seem frail.  She has been playing, mostly with Bob.
 
Sorry for the long winded diatribe.  :)
Becky and Heather--Tampa Bay
[Posted in FML issue 4388]