Ferrets have extremely particular predilections in food, due mainly to the phenomenon of olfactory imprinting. By the time a ferret is 3 months old much of their food preferences are set, by 6 months they are almost entirely set, and by a year dietary inclinations have been "hard-wired" in the brain. Regardless, taste enrichments have value to stimulate the ferret even if the presented treats are not accepted as food. The goal is not to teach the ferret that particular taste enrichments are supposed to be a meal, but rather to stimulate the sense of taste (although giving favored foods is also enrichment). When Moose was declining in health and near death, he was too weak to enjoy physical enhancements, but those that he could participate in included taste and visual enrichments. Here Moose is sampling beef jerky paste (homemade beef jerky blended with beef broth and Nutrical) while being bopped with a feather toy. http://homepage.mac.com/billgruber/fml/taste.html [Note: image is large -- apx 5.3MB BIG] Bob C [Posted in FML issue 4209]