To Sukie Crandall: Ah-sight-ees is spelled "ascites" and means fluid buildup. To Chris and Rick: There are plenty of oldies out here - I have 8 five-year-olds, 2 four-year- olds; and then my young'uns: 2 three-year-olds and 3 two-year-olds. Of course, there are the new babies who are 8 weeks old today (Happy Birthday kids!) and STILL with me - today they get their first vaccine, another in 3 weeks, and then they'll be ready to go. They've been eating hard food for a while, but I've just now stopped breaking the pieces in half (boy have my fingers been sore from doing that several times a day!). They're eating like little pigs and growing like weeds! To aid in litter training, I wanted to confine them somewhat (a "room" is a big place for a baby ferret), so our shelter director gave me her playpen! This works great! It's big enough to put a litter pan in there along with some toys, a tunnel tube, a carpeted T-P, and they have plenty of room to run around and play. This is *much better* than giving them full range of the living room - and they can safely play in there even when I'm cleaning. I think a playpen or something similar is a "must" for every breeder. Each time I do this, I learn something new......hmmm.....seemed to have gotten off the oldies - they're starting to somewhat slow down - the 3 water babies don't get into any trouble anymore, although they still chew blankies and towels, paper, etc, so I watch them like hawks, all the 5 year olds tend to sleep more than they used to - which may be why there aren't so many stories about the older kids - they tend to settle down at this age (I know there's always the exception!) and not get into as much trouble as the younger ones. Debbie Riccio WNYFLFA/DJR Ferrets Rochester, NY [Posted in FML issue 1605]