Heather you made many good points about pet store ferrets, however........... I have 5 that came from small breeders, one so small she only had one ferret, the mom. And she was only bred once a year. Three of mine came from her. They are only 3 years old & one just recently had adrenal surgery where his left gland was removed & 2/3rds of his right. One from another breeder is terminal with liver disease & another from a 3rd breeder had his left adrenal gland removed & 2/3rds of his right, plus he has Insulinoma & isn't doing too good. These kids get the best care I can give them, they get good food plus chopped & ground chicken every day. They get to go outside to play & dig in a big sand box, weather permitting. Since I live in Fl they are more limited to outside play because of the heat of course. I have a very good friend in the UK that as far as I know has never had a pet store ferret & she has lost several due to different diseases. Yes there are some people that do have pet store ferrets & ferrets from small, private breeders that both do very well & live long wonderful lives & others that have health problem after health problem & cost thousands of dollars & a lot of heartbreak. I am not saying you are completely wrong, just saying that you are not completely right. *S* I do think that a lot of the heath problems of pet store ferrets are due to the mass production of them & hopefully some day that can be changed for the better. But I sure cannot say that only the ferrets I have that came from pet stores or large breeders are the only ones with health problems. I almost wish I could since when I got the guys that came from the small breeders, I thought that they would not be having these problems & now they are. Lynn & Clan War Weasels & War Weasels Refuge [Posted in FML issue 3764]