My name is James and I am a long time lurker on the fml. About Hagen and their woodchips: I too bought the starter kit that they provide when my brother and I bought our first ferret and I must admit that I wasn't too satisfied with it. First off was their inclusion of wood chips as a litter, incidentally no pan was provided so I guess they expect us to use the shavings to cover the entire cage, but our bundle of hyperactive joy really didn't look too comfortable with it so we took a trip to a dollar store for pans and then to the pet store where we got our first batch of real litter (mentioned again later.) Some of the products were worth it: for instance the bottle and brand ferret food were much appreciated. All in all the kit was good, we still use that cage for our ever-increasing population of mustaelidae. Another thing about the package is a mail response survey that you can mail in to Hagen. The form had a few good questions but I'm not sure if the cedar shavings were mentioned. In return for the survey the company will mail you a little package of goodies, all though in mine was another of those big sturdy rubber balls which are ferrets tend to ignore and some "Cat Gems" ; a vitamin supplement that is supposed to give cats bright shiny eyes ? At least the company is interested in a consumer response. Hagen also has starter kits for various other pets, of course all ferret owners know that there is no need for other pets after ferrets 8) About the litter: My brother and I know use a brand of cat litter called "Yesterday's News." It is a recycled and recyclable newspaper product. I think that it is flushable as well but our plumbing is bad in our apartment so I don't try it. I wholly recommend Yesterday's News as our ferrets have had no problems adjusting to it, and they don't do anything too stupid like eat it ! Last thing for me is an announcement : We are the proud owners of our third little ferret. We recently acquired a Sable Female to accompany our other two women. Although we haven't chosen a name for our 2 month old baby, Trouble seems to be fitting so far. We bought her from a pet store in Sherway Gardens, Etobickoe (near Toronto) solely because she was sooooooo cute, we hadn't even considered BUYING a new ferret before seeing her playing with her brother who we had to leave behind :(, at a PJ's Pet store , the store I don't recommend because they couldn't give me any info. on the ferrets or their breeder. I tried finding a shelter for ferrets in the greater Toronto area but the only shelter/Human Society that could give me anything on ferret's gave me the wrong number twice ! If we could have found a shelter then we wouldn't have had to buy one. OK well that's all for this month, I hope everybody has a good day. Why don't we all take the day off tomorrow and pay some extra attention to our beloved :] Greetings from Iain Calico, Aries and the little one as well JAMES N [Posted in FML issue 1071]