Hi all, PHEW! I just finished reading all of the archived messages of the FML, and now I'm ready to subscribe. I got interested in ferrets a few years ago after reading about them on rec.pets in usenet. Then I found out about the FML list and archives. Now I am reading as much as I can about ferrets in anticipation of eventually acquiring a few. I don't know when I will get any because I can't afford a ferret environment setup right now, and more importantly my girlfriend and I have guinea pigs, which I know don't mix too well with ferrets. If anybody has any experience with keeping ferrets and cavies at the same time, I'd like to hear about it. Thank you all for the excellent information and thoughtful discussion you've provided in the FML! I hope I'll someday be able to contribute some information of my own. All I can contribute now is this possibly interesting bit of fluff: a few months ago I asked my father (a PhD veterinary microbiologist) what he knew about ferrets, and he said he had heard that they bite all the time and that they have to be given live chicks for food and that they don't make good pets. He doesn't have any direct or research experience with ferrets, but it's scary that this kind of information gets passed around the veterinary community as "fact." Extra thanks to all of you who are working hard to get real information about ferrets out to the general public. Kirk; Red and Luxo Jr. (cavies); {this space reserved for ferrets} uunet!telenet!penguin!kpearson or [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask] P.S. If anyone in the northern VA area (preferably near Sterling or Reston) has some loaner ferrets (with cages and bowls, etc.) I could borrow for a weekend or a week, please let me know. Thanks! [Posted in FML issue 0470]