More likely a nosey neighbor who looked right into the window with eyes or binoculars, or even more likely the landlords spotted or were told of the cat, used their key and saw the ferrets. We had trouble once because a little kid looked in our door mailslot and began shouting "SUKIE! THERE'S A SQUIRREL IN YOUR HOUSE!" till the apartment mgr came running. Given that darkness is something they are adapted for we fashioned ourselves two long and shallow cages to fit under our queen sized bed, and during the day in the hours we were away they thereafter were under there all nestled in a dark hide-away, safe and sound, sleeping. That was long while ago now, since we first moved into our own place in '85. >At 5:42 AM -0500 11/29/01, Automatic digest processor wrote: >The ferret I got from them Unfortunately was not a Marshalls. I asked 3 >different people including the Manager where they came from and they tried >to say Marshalls. I told them that He is NOT a Marshalls and to please >check where he came from. They said ohhh, then he came from this other >guy we use in Pennsylvania. Two of the other very large farms that exist are in PA, and at least one of the problems I mentioned earlier, also, for at least one of them. (Hey, one of those threatened to sue me months ago over nothing more than my quoting a minor thing which was not private, so I am being circumspect. That is a problem you won't encounter with MF; folks have used them as a scapegoat over and over while not doing squat to try to improve the rest of the farms as well and MF has fairly let them speak their say as I am sure the detractors will admit.) Of course, it may be that the distributor rather than the farm is in PA. There are some disreputable distributors and stores who have sold some very unhealthy, very inbred ferrets -- either not saying a source or giving a false claim of source to piggy-back on the advertising dollars of the farms. heck, someone (Sandi?) even ran into ones with dots that later began to come off drawn on their ears. That paperwork is important! You do know that in NJ we have LEGISLATED health-standards for petstore animals, don't you? A vet's letter sent on hospital letterhead to the Dept of Fish, Game and Wildlife (from which you have your $10 per household ferret permit) about the ferret's health will get action. Years ago a petstore had an infectious parasite in its carnivora stock which turned out to be in ferrets, cats, and dogs there. When they did nothing a vet statement got the state to inspect (and got them banned from selling any of those mammal types for six months while they were required to treat and find safe haven (in this seem to remember that it was a different store they owned that didn't have an infection) for the infected animals), and because they sold Marshall ferrets Marshall was also informed and they also imposed standards on them. We have just gotten our 20th ferret permit for 2002 (20 year ferret anniversary in June) and in those years have seen NJ FG&W do many good and fair things for ferrets including going to battle with towns that made false claims of non-safety, going after bad petstores, tracking unlicensed abusive breeders, speaking against anti-ferret legislation when someone tried to introduce that, and much more. Have seen the relevant branch of our heath dept. also help ferret folks with permits multiple times. Ditto Senator Walt Kavanaugh who had one in his extended family. The NJ FG&W addies (for permits and for getting action) are: Nongame; NJ FG&W CN 400, Trenton NJ 08625-0400, and Nongame; NJ FG&W, Hedgehaven Farm RR#1, Box 383, Rt 173 W Hampton, NJ 08827 The healthiest ferrets come from small and loving private breeders who keep extensive health and longevity records (which they can show you) and cull lines with problems from breeding. These are not necessarily the same ferrets that win shows; like show-lines of dogs, cats, horse, etc. there are some desired appearances that have been related to an assortment of health problems requiring special care over the years, from major circulatory defects, to deafness, to acrondoplastic dwarfism, to possibly shorter life-spans, to blindness, to faces too short for safe dental eruption, to... The absolutely worst ferrets come from inbreeding backyard breeders and those can be very, very, very, very unhealthy. Farms fall into the middle. [Posted in FML issue 3617]