I will try to answer ( or at least partly answer two posts here as they are similar. 1/Snubnoses ( and other breeding issues) >I am curious, though. What is the special reason for not breeding with >any forshortening of the facial bones, or changes in skull shape which I >guess would be done to make a snub-nosed ferret? Snub-nosed animals suffer from a variety of problems, such as respiratory problems,difficulty breathing, dry mouth, jaws too small for all their teeth to fit in, bad eyesight, bad eyes, eyes which do not fit in the sockets correctly and can often be "popped" out during a fall, or injury, or in some cases even a bad sneeze, difficulty eating, jawbones which dislocate easily etc etc etc I can go on and on.... but I think you get the point..and they are only the "surface" issues, in order to create such deformities, the line is usually inbred and has a host of other problems as well. 2/ Angoras The Angora ferret was a freak mishap, and a fluke of nature... or if you like a spontaneous mutation (note: in a SINGLE ferret family), unfortunately to continue and enhance this genetic fluke the ferrets would have had to have been inbred with ferrets of the same line in order to perpetuate the gene responsible.. leading to associated problems which are always created by inbreeding.... at this point in time there seems to be enough stock, to reintroduce other ferret lines into the angora line, in order to strengthen the line and remove any other problems the line may have (I understand there is a big push on to do this..) see http://www.ferret-universe.com/angora/index.asp as a starter, but I am sure someone can point you to a site which lists the problems more thoroughly Darrin [Posted in FML issue 4680]