Hi, This is the first time I have written but I have been lurking for some time now and I just had to write regarding all the letters about pet stores vs. breeders. As a little background, we were owned by our first ferret in October of last year. She is a wonderful 6 month old Chocolate (I think!) and very docile and loving. We had done tons of research on the Internet as well as reading every book we could get our hands on before we purchased her. One thing we didn't know for sure was where to find one of these wonderful animals once we decided to get one. I was unable to find out anything about any shelters or breeders in my area - we live about 2 hours from Seattle WA - so the only place we had available was Petco. We went in several times before we finally purchased one. I have to say that they were all well taken care of every time we went in. They always had fresh water and food and the litter box was clean. The sales people didn't know as much as I would have liked but at least we had done enough research to know what to look for. I know that some have written that no one should by from pet stores but in some cases that is all that is available to us with a reasonable price. Bandit was $90 plus of course all the wonderful accessories that we just "had" to buy! I did just look up the sheet that told us about her and she is from the Triple FFF breeding farm in Pennsylvania - haven't heard that one mentioned much here or on the newsgroups. I guess that is good since it means they aren't out there causing a lot of trouble. Anyway, as a new owner (or is that owned by), I wanted to point out that it isn't always possible to find a shelter or breeder and if we have the chance to provide a loving home for a wonderful animal like Bandit, does it really matter where we got it from? She has a fantastic personality, loves to cuddle, gives wonderful kisses, and has never, ever nipped any of us (we have 8 yr old and 11 year old girls). Thank you for the great information provided on these pages. I read my FML from beginning to end every day and am constantly learning. I'm so glad there is a place to ask questions and learn more about these wonderful fuzzy critters. "May all your critters be healthy and happy" Kathy with Bandit (the ferret), Cody (the dog), and Trouble (the cat) [Posted in FML issue 2960]