Every Friday I meet my grandparents halfway between our homes to drop off my son for the weekend while I work. In the shopping center/area where we meet is a pet store. Most of the time when we meet I have a while before I have to be at work, but not enough time to go home and do anything so I wander around the stores and on occasion end up in the pet store. Yesterday I went in and was saddened to see 10 ferrets cramped into a rabbit cage (I'm not sure of the exact dimensions, but it looked to be about 2x2 and about a foot or a foot and a half tall) The had a J feeder with food in it and one of the balls in it for them all to sleep in. (the ones with like 4 holes in it. I forget what they're called) Anyway, at first head count I counted 8. I got one of the girls in the store to open the cage for me and I found three other fert owners in the store to help me rile them up a bit and play with them. (that's when I realized there were 10!) Anyway. One of them seems to be older. A fat boy and my guess is about 6 months maybe. (If anyone has a dental chart that shows how to age a fert by their teeth PLEASE send it to me or let me know where to find one!) The others were so teeny. They fit in the palm of my hand. Of course most of them weren't used to being held and were nippers and I explained to the girl that if they weren't handled and allowed to excersise they wouldn't make good pets. I also explained ferret shelters to her and some of the reasons people abandon/give up the ferrets they get from the pet stores. I'm no expert on ferts. (I'm always wishing I knew more...) But I thought that maybe some of the more experienced fert owners here could help me get this store to provide a better environment for the ferrets there. I'm sure some of them were probably taken from their mothers too early (they purchase their ferts from MF) I just felt so awful having to return them to that horrible cage. The employee there was amazed that my two are free roam and I pointeed to the two corners that they were primarily using to potty in and mentioned that if they put litter boxes in those corners the ferrets could be litter trained, which would not only make it easier for the employees to clean out the cage, but it would benifit the potential owners as well. There was one girl that was so darned tiny and sweet that I thought about her all night... I'm SO tempted, but right now I'm playing phone tag with an owner that wants to surrender her two 2y/o ferts and would have a tough time convincing my fiance that five ferrets aren't a whole lot more than 2... LOL It's not like my two don't get into enough mischief themselves. (In fact Kiki is bound for the bathtub this morning after sneaking into the secret room off the bedroom. It's an old house with all sorts of nifty stuff built into it... unfortunately the door to the secret room is only accesable through a dusty attic closet and the actual door is only about 2 feet high- big enough for a fert, but kind of cramped for us. So our little dust bunny is getting a good scrubbin. She looks so darned cute when she's walking around looking like she hasn't been doing anything bad. It's the all grey coat that gives her away though...) The pet store's information is: Uncle Bill's Pet Center 4829 West 38th Street Indianapolis, IN 46254 317-291-3344 So to recap the facts (for those who are going to quote me- don't want any confusion here) There are 10 ferrets, most are VERY young looking, in a cage with wire flooring that is too small that get no excercise or human interaction except when customers ask to handle them. Several are nippers. I attribute it to their young age and they don't bite hard enough to break the skin, but the potential is there. One is determined to nip at any part of the body that gets close to her. They have food and a water bottle, but only a large ball to sleep in (which takes up most of the cage). Thanks in advance for any help you can provide on this issue! Have a wonderful day! Melissa [Posted in FML issue 4088]