I got my first ferret in the early 80's. My daughter was working at a lost pet registry, and someone called asking if she wanted a ferret. She called me and I said "sure" knowing nothing about ferrets except they are cute. It was a male, with no name and no clue as to how old he was. He turned out to be fairly young as he lived a number of years. We didn't know that if you got him neutered, he wouldn't smell that way. So, every morning when I got in the shower, so did "Fagen" with his baby shampoo. He loved his shower and every time he heard water he came running. Doing dishes was fun with him trying to climb your leg the whole time. The first night I had him, I locked him in a carrier, never thought of a cage. When I let him out in the morning....he came flying out and nipped me. He was never confined again. The first time he happy danced, I thought he was attacking, until he fell backwards off the bed and kept dancing. He slept in the laundry basket in my closet, ate cheap cat food that came in a blue generic box from the grocery store and used the cat litter box. We gave him raisins and cheerios for treats, and fed him table scraps of all kinds. I smoked at the time and had a big ashtray in the middle of the coffee table that he loved to curl up in. Didn't matter to him if it was clean or not. It is amazing that he was as happy and healthy for so many years as he was. Fagen (the little thief from Oliver Twist) taught me many lessons. The most important one is to love ferrets, and still have them in my life today. -- Pat BAby Everything will be alright in the end! If it's not alright, it's not the end. [Posted in FML 8054]