Hi Everyone, I am happy to say that out of the rescue moms and the 18 babies, we have 7 left for adoption. I have 5 sable males and 2 sable females. They were both on 5/17/04 and 5/18/04. They will be ready to go to their homes about mid-august. This past weekend I got a call from a friend of mine who works at Petsmart who said that a gentlemen came in looking for two kits to go with his other two kits he got from a petstore. I took down the number and called him. The man seemed nice, he had worked for another pet store for many years and always owned ferrets. The two kits he took in were 6 weeks old (Marshall Farm Babies). Now the Pet Store (with which he quit because of situations like these), didn't care if they lived or died because Marshall's sent them to the store with no food or water and recently altered (maybe a week prior). Their incisions were infected and they were severely dehydrated. The man seemed genuinely nice. He had those two for 6 weeks and he wanted 2 more. He wanted rescues that needed a good home (which is always nice when people want to take a rescue) and he wanted the kits to each have a play mate. I explained to the gentlemen that situation with the Canadian kits and that they can go to their new homes when they are 12 weeks or old after they got their three distemper shots. Depending on the size of them when they hit 8 weeks (if they aren't the size they should be, etc.) then I do it when they hit 9 weeks. I also told him that the babies are unaltered and as such since he wanted two, I only felt comfortable giving him two boys (to prevent an accidental pregnancy) and the babies could not be altered before 6 months and when altered he gets an alter rebate of $25 with proof of neutering. The man got real quiet and said that he understood about the two males though he would have liked to have two and two. Now are all probably thinking where is this going. Well this is where I got upset....The man asked me what color they were and when I told him that they were sable, the man told me that he didn't want those ones...... he wanted a pretty one. I told him color shouldn't matter if the ferret is a pet because the personality should matter. Also most times the ferrets choose their champions. So I told the man that he would need to get the ADV testing done on the ferret before I would even attempt to introduce any other ferret to his own. The man told me that he would not spend the money to test them if I was only offering him sables and he was told that I had other colors. I explained to him that there were not many chocolates and only 1 cinnamon and 1 albino and they were all taken within 2 weeks. But it upset me that the man thought the sables weren't pretty. So many people I have talked to have told me that they thought sables were ugly or that they didn't want it because it was sable. Well some of my favorites are sables. I have other colors too but they all have certain personalities. He was not the only one I talked to. I also got an email from a woman on this post who told me she didn't want sables because they were nasty. It pains me that these ferrets are being judged before they are given a chance. They are all so sweet and beautiful. I cannot help that they are sable. But they need homes too. Babies are expensive to take care of and if not for that I would give them to good homes but as a shelter, I cannot take that huge of a loss. I am pulling money out of my own pockett for these babies and it doesn't matter to me that I am hurting my credit, I just want them to go to good homes but there is an adoption fee. I have been flamed offline for advertising the babies for adoption. Now I don't know if they are new people or not. Of course i am going to throughly check them over and make sure that a baby is right for them. Most people got pet store babies (sometimes raptors) and went through the stage and understand it. Others have never had a baby baby. I interview these people and find out their experience. If I didn't think they were right, they I won't adopt. It's as simple as that. I have talked to several really nice people on this post that expressed and interest and might still be thinking about it or are adopting. I post here becuase you are all previous or current ferret owners or might know someone interested in adopting. Everyone gets interviewed before taking the baby. Some of you I know but I still have them sign agreements and I still ask questions. Right now if not for my two sub shelters, I would have to impose on other shelters to take in rescues. Right now I cannot take any more rescues in until these babies are placed or go to their new homes. I feel bad but I need the cage space. The worst part is that the one humane society thought the one mom had an adrenal. I can't help but think what would have happened if she had given birth there, the babies might not have made it because she had litter complications. But the babies are healthy and getting very big. So please no more flames on or off the post. I am tired to explaining why I am charging an adoption fee, why I am trying to adopt the kits before from rescue moms, etc., etc., etc. Any shelter that has had to deal with babies, can tell you that it's a lot of work and especially when you take in two and end up with 20. Even more so when you try to limit your rescues to less than 25 and in one leap you go over that. So if anyone is interested, please let me know, you can email me at [log in to unmask] Everyone thank you for listening and thank for your time. Have a happy 4th of July! Sincerely, Dawn Smith, Vice President Legion of Superferrets [Posted in FML issue 4559]