Does anyone else thinkMarshalls is doing something different in raising their feres? I have seen them getting bigger and bigger, plus more friendly. I am not sure if the friendliness is due to excellent care and attentin of some of the store employess or if Marshalls is be training their ferrets to come to people and rise up to be greeted as soon as they see us. My next-to-last Marshalls purchase was Artie, a big grey fellow. I think that was about a year and a half ago, but am not at all sure. Have I lost a whole year in my sense of my own history?!? Rtirement certainly does change one's time perspective. Let's hope this is not just a great expansin of the famous Senior Moment.... At any rate, Artie is a fine ferret. He doesn't have a spectacular personality, but this now makes me think perhas he needs more individual attention. I do kow that he can get depressed. At one point household mattersm made me confine the ferrets (5 then) to their cage a great deal, and Artie definitely became depressed -- listless even whenhe was out. He soon came back to normal when I could release them to play again in the kichen for hours on end. My two two new Marshalls, Jonas and Eric, are very dear and interesting, and even when I first got them they were more attentive than I've ever seen before. I think Marshall's must be training their ferrets to come to people as soon as they see them. I got the two boys at stores abt 60 miles apart, and I believe their birth date ranges are a little different, so they probably aren't close relatives. Jonas was also into cuddling as soon as I got him, even though he was only abt 2 months old -- something I have never experienced before. Eric was also more cuddlesome than the others were when babies. J and E are also more vocal -- more dooking and chuckling. That can't be environment, of course. Also the two have physical characteristics in common -- fluffier fur than all of the others -- cd Marshalls have introduced some albino to get creatures that are more appealing to our eyes and hands? Not that they shouldn't do that, of course, all in all. Also, since buying Artie, I have seen many many more ferts in their shipments that are in the grey range with white stripes on their heads. Artie is this way, and the new ones have very pronounced head/neck stripes, w/ Eric being a tan guy and Jonas a grey one w/ black hairs mixed in. All three have white feet or toes. Of course these characteristics -- are they associated w/ any neural problems -- are breeding based?? J and E are also more vocal -- more dooking and chuckling. What happiness form e and them when they are doing the Dance of Joy! Anyway, I imagine this is mostly their own natures rather than selective breeding. But that wdn't be out of the question either. My earlier ones are what I, in my limited time in the fert world, consider more normal -- sable, albino, and chocolate, with short hair. Now that they are older -- Robert and Rico are the oldest born in Dec (I just looked at their birth dates!) -- they are more into cuddling, but realy only Robert and Rico seem to like it much. Ada, my albino girl, sometimes comes for a short cuddle, and Tina, my chocoalte runtie-girl, tolerates some. So anyway, I have donsidered this non-cuddling typical of kits till now. The other night I was sitting in one of the outdoor pens with all but the three hooligan baby-attackers, and Robert and Jonas climbed into my lap and went to sleep, and after a while Eric too. (More on cuddling in my next post -- we get three a day, if I remember -- if not, wd you save thelast one for tomorrow BIG?) So what expreiences have you all had with this? Do you see any changes in Marshall ferrets? [Posted in FML issue 5378]