Hi.. I've been lurking about a month, since I became owned by ferrets. My husband came home from work one day telling me about these great little furries that a friend of his had. David just kept saying, "I want a ferret, I want a ferret." Well, my honey is not that easily impressed and is also not real easy to buy presents for. With Father's Day having just passed, I thought, "why not". So, off I trotted to a local pet store. There I found the most adorable little girl. She is a sable, but quite light colored and very sweet and femenine. She is a MF, and came with guarantee, medical records, etc., so I thought, "this will be easy". hehehehehehe...NOT! We went home with our cage, our corner litterpan, food, water bottle, toys...basically we went home $350.00 poorer. Well, Big Dave got home from work and I told him I had a surprise for him. The little darling peeked out at him and gave him teeny, tiny ferret kisses, and that was it...LOVE!!! We immediatly called his buddy who instructed us on how to attempt a ferret proofing regime. We decided on the family room and went through a big deal to make it safe for her. We only let her out a few minutes the first night, and she really only explored a bit and then found a box to climb into and go to sleep. No big deal...this pet is EASY!!! hehehehehe. David went to work the next day, I took Cookie (an interim name) to the vet where she was pronounced healthy and darling! We had a fairly uneventful second day. I was still nervous about letting her out of her cage...she didn't take to the corner litter pan, and we had lots of poop patrol. The following day, David took off from work, and took me on a "mystery tour". Much to my surprise (not) we ended up in the pet store. David thought his little lady would be lonely and needed a playmate, so we went home with a very handsome male sable. At first, David called them Pebbles and Bam Bam...that was until we put them down together in the family room!!! We finally witnessed ferrets in action!!! The famous war dance was never performed with more glee!! After only about 10 mintues the dynamic duo had gotten themselves renamed. We are now the proud humans of Hoot 'n' Annie. That's what we have whenever they are out...a real hootenanny!! The only real problem with them that I can see so far (a bit over a month) is that I think they could be dangerous to the health of this middle aged couple of kids!! I think David and I are too old to be laughing so hard each and every day. Does anyone have any stats on old poops keeling over and croaking from ferret overdose??? Well, I guess that is enough bandwidth for an introduction. I'm learning lots from you guys..laughing alot and crying a bit with you all too. Even though I've only been owned for a short time, I just can't imagine life without my little darlings!! Everyone who has had to say "good-bye" has my deepest sympathies. I hope to have my babies for a good long time, and with all your help, I am doing the right things :) A brand new fert-a-holic! Janet David Hoot'n'Annie (who, US steal Dad's jelly-beans???) [Posted in FML issue 1654]