To Melissa and Easel: After having had up to nine ferrets in one house, I think I can offer some insights on ferret introductions (though I never did introduce those nine all around :). Ferrets need to establish a pecking order. It may seem vicious to us, but this is the process they go through to set up a community among themselves. Sometimes it's no more than butt-sniffing. More often it's good hearty wrestling and chasing. Sometimes (as is the case with our Mithril and all Strange People and Animals) it involves biting hard enough to draw blood. When we introduced Mithy to the boys, we just mixed 'em up and let 'em go at it. There was a lot of squealing, and I confess I rescued my baby Sebastian a couple of times. Both the boys ended up with scabs on their necks, but it was a bigger deal to me than them. In the end, I never did quite figure out who ended up at the top of the pecking order because the fighting stopped suddenly, and there hasn't been a whiff of a dominance display since then. Since Easel is handicapped and a bit skittish, I recommend letting her wrestle with the incumbents for a few minutes a day under supervision. Maybe you can do it in a small room so they can bite her neck without too much chasing? Once they get past these introductions, I'm willing to bet that they will become affectionate, possible even maternal toward her. Good luck! How many ferrets to get? I have three and I would say that is enough for any family where most people work a lot. I wouldn't get more than three if you are a student, have small children, travel a lot, or have any other committments that would interfere with your obsession with ferrets. <G> The cleaning up is a big issue. Ferrets are said to evacuate every three hours, so if you do the arithmetic, that's eight eliminations per ferret, per day. Try to decide how many of these you want to clean up. And remember that some of these will be diabolically hidden every day. Two is a pretty easy number to handle. One is very easy, but as they say, an only ferret is a lonely ferret. Also consider medical costs--not just vaccinations, but emergencies. The more ferrets you have, the more likely it is you'll get nailed with a big vet bill. You don't want to have to choose between selling your car and saving your ferret's life. And finally, a cute observation: We frequently take the ferrets on trips with us, especially to "Grandma's" where they are given waaayy too many raisins and bananas and dates and watermelon and cantaloupe and...and... Well, I noticed that when I got the travel basket out Saturday and said "Sebastian, Mortimer, come on! Let's go to Grandma's!" they woke up from a sound sleep and crawled into the basket where it sat on the floor. Mithril hasn't been with us as long, so I don't think she's made the connection. How cute! Mortimer did the same thing when we said "Come on Mortier. Let's go see the nice vet lady!" He hopped right in the basket. Mortimer update: He has surgery today. We'll know better what's wrong with that kidney by the end of the day. Bests, Catherine [Posted in FML issue 1673]