The Moorehouse University Ferrets have arrived (17 whole ferrets -- 10 males, and 7 females -- ages 3 to 6 yrs old) !!! Juliana brought them all home last evening. She knew that she would be too busy to write, and asked that I give you an update. Of course, most research oriented people won't be surprised by how they were living, but I was. They lived in a room the size of a normal bathroom with cages lining both walls. Wall, cages, and floors were all white, extremely sterile environment. Technicians wore white ty-vech suits, and gloves. Their cages were empty except for the big red ball (with three holes) that they slept in (all had red balls), absolutely no bedding and the lighting was red lights full time. Not how most of us keep our fuzzies ... right?? Juliana wanted to thank the 4 volunteers (Maria, Flo (my niece), and Margaret) that were able to work their schedules to help her on short notice. Maria, Flo, and I started the first shift, and Margaret and Juliana finished about 3:00 AM. I must tell you that these sweet fuzzies were petrified to come out of their carriers -- they had never been on a floor before, and were afraid of every sound. Most of them were so terrified that they would bite before you could even get close to them -- attitude of bite first ask questions later. Quite a few have rat tails which could be from being whole fuzzies, or early adrenal. One of the little guys (#6 I believe) is showing definitely adrenal signs. But only time will tell. They have the longest nail I have ever seen on a ferret. Because of not having bedding they all will need to have baths -- all of them are orange/red from the extra oils. We are will attempt the nails and bath when they are more acclimated to their new world. When we put them into their cages, and they didn't know what to do with themselves. The cages are the two-story type and they didn't know how to get up the covered ramps, or even what sleep sacks, and hammies were. It was sooo sad, it just made me want to cry ... . I can't imagine how Juliana's does this. She took off a week of vacation from work to handle this large influx into the shelter. We are a small shelter, and this is the biggest operation we have ever done. The whole time we were trying to get these new fuzzies into their cages, and also do the other cages and let those out to play .... Juliana was fielding telephone calls left and right. Some wanting to adopt with lots of questions, some wanting to surrender their ferret (and her giving them ideas to help with keeping them), and another where a ferret is extremely sick in a pet store and which authorities to call. Of course, with us asking her questions about how she wanted the cages set up and fix to accommodate so may new fuzzies. She still took the time to gently persuade these fuzzies out of the cage in between all of this. I felt like there were 20 balls in the air and 100 more on the ground to juggle. And by the way, Juliana is extremely allergic to whole ferrets!!!! AND boy, could I smell them on my after I left her house!! I called Juliana this AM (didn't know about the really late night, and woke her up) to check on the status. Seems they definitely were busy after she went to bed. Newspaper (for pooping) shredded and all over cages, food bowls total dug out, and most of the fuzzies are sleeping on the first floor mat, and not in the hammies or sleep sacks. Looks like there will be quite a long adjustment for these babies. This weekend we are having our schedule Ferret Meet Up, and after lunch we will be going to the shelter to see if we can give them baths, ear cleaning and nail clipping. Only two of these ferrets have names, the other 15 only have numbers (don't know the story about this), but we will be putting their pictures and information up on Petfinder as soon as we can so that you can see these sweet babies and have an opportunity to sponsor them if your heart leads you that way. People have inquired about the cost of spaying, neutering, and shots. Right now with the shelter discount the prices are as follows (we are still checking for better prices): Neutering - $40.50 Spaying - $70.50 Rabies Shots - $8 Also there will be a cost for Melatonin Implants If anyone is interested in fostering, or adopting in the Atlanta area, or transporting nearby, please let us know. We know this will be an ongoing process for us, and will let everyone know as thing progress. One happy tear jerking moment -- After getting 4 sets into their cages, we heard some sounds from the first cage. The little lady had discovered the hammie (only the top part, yet) and was doing a bit of a dance and rub on it. It only lasted for a moment, but it made my heart glad that they were here with us instead of the college's other option. I'm sure that I might have missed something; so if you have any questions, please ask. Warm fuzzies, Florence Love [Posted in FML issue 4595]