First of all, hello to everyone on the list from myself, John, my wife, Rebekah, and the real power behind the throne in our household, Alexander and Moxie. Shannon: We got Alexander a year ago last May (age 8 weeks), and at the time had no other pets, ferret or otherwise. We both worked away from the apartment, and gave him lots of love and attention in the morning and at night, but after about 5 months decided that he (and we!) needed another ferret around. I was a bit worried that Alexander would pay less attention to us with a new ferret. We got Moxie at the GCFA shelter; they spent their first night together in separate cages, but after that they insisted on sleeping together in pile. They play together, wrestle together (the classic matchup of speed and agility versus size and strength: Alexander outweighs Moxie by about 2:1, but she dances circles around him), sleep, eat and explore together. They also both seek out our attention. I think that Alexander might be a little less attentive to us since we've had Moxie, but he certainly doesn't ignore us, and his delight with his friend more than makes up for it. Maybe we've been lucky, but I would say get another one! Charlene: Now that you mention it, we just returned from a 3-week road trip (with the kids, of course) and found these disgusting gray wormlike things growing in a plastic bag of MF ferret diet that we had left behind at home. We reacted like you did and basically sterilized the apartment. Good to hear that we're not alone... [Posted in FML issue 1301]