I usually mention all of my ferrets in my posts anyway, but will note here the origins of each. I think a good deal of you are familiar with their personalities. :) Potpie: A Path Valley sprite who started out dark sable and has now turned into some sort of weird chocolate/sable roan. I got her when ferrets were illegal in MI; my cousin had snuck home a ferret from CO on the plane and I thought to myself, "I need one of those." I came up with the name 'Potpie,' built a cage, got books, ferret-proofed, then (don't laugh) called a ferret distributor in OK and gave them my credit card #. They air-shipped the 6 wk old Potpie to the Toledo airport in Feb, '93. A friend picked her up (I was at work) and sat her for the day. When I got to pick her up, she was angry and honking and pooped in the middle of the floor. I should've known right then what I was in for. :) Friday: An albino MF sprite that I got in Apr '95 as a companion for Potpie. She was a gift to a 10 yr old niece of mine. The family didn't like pets, and they'd heard I had a ferret, so I offered to take her. She had symptoms of adrenal disease when I got her, so I paid for the surgery, asked her former family for some $$ aid (I was a student) and they said "Let her die." Needless to say, Friday's still with me. She was a mountain goat in a previous life. Oh, and Potpie didn't like her - she's never liked other ferrets, so... Noodle: I got Noodle in Aug '95 as a companion for Friday. :) He was a near black sable pet store ferret, 9 wks old, and I picked him out because he was 1) the prettiest and 2) beating up on all the other ferrets in the cage at the store. "He's fiesty!" i thought to myself. Heh! I should've known better. Anyway, he can now be considered the 'best' ferret I have, as he is nearly perfectly behaved always nowadays. :) Easel: I'm not sure why we got Easel; I think John wanted a ferret of his own, and three is always a good number. Tracy Tunnison had posted about this little 3-legged chocolate jill, so we drove up to see her and, of course, left with her. Bred by a breeder local to Tracy, she either lost her right hind leg shortly after birth or was born without it or had an infection and it had to be removed - we were never sure and the story changed all the time. After a lengthy introduction process to the other two, who'd been best buddies for a while, she became an integral part of the business and now everybody loves everybody else tons. Lots of ear-cleaning going on in that group. :) Me, I'm a 25-yr old systems administrator at the University of Michigan's Ann Arbor campus. I like ferrets, travelling, music, zippy cars, and warm weather. Like all ferret owners, I am at least slightly loopy. I have to go finish up my xmas shopping now. :) Melissa __ Melissa Litwicki ____ [log in to unmask] __ By the whole newsgroup devoted tennis showing it after scarfing fork and laughters [Posted in FML issue 2154]