Hi All! I hope everybody is doing great and your weasels are all healthy! I thought I would post about my fuzzies and how they became MY fuzzies. In October & November of 2001 both of my ferrets died (long story, not for today). I was devastated and swore off ferrets until I could live outside of a FF zone and have vets that knew what they were doing. In my search for wisdom and answers I found the FML. I found the FML one hour before my last ferret would be going to the emergency vet and not coming home alive. After reading the FML for 11 months on a daily basis there it was. I was frozen with fear. The ad I knew would someday cross this list and I would have to pass or act. Ferrets that were near me, not 3000 miles across the country. >Subject: i have ferrets for adoption > >i have 4 ferrets,...." I was happy, glad, sad, completely unaware of what my decision would be. I waited to see if others would adopt a family of four but no one came forward. So I did. It ended up that I adopted 5. They had other ferrets they were going to keep but the one tiny girl had lost all her tail hair and was adrenal. They asked if I would take her too because they couldn't afford the surgery. So home she came with me. It turned out to be a 7 hour round trip to go get them. What a ride! The girls got in a fight and I had to hold the adrenal girl on my lap the whole way home. She was such a love. Just laid there lying to me that she would be a snuggle bug. Now as a healthy fert I MIGHT get a nose kiss once a week other than that she has NO time for a mom! (unless a treat is involved) HA! HA! They had been very well taken care of. He just didn't have any time for fuzzies anymore. They came with everything a ferret could need. I had just been fired from my night job so I had time but didn't know if I could afford them without a second job. You know, the double edged sword thing. Two girls and three boys. I had never had a boy ferret before. They were kind of sweet though. Ages 4 months to 2 years. All colors. What a zoo. The albino ones' eyes scared me, but just for about 3 seconds. His name is Fuzzy and it took him the longest to adjust to the move, probably a good six months before he felt at home. He was also the oldest. Baby was the youngest. A little silver mitt lady. Pixie was the tiny DEW adrenal girl. Pecan a handsome cinnamon boy was/is a real lover. Then to add to the mix a deaf blaze boy with a crooked tail named Titus. We made a great family the 6 of us. They are all free roam as much as I am free roam. I kept in touch with their previous owner and gave an occasional health update when one would have to make a trip to the vet. After about 6 months he had asked me if I could take two more ferts (they belonged to his brother but lived in the same household) but I said "No" but a friend of mine was interested. Then his brother decided to keep them. Another 5 months passed and he decided to put them up for adoption but my friend was now not in a position to take the other two. He posted once again to the FML. "two boys and a girl need a home" No one was really interested. We waited a while. No takers. So, they came to live with me. They joined the rest of their family that they had been with before. It was really cool that they could come and be with the rest of their business that they had been separated from. When we put them together I was scared that their would be fighting. I at least expected some dooking and dancing. NOPE! Those brats acted like they had never been apart. No real butt sniffing or anything. They just played like it was any other day. They have all slept together since the first night. Now, how lucky am I! So now let me introduce the rest. A new fat sable girl named Dee Dee. A big silver mitt boy missing a front tooth named Monty and last but not least a skinny weasel love that goes by Diablo. He is anything but a devil! Sleeps with me all the time. Well, I wish I was a better writer and able to make this all "perty" sounding and exciting to read but I don't have that talent. But now you all know how my "eight is enough" ferrets became MY ferrets. So there is my FML fairy tale ending for those of you who need to know that good things come from this list! Loves and Hugs, Mary Jo [Posted in FML issue 4346]