Information- Mailing money/gifts to Australia, Tasmania etc. (solution found at end of post!) Long post, but I did some searching and it was suggested I share the information with the FML since we may get other cases of overseas rescues posting to the FML. Re sending money: I first looked into sending money out of the US at my local US Post Office (International Money Orders) and got "Huh? We don't know about international money orders". So I checked with my bank and talked to a teller who was pretty helpful. She mentioned that doing a transfer to the Australian/Tasmanian bank would be fairly easy (I had done that when I bought the "ferret color coat book") if I got the routing number of the recipient's bank. She said Western Union (the other option) would probably need the same information. I checked and found that yes, Western Union needs your bank's routing number and then they also charge a fee for sending the money. Using my bank directly seems better (they charge a small fee as well) since that seems to be what Western Union uses anyway. In both cases you have to ask the recipient for their routing number so that the money goes directly bank to bank. I emailed Van Deman ferrets and asked if they wished to send a routing number. I'll let you know how that works out. Also, I looked at the only Australian ferret site I could find and did not see an online commercial ferret store of the kind we have here, but I did see items that had been imported and were available in Australia/Tasmania online at <http://www.ferretshop.com.au/>http://www.ferretshop.com.au/ However, even if gifts go to Australia they then have to be shipped/flown to Tasmania from the mainland. Tasmania is a beautiful island (home of Tasmanian devils and the now extinct Tasmanian tiger) and is an hour away from Australia by plane. So, I bought 4 light but sturdy shallow boxes in my local Postal Annex and decided to pack them with soft sacks/ tunnels and a few toys and treats and send them to Tasmania. The Postal Annex guy said everything goes by air - they don't send by ships anymore - that takes months!! He said they would get to the destination by Christmas. I checked the ferret sites here in the US: Ferret.com does ship overseas - minimum order of $150 which is reasonable assuming the hassle they have to go to ship internationally, but the warnings are several - lots of good info and also this :- "Restrictions" Some items sold by Ferret.com cannot be shipped internationally due to import restrictions or size; for example pet food and products containing animal by-products cannot be shipped internationally" Ferret depot has the following more detailed information: "International Shipping Information: Shipment to all countries is by USPS only. Shipping and insurance charges will be determined when the order is processed by connecting to the USPS website to get the most up to date rates based on the weight of the products ordered and the shipping destination. All USPS packages are insured. Larger International orders requiring shipping quotes may take 2-3 days to process. In some cases due to Postal Service package size and weight restrictions to some International countries, additional packages are necessary to process/ship the order completely. This may create additional shipping charges to cover the cost of the extra packages. If necessary, you will be notified of the additional amount needed to process the order. Upon your approval, the additional amount will be charged to your order and then processed/shipped. Customer is responsible for all taxes and duties that will be collected at the time of delivery. International Shipping Methods & Estimated Shipping Times: Shipping Method/Estimated Shipping Time: Priority Mail International 6 - 10 business days (After day processed), Express Mail International 3-5 business days (After day processed). These are the United States Postal Service's estimated delivery times." ---------------------------------------------------------------- So summarizing, I guess I could have just picked stuff from the two stores (and probably Dr Foster and Smith) but with a minimum purchase in one case, and probably a weight issue for any store in terms of shipping costs it makes more sense in my case to send a boxes of goodies by the local mail services. Shipping food would be darned expensive. BTW I noticed no UK requests from ferret lovers on the FML site. As an ex Brit who left South Wales/UK in the 1970's I thought I'd check about ferret food there - and found lots of UK ferret food available - James Wellbeloved, Vitalin, Merlins, Alpha, Chudleys, and Science Selective -- which has a nice website (<http://www.supremepetfoods.com/furries/ferrets/>) I also checked the UK for ferret rescues and found a great website: <http://www.britishferretclub.org.uk/> which has rescues listed for the UK, lists of ferret clubs and information on housing (you can buy Ferret Nation and Marshall's cages in the UK) and keeping ferrets. Lots of interesting information and it sounds as though ferrets there now have a great network of ferret enthusiasts! PS just got an email from Nicole the Tasmanian ferret owner and she suggested PayPal - I think that may work - I will let everyone know when I have given it a try! Meryl [Posted in FML 7273]