RE: Apartements Allowing Ferrets and Pets
 
        We live in the Rochester, New York area.  The townhouses we
        currently live in do not charge extra for "caged" animals.
        So the nice thing is we can have ferrets and not have to pay
        a lot extra in the monthly rent (yippie!)  However, when we
        were first looking for a place to live (before we had
        ferrets) we found that a number of places would not even
        allow our fish tanks!
 
        End result -- be persistant!
 
RE: Introducing New Ferrets
 
        Here's our story:
 
        We had had our first ferret, Squirt, for about a year before
        we got Pippi.  We went real slow with the introductions.  The
        first night we brought Pippi home we put her in a separate
        cage and then let Squirt out of his to run around.  He was
        *so* funny.  He tip-toed around Pippi's cage peeking in and
        sniffing and then jumping back, only to tip-toe up again to
        try and figure out what was in the cage.  I don't think I've
        ever seen a longer-toed ferret!
 
        After Squirt had gone off to play by himself for a while we
        took Pippi out to fuss with.  When Squirt came back we let
        the two of them see each other -- we were holding on to
        Pippi securely and supervising Squirt.
 
        We kept their cages next to each other and continued to
        allow only closely supervised interaction at first with a
        gradual increase in freedom.  After about a week and a half
        Squirt would wake up and look into Pippi's cage to check up
        on her.  And, when we let him out first he'd run over and
        stand on Pippi's cage trying to get to see her.
 
        Of course, Squirt had to show Pippi who was boss by dragging
        her around a little bit, but he also allowed her to chew on
        him and tackle him just like an adult dog plays with puppies.
 
        In short, going slow and judge the individual ferrets'
        reactions and take appropriate action from there.  Good
        luck to all!
 
Sorry this is so long.
 
-- Mike and Kim Burkard
   Squirt - "What's *that*?"
   Pippi  - "Where am I?  Who are you?  What's that?"
 
Michael C. Burkard        |              _     Dancing Dookers
Xerox, Rochester, NY USA  |       _____C .._.  Delightfully Digging!
[log in to unmask]     |  ____/     \___/   Feisty Fuzzies in a
Everything is my opinion. | <____/\_---\_\     Frenzied Frollick!
[Posted in FML issue 1100]