RE: The Female Ferret at the Store With Portnoy That little girl ferret at the store with Portnoy sounds a lot like Knuks was when we got her. Boy did she bite hard! We took her home anyway and within a couple of days she had calmed down immensely. The store had been feeding her dog kibble that she couldn't even get her tiny mouth on! We noticed that she bit hardest when she was hungry. I hope that little ferret finds a home where the people understand how to take care of her. Knuks is the *most* affectionate ferret we have. I never would have guessed it from first seeing her. Lots of love makes a big difference. RE: Muzzles I agree with Debbie Riccio (and Jeanne S. &...)--a muzzle would send a negative message to the public. People associate the need to muzzle an animal with that animal being vicious. We bring our kids with us to store promotions for the magazine and have had no problem. We have to deal with people telling us how terrible it is for us to keep these "wild" animals in a cage. And how they bite all the time. How they "turn" on you. It would prove all those people correct if we showed up with muzzled ferrets. If you're concerned about your ferrets and strangers, don't bring your ferrets with you. OR, just offer the back of the ferret for people to pet. People can see how sweet ferrets are by how they interact with you. Mary Sabrina, Ralph, Marshmallow & Knuks PS: Denise--I'm not _that_ young : - ). The B/W photo really helps. Actually, I'm 31. [I'm not old, either! ;->.] [Posted in FML issue 1155]