Being a wildlife biologist and having worked thru school in a vertebrate museum, I had seen and raised all kinds of domestic and wild critters over the years. My wife, a now retired RN, worked night shift at a local hospital in CA and some of the other nurses there had ferrets. Unbeknownst to me, she arranged to have a new kit brought into our household. She prefaced his arrival by saying to me."I have found you the perfect pet". Thus, Bubba arrived on the scene to our household of 4 cats. 8 to 10 weeks old and from a local breeder, It was love at first sight and since I am a rather hyper (read that as Ritalin kid) person to start with, this new member of the weasel family fit right in. His daily antics kept me in hysterics as he grew up to be a very large, handsome, loving dark sable boy. He traveled everywhere with us in CA (yes I knew they were illegal to keep and harbor, but so #$%^&* what!), even to the Mojave desert on vacation. His favorite spot was on the dashboard stretched out on his back. I still have pics of him on a leash poking his head into every Kangaroo Rat hole in the desert dunes. The learning curve was steep and he kept us busy and on our toes teaching us about their wily ways. Soon he was joined by Bodie (the ghost) and Blizzard, our first DEW. From there, the tribe kept growing until we, acting as rescue and safe harbor for illegal "aliens" in CACAland had more than 16 sharing our home. We both became heavily involved in the legalization fight and spent years trying to educate legislators, Fish and Game personnel and judges just how wrong the law in California really is. Finally the situation grew too dangerous in California and we both retired and moved to the ferret friendly state of AZ where we currently are owned by 4 fuzzies and 2 catz. Putorius and the fab 4 [Posted in FML 8170]