Three things: 1. Tim-I don't know if this is what you were watching, but there is a show called "Beastmaster" where the hero has two ferrets as "sidekicks"-it's a "Xena/Hercules"-type show set in times of scorcery and swordplay. 2. Lisa-we had had our Nicodemus for about a month and a half before deciding it was time to get him a fuzzy friend now that we knew what we were doing. We went to a shelter and, with our own thoughts and on concurring advice from a few shelters, decided to get one that was a year old or younger so that the ferrets were closer in age. It is hard enough for a new ferret to adjust to a new home and for two unfamiliar ferrets to get used to each other without a big age discrepancy if they are your only two. Kits often play rougher and have more energy (though lots of ferts stay really active all their lives) than, say, a 6-year-old fert, and it may be tough on an older ferret to have a kit at it all the time, for example. We ended up getting a five month old for our three and a half month old to play with and it's worked out great. Go shelter! 3. Dating with ferrets-you know, they actually do have services where you can "rent" a pet for a day to help you meet people for dating. I have seen a piece on 60 minutes a few years ago, I think; there were several animal shelters that would "loan out" dogs for a day to screened people-it gave the animals a much-needed chance to get out, get fresh air and exercise and one-on-one human companionship and maybe get seen to be adopted (and maybe the person "renting" them would grow attached enough to adopt) and the people really did go to the park with them as a conversation starter to meet potential mates! Hmmm, perhaps a ferret shelter possibility? Rigorous screening of potential "borrowers" of ferrets, of course-no one that hasn't a clue about ferts at all should get to take them. Maybe they have to do training and spend time helping out at the shelter first for a few weeks, and only a few hours of outing time at a time? Don't know how serious an idea this would be, but they DO do it for dogs and cats, etc. Teehee! -April Vote for Nicodemus as often as you get a chance (up to twice an hour at each site) till May 11! Prize money to ferret shelters! http://www.gopbi.com/services/pets/slides/contest_other3.html and http://www.sofla.com/services/pets/slides/contest_other3.html [Posted in FML issue 3387]