In a past nematode study killing off reproductive (germ) cells increased lifespans by 60% but in a current study (June "Aging Cell", Carey ,et al at UC Davis) on mice the opposite happened when transplanting in youthful (2 month old) ovaries instead increased lifespan, with the greatest gain for the mice who were the oldest at the time of transplant (11 months age at transplant gave around a 60% increase in remaining life compared to being without ovaries from age 3 weeks, and a 40% lifespan increase compared to those who never lost their ovaries. 8 month old mice (at transplant) lived about 24% longer than without ovaries, and 5 month old mice (at transplant) lived about 7% longer than being without ovaries. Now, does this hold for other mammals? that isn't known. If so, may it be that there might be hormonal approaches eventually which increase ferrets' lifespan? It remains to be seen. (If so, the maximum gain talked about appears to be about a year in terms of ferret lifespans which is quite a gain; with the maximum being like a 50 year old human woman being able to expect to live to 92 instead of 80. I am hoping this one winds up being readily available in full text for reading on Hubmed http://www.pmbrowser.info/ in the future; right now there is a write up in "Science News". (Of course in places where ferrets are or need to be non-mated and indoors there are worse risks to leaving a ferret whole, and it is interesting that the whole mice didn't live as long as the early neutered mice who later got ovarian tissue in their older years.) Speaking of endocrinology and hormones (also the topic in the darkness and melatonin thing) our vet said that one veterinary research speaker at the recent exotics conference (Sorry but I forget her name.) has some new research indicating that Lupron shots at low levels given about the normal yearly time of ferrets going into heat may decrease adrenal neoplasia, so Joe (our vet, Joe Martins of Bellemead AH in central NJ) wants us to try that next Spring for our crew. The downtime for Smartgroups has been postponed so if you need some of the files in the FHL you still have time in which to get those (heads up to the dysuria person). New down dates are not announced yet. See Pam's note (which is how i found out) at http://www.smartgroups.com/message/readmessage.cfm?gid=1423922 &messageid=5044&startid=5047 When a middle or old age ferret changes and becomes aggressive think of health, esp. adrenal growths, as a possible cause and get a vet check. Carefully avoid violence as a response; it usually backfires. Stick to one form of non-violent corrective method like times out. Trying a variety, especially over a short time, causes confusion in the individual instead of teaching. http://guide.labanimal.com/guide/search.html Wow, Alicia, you found 22 places there that sell ferrets for research purposes. Yesterday in a Lycopene study I found another: Charles River Breeding Laboratories. Wonder how many more there are? James, I guess that your finding that MF only sells 1% of their stock for research purposes explains why there are now so many other places selling ferrets for that use, some apparently entirely for that use. (And folks should another time remember to look elsewhere at who raises them for fur -- not joking, but don't assume who since the usual scapegoat farm does NOT do this, but according to one midsized farm another similar sized farm (which does supply for research as well as pet industry) also bred ferrets for fur a few years back (though I don't know if it still does.) You write, "Retired breeders are often sent out to shelters to adopt.... I would be interest to know if any shelters on the list have been recipients of such rescues." I don't know which ones of those are on now but when it was first arranged they were on the FML, yes. I know because i was a go-between helping set that program up with the goal to avoid even the few who needlessly lost life before there were adoptions outside the MF community. In fact, Pete Reid was the main one there who saw to it that this program began. Using those numbers can get the inspection info, but it might still be by snail mail. I don't have the addy. Also, yes, I HAVE seen MF and our FG&W BOTH force a small pet chain that treated its ferrets badly to change in major ways when I sent them documentation. [Posted in FML issue 4182]