Got some cool questions I thought I would share just to make you all feel grateful I was gone for so long! 1) Why does my ferret's color change from time to time? Good question. I think becuase they are just so spiteful that they change colors just to confuse those of us with more than two fuzzbuckets. Actually, most mammals have at least a slight color change between seasons, when shedding takes place. Usually the coat is lighter in winter and darker in summer. This is very pronounced in mustelids, especially in the weasels who can turn completey white in winter. Remember that ferrets are polecats, and polecats are weaselids. Canids, felids, and many rodents also turn white in the winter. My guess, and from watching my hoard I think it's true, is the colors tend to be darker in summer and lighter in winter, and the trait is a throwback to their nondomesticated ancestry. 2) Are ferrets really a danger to the California wildlife? Excellent question. Only if the wildlife is naked and dancing in bars. Ok, don't get in a huff. Ferrets are domesticated polecats, and have the potiential to become a problem. However, I also have the potiential of being hit by a comet tomorrow morning, so it doen't mean much. In nature, a niche can be filled by only one species. This rule is so rigid that in many predators (like polecats) the males are larger than the females, so they can fill slightly different niches and remain in the same area. The rule is, if two different species inhabit the same niche, one will either go extinct, move away, or change some aspect of the niche in order to make it different. Darwin also correctly pointed out that in a conflict for a specific niche, the better (or most fit) of the two species will win. For ferrets to become a problem in Ca-Ca land, they have to be a better predator than the local ones, which includes coyote, mink, several weasels, grey fox, and feral cats and dogs. No where else in the world has the ferret been able to take a niche over from these species, and in fact, the mink and the feral carnivores have managed to seriously deplete the polecat population in Great Britain. The question also ignores the fact that the ferret, after the polecat, is a smell-hunter rather than a sight-hunter. For example, cats, once they associate movement to prey to food, will hunt anything that moves. Ferrets will only go after those things that they recognize, by odor, as food, and birds don't smell like rats. Last, there is a big difference between feral populations and stray animals. Feral populations are basically self-sustaining, while strays are limited to the life span of the individual. Most ferrets are neutered, while most cats and dogs are not. To make the point, The Audubon Society's "Field Guide to North American Mammals" recognizes feral pig, goat, horse, sika, fallow and sambar deer, Barbary sheep, black rat, house mouse, Rhesus monkey, dog, and cat as feral or introduced mammals, but not a single mention of the ferret, which has been in the country as long as the cat. Add to the list scores of plants, birds, fishes, and reptiles, and there is quite a list. I think if the ferret COULD have become feral, it would have long ago. The Ca-Ca Fish and Gestapo love to cite stray ferrets as "feral animals" while at the same promoting flocks of pheasants, definately not an animal native to the state. What can I say? They are idiots, and need to take a third grade refresher course in basic biology. 3) Do you really have 14 ferrets? Nope. I have 19 ferrets. (Deep breath) Moose (3), Stella (3), Daye (2.5), Bear (2.5), Tori (1), Apollo (4+), Gus (4+), Nosette (4+), Balistic (4+), Simon (4+), Buddy (7), Foster (10), Razz (5), Chrys (1), Sam (4+), Crystal (5+), Trillium (4+), Sandy (4+), and Fraggle (4+). (Whew!) Yes, all run together, yes, they sometimes fight, no, they do not hurt each other, yes, that IS a lot of poop, and no, 20 is my limit. At least for now. The bigest problem is the vet bills, but they are more than worth it! Well, maybe the biggest problem is telling Sandy from Crystal from Tori from Fraggle. They are all albinos about the same size. Crystal is missing gobs of hair, so she's easy. Fraggle has a bad eye, so she's easy if the face is seen. But Tori and Sandy are hard. I painted the tips of Sandy's tail blue and Tori's red (with veggie dye, NOT spraypaint) to help out, but I'm thinking of cool tatoos in the long run. (Just a joke...) Well, the box is filled with cool questions, so I will enlighten more of you later (He he)... Mo' Bob and the 19 Fuzzbuckets [Posted in FML issue 1674]