Melissa here, I'm kinda grumpy today because due to an unfortunate set of circumstances, i had to take my roommate's rat in to have her put to sleep. She had a very large growth which, though benign, was making her life very uncomfortable. My roommate didnt have the money to pay for removal, i am too allergic to rats (she scratched me and my right hand and left arm have been swollen all day) to be able to keep her, and i couldnt take on her vet bills when she needed the operation anyway. She was very sweet, very curious, and my roommate didnt take care of her at all in her last 6 months. I know the people on this list are the wrong ones to entreat, but: PLEASE, if you are going to buy or adopt a pet, make sure you realize the extent of your committment beforehand. Most of us here won't think twice before paying for an pet's operation that will cost hundreds of dollars - but it seems that most people dont think twice about the fact that nearly every pet will require that sort of expense at least once in their lifetimes. Enough of that rant for now; i know i'm preaching to the converted. hee. Tracy (and the listers who helped with suggestions about building a ferret's confidence): Easel the three-legged ferret's doing wonderfully. Her new approach to wrasslin' is to bounce up and down so energetically that she has the advantage of height on her attackers, so she can *splat* 'em. Unfortunately for Friday and Noodle, she interprets 'attackers' as 'any ferret who walks haplessly by.' Hee! For a four-month (or so) old ferret, she's remarkably loving. Everyone who sees her goes, "Wow, a three-legged ferret?" as though she were an entirely different species. Yeah, they're breeding them in Tasmania now. Heh. Melissa ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Melissa Litwicki "Is it ... atomic?" [log in to unmask] "Yes! VERY atomic!" [Posted in FML issue 1690]