>I've noticed that people are more receptive to ferrets when I take a
>sable out in public versus a DEW.  I don't know if the whites remind them
>of rats or what the big deal is, but the sables always seem to be more
>welcome.  (I don't even understand why people have such aversion to rats,
>either.)
 
well (and bear in mind that i am a rat person and *love* rats), at least
the people who are squicked by rats have an association with then that
is legitimate--rats in the attic, in my mom's case rats in the air
conditioning system, chewing the ducts, and the infamous sewer rats...
i've never heard of an invasion of ferrets ruining someone's attic!
 
but all the same, domestic rats (and rats in the wild, where they haven't
been driven to invade houses by human population of more natural habitats)
are just wonderful.  what i *really* don't understand are the people
yesterday who saw the baby rat i had with me (4-week old black male rex),
and thought he was just the cutest thing ever until i told them he was a
baby rat, not a mouse.
 
he *is* the cutest thing ever.  and considering rats and mice are such
incredibly similar species, i can't remotely understand the "rats are
icky, mice are cute" mentality.
 
on another completely anecdotal note, why is it that people who can spell
"ferret" just fine spell "ferretone" with an I?
 
-kat, who along with her housemate and boyfriend is owned by.... 11
ferrets (plus two we're weasel-sitting for until the end of the month),
9 rats, 4 mice, 4 cats, 3 hedgehogs, and one bad bunny.
 
=====
,',',     __
\    `'`,/  \ ()o=;
 `'`','`/  . \/ /
       (  / \" /
        \(_  \(_   ferrets may nip, but people just suck.
[Posted in FML issue 3667]