I bought my first ferret a couple of months ago and have since bought two more. I have always enjoyed reading this list and have learned a lot that I needed to know about my ferrets. I don't usually have mush to say, but just thinking about what Marshall Farms gets away with boils my blood. When I got my first ferret, he was malnourished with a prolapsed rectum, needless to say he came from MF. I later found out that the pet store that I got him from bought ferrets from a lady who lived 100 miles away. She in turn got her husband to buy the ferrets from a distributor in San Antonio, another 100 mile drive. And I suppose, hopefully, that the ferrets came to them directly from MF. The food the ferrets had been eating was not moistened, the water bottle was far out of reach, and the litter box walls too high. The lady in the store gave me really bad ferret info, I did not realize it until later, which is my fault. I also do not believe that these batch numbers and such can really be trusted due to the sheer volume and carelessness with ferrets that MF seems to show. I have visited many other pet shops from Corpus Christi, TX to Minneapolis, MN since I bought my ferret, and have noticed one thing in common with all pet stores selling MF ferrets, complete ineptitude at caring for baby ferrets, or any ferret for that matter. Petco still prominently displays that ferret can live 8-12 years, keeps them in recycled newsprint and aquariums, with no moistened food. I visited one pet shop that had a ferret kept in a dark puppy aquarium in pine shaving, and this is the kicker, where the light should have been hooked up, there were exposed wires. This poor baby had no food and a way too high up water bottle. The living conditions of most shipped out MF ferrets is deplorable, and then who knows what happens to them when they are bought? With all the misinformation about ferrets out there, anyone is lured to believe they can adequately care for a ferret. I would love to buy them all, but who can seriously afford the expense and the encouragement for MF to produce more tortured babies? Everything looked happy and nice until I started to question why my little boy was so malnourished and sickly, and believe me, after all the research and actual searching I've done (i.e. actually investigating other pet shops) Everything is far from fuzzy and nice. Take a look at the sharp contrast between these two sites and ask yourself, should I really buy another MF ferret or should I encourage responsible breeding and humane treatment of ferrets. Marshall's site: http:/www.marshallpet.com Contradictory site http://www.peta-online.org/feat/marsh/index2.html Although I do believe that PETA is quite radical at times, pictures and all the facts that support the evidence only give weight to this link. Sorry my first post is a rant, but this subject touches a raw nerve in me. Sincerely Grace and her fuzzy trio Furball, Kit, and Delphina, plus one skin-kid, Cynthia [Posted in FML issue 3439]