Howdy from Eden in seattle, This weekend I had the very pleasurable experience of helping out a new ferret owner. She was an older lady who'd had this little adoptee Willy for @ 3 weeks, and as far as I can tell the former owners told her less than nothing about ferret care. I made sure she knew about giving him ferret chow or at least high quality kitten food insead of cat food, discussed whether or not to descent him, what kind of treats are safe/fun, where to find cheap toys since like our boys Willy disdains overpriced ferret paraphernalia, and talked with her a little bit about teaching Willy not to nip. He's a VERY nippy ferret, enough so that she won't let children handle him at all & is very cautious about letting adults handle him either, though the only time he broke skin while we were handling him was when Bill struggled to get his hand out from between Willy's teeth. Willy refused to let go, but it was Bill's struggling that broke skin, not the ferrets actions. it was almost like he was teething, though he seems way to old for that, but the way he just wanted to chew something soft (like the fleshy part of my thumb) against his teeth reminded me of that... Compared to my little guys Willy is a giant, he must have weighed about 5 or 6 lbs and was as healthy looking as you could ask for except for his ears which need cleaning (we talked to her about how to do that gently & without damaging the ears) They actually live in California so he'll be a fugitive, but they already have a vet lined up who treats (and owns) ferrets clandestinely, & who will get to do this little guys altering since he's still whole at the moment. I haven't handled a whole male in white a while I'd forgotten how musky they are, I washed my hands very thogoughly after handling him & still when I got home, our boys were all excited by the strange ferret smell all over us. Eden and her 3 guys: Misha, Lemke & Bill (the human one) [log in to unmask] [Posted in FML issue 2012]