Well, I have now heard of TWO (only) pandas or blazes who made it to normal life-spans (KNOWN ages, NOT estimates). Dick Bossart had one which firmly came into a normal life-span by being in the 7th year, and Alicia had one that just squeaked in by being 6 years and 8 months. Am still looking to find any which reached over 6 and 1/2 in age. So far it's a real minority. Glad that Vickie will be looking further into this and hope other groups also will; breeding pandas and blazes to anyone simply may not be responsible for the ferrets' health if such proportions continue. It may turn out in the long run if this trend continues that they should be culled from breeding. 'T'aint good. Ferrets should be getting late 6th year into mid 8th (with some older and some younger) like they commonly did less than 20 years ago. Remember what problems the extensive breeding for unusual traits caused to the health of dogs and cats! [Posted in FML issue 3207]