>does anyone know how ferrets and birds get along? We know! We got Snowball because the petstore owner was furious at him for eating a $150 cockatiel. Seems Snowball (AKA Houdini) could escape from *anything,* and he is an unbelieveable climber, so when the pet store was closed...he had a tummyache for a week, poor baby. Luckily, I worked at the petstore at the time, and I had just brought home his cagemate, Tiferet. When I got to work that morning, the owner met me at the door saying "you know you really want 2 ferrets! Take this one! Please!" :-) Since he's been here (3 years), he's only escaped a couple of times, hasn't eaten out parakeet (whew!), tried to play "ride the rabbit" once (rabbit still hasn't emotionally recovered from *that* one), and hides from the cat, who loathes him. Funny thing is, Snowball will *not* eat table scraps, raw chicken, cooked chicken, raw beef, cooked beef...only his Totally Ferret. Go figure. I look at him and say "you ate an entire cockatiel, how can you not like a hamburger???" Regarding human babies...I have 6 children under the age of 12, 3 ferrets, a cat, a rabbit, a parakeet, and fish. And a job. And a husband. And I do volunteer work. And, yes, the demands from all sides *do* get stressful at times, and they do conflict at times. Sometimes the ferrets don't get enough attention, sometimes the kids don't get enough, sometimes I have to call in sick to work because someone needs to go to the dentist/doctor/vet, etc....but we all do the best we can, and in the LONG run, I don't feel that anyone is losing out. We don't have a lot of money, but there's a WHOLE LOT of love in this house. And the kids have learned the meaning of unconditional love from the animals. Frankly, I want my kids to grow up knowing that they aren't the center of the universe, and that other people's and animals' needs have to be considered. I make sure they understand the imact that littering, polluting, etc. have on the environment and on the animals. I make sure they understand that you *can't* drag a ferret by the leash. I make sure that the cat doesn't get picked up by his front legs, or that a younger sibling doesn't get smashed in the head with a toy. I spend a lot of time on this, and I'm usually supervising and preventing 3 or 4 accidents and injuries at the same time! Yes, it would be "easier" to have only one child (or one ferret) and keep things simple. Some days I think, "what was I thinking? Maybe I can just run away and hide somewhere until all the kids are grown?" (That thought is usually interrupted by me screaming "don't you *touch* that cat with those sticky hands!") But in the end, it's worth it. I'm raising sensitive, generous children with a great sense of responsibility and caring. It hasn't been easy, and it's not over yet. But it's valuable. Who ever said the important stuff would be easy? Think about it long and hard before deciding that babies and pets are mutually exclusive. Yes, you are right, for the first six weeks or so, the ferrets will be somewhat neglected. But you know what? That's TEMPORARY! Eventually, life stablilizes again and GOES ON. There does come a time when there's more to life than feed the baby, burp the baby, change the baby. And since a ferret lives 7-12 years, one or two months out of their lives won't dramatically change things for them in the long run. Also, to get through those first couple of months or so, it's possible to get a friend, teenage girl or boy, relative, etc. to help you with the baby and/or the animals. When we went through a difficult time here in 1999 (I was totally incapacitated for a while by a back injury), besides all the teenage girls who came to babysit the kids, we had a girl who came to clean the ferret cage and play with the ferrets. My kids could do the tasks of feeding and changing water, but needed help and supervision with other things. Just some things to think about. Take care, Chana Rosen [Posted in FML issue 3571]