I was very saddened to hear the P.J.'s ferrets horror story. Here is my personal P.J.'s experience, and some P.J.'s contact numbers. I was at Yorkdale Friday, after the 401 became a parking lot, and Nic and I were just coming back from a long hard day of negotiating with computer wholesalers. We opted to get off the highway for a while... Yorkdale *is* using shavings for bedding. I had a long, non-confrontational discussion with a staff member about this, and lost :-( Anyhow, the manager *will not* allow small animals to be bedded in other materials. On the staff member's part: she advised me that newspaper was toxic, and told an inquiring customer that a 20 gal aquarium was fine for a ferret home. This staff woman, incidentally, owned 3 ferts. P.J.'s Yorkdale is also selling a ferret food (Sunshine? something like that, in a can) which is about 20% protein and 12% fat. They also sell, and feed, Hagen. The ferts we saw were in a large octagonal tank with shavings, food and water bowls full of shavings, one ferretrail tube out of reach hanging from the tank top, and a ferretrail ball they used for sleeping. They were in the "small animal" department. Nic and I had planned to order a ferret through a store we support, but we played with the little guys for 45 mins, watched kid-monsters banging on all the tanks, scaring the animals, and listened to the staff...well, Nic went to the bank machine and had a name picked out for one of the ferrets by the time he came back. Thus, Curtis. I *know* the right thing to do is to encourage better care of pet store animals before supporting a store, but our hearts got trapped, and we were having a hard time leaving the fuzzies behind (They had already been there 2 weeks.) Yorkdale, to be fair, is not being intentionally malicious, and they do think that they are caring for the ferts properly. It would be nice if we could get together and send the stores some solid info. Curtis is a wonderful little weasel boy, healthy, a little jumpy but settling in. Dodge LOVES him. I do think Curt is going to grow up to be a great guy. I also don't want to poop on those people who have P.J.'s ferrets. After all, I am sure that they are receiving excellent care in their new homes. I kinda suspect, though, that P.J.'s customers should stand up and be heard, re: their feelings about fuzzy husbandry. My experience seems to show that the opinions of "one overzealous crazy ferret person" (Me ;-) ) is not going to change the store's opinions of ferret husbandry, even if I am calm and rational. On the other hand, Yorkdale used to have a great, knowledgeable reptile manager. He was breeding Dendrobates (poison arrow frogs) among other things; knew his stuff, cared about the herps...but left the store a few years ago. I learned that he had been having a running disagreement with the store manager re: care of the store herps. (I had seen animals on display myself, covered in mites and ticks, and once got a tick in a bag of mealworms!) There are also cockroaches in the store. Anyhow, the herp manager quit based on his losing battle. To be fair, I don't think that there is much stores can do about roaches However, ticks and mites on sale animals...!!!! I knew better than to buy from P.J.'s, and knew the status of the store. P.J.'s also sells "live rock" (ocean reef), something else I am not fond of. Usually I regularly visit stores, spending as much as 3 hours cruising around and making the staff nervous ;-) (I think they think I'm shoplifting...why does anyone spend that much time looking???) Anyhow, if you take the time to fully case a store, you will learn many things. Many voices are louder than one. While you at it, encourage the stores to carry Modern Ferret, Ferrets USA, and your fave ferret books (they generally only carry TFH, which I have a problem with, long story; and the Barrons books. I would love to see the Jeans book, FURO stuff, and others in there.) I have a business card here listing 11 stores, in Toronto (6), Boston (3), and Edmonton (2). TORONTO, CANADA: Yorkdale Scarborough Town Ctr 785-9991; fax 785-6041 296-0026; fax 296-0793 4750 Yonge @ Sheppard Sherway 225-2311; fax 225-7926 622-1173; fax 622-7284 Yonge-Eglington Ctr The Promenade 484-7077 764-FISH (Sorry, the card predates the 905/416 area code switch; I suspect that some of the mall may be 905, and Scarb. is.) BOSTON K-mart Plaza Saugus Assembly Sq. 233-4325; fax 231-3851 628-6688; fax 628-0510 259 Washington 326-6002; fax 326-4791 EDMONTON, CANADA West Ed Mall Kidsland Mall 444-PETS; fax 444-1343 436-PETS; fax 436-8561 regards, Lynn [Posted in FML issue 1486] [Posted in FML issue 1486]