It's not just a question on buying from a private breeder. It is also, as Joan stated, buying from a breeder that has tried to breed correctly for the health of their ferrets and not just for color or looks that win in a show ring. It's a vicious cycle, a breeder comes up with a type or/and color that wins, others see this and then want the same thing, breeders keep inbreeding for that look as that is what sells. In my humble opinion, it is not just genetics (I was extremely interested in the comment from the author of the stated genetics book) but also what lineage a breeder keeps adding into their stock. If a known defect becomes apparent and the breeder, and others with those lines, keep adding the same lines back into their stock just to get that special, blue ribbon look, then that is wrong. ** Breeding closely with proven healthy lines is not a problem. Breeding ferrets correctly can be extremely difficult at times due to the limited genetic pool especially in the US. So, when thinking of buying a privately bred ferret research the lines. Ask for the pedigree, look at how many ferrets appear repeatedly and how close. Think about the color, is it something that is a natural color or pattern that has been around for say 20 years or is it something that has been produced in the last ten years by many generations of inbreeding to get it. Go to public forums and ask questions about the breeders lines and others experiences. A quality breeder will be more than willing to spend time answering your questions and providing information. Some will say the only healthy ferret is a sable (not a black) and I disagree with that. While sables are the natural color (as well as albino) other colors can be healthy as long as the generations of the offspring have been proven as such and the cross breeding has been done correctly. Nancy Park FerrettownUSA.com Ferretown.com "There is no objective truth, only the truth that's established by power' Michael Crichton [Posted in FML 7431]