It's sad but true that as a rule people treat that for which they paid money better than that which was free. I recently adopted a dog from the pound here in CA, and the charge was $75. Some of this money was "refunded" (in a manner of speaking) by the use of coupons. One was for $35 to cover spaying, one for $15 to apply to the license fee, one for $10 for an initial vet visit. So the actual "cost" of adopting Wicca was only $15. Very reasonable, I think. Of course the initial price of ANY pet (dog, cat, ferret, whatever) is just a drop in the bucket compared to what you'll spend over their life span IF you take proper care of them. Seems we're forever going to the Pet Emergency Treatment center at 2am because no one ever gets sick during regular vet hours, or they appear to be so much worse in the middle of the night. If I lived someplace where I could adopt more ferrets from a rescue, I'd probably have 10 instead of 2, and I'd gladly pay a fee to help defray expenses. Saw a video showing how to clean your ferret's teeth using that long, wicked looking instrument, and I must say I was amazed. The ferret in the video just lay there! NO WAY would either one of mine let me start scraping on their teeth with a big metal instrument. I seriously doubt they'd let me brush their teeth, either, unless I used Ferretone toothpaste and applied it with a raisin :-) Hope everyone has a joyful New Year full of love and happiness! Phoebe-"I already ate some toothpaste while I was playing in the sink!" Charlie-"My teeth aren't dirty, they're SHARP! See? CHOMP!" Linda-"Do we have more Bandaids?" [Posted in FML issue 1802]