I've read books, and the FML and FAQ seem to say the same thing, to be careful what you feed your ferret, make sure they've got primium quality food, they can get sick so easily, get clogged up, rah rah rah. But I'm thinking, somehow I don't see ferrets that live in the wild now, and lived in the wild and were kept as pets by the poorer communities long in the past, chomping away on $50 damn bags of 'rich, good quality ferret pellets, ideal for the health and wellbeing of your ferret'. Has it occured to anyone that perhaps the sickness and stuff in our ferrets come from plastic-bagging (pun) them from life? Like the parents who shelter thier kids from dirt and dust as small children, they get sick as soon as they actually have to get out and slog it. I'm thinking, perhaps if we didn't shelter our fuzzies so much, they wouldnt get so sick? I feed mine pretty much anything I've got in my hands at the time (bar things like chocolate and lollies and excessive stuff) and he seems to be getting on just fine. I treat Dexter the way I would treat anything (perhaps with slightly more care and caution) but I don't wrap him up, keep him away from anything remotly dangerous. He has free run of my room, there are wuite a few wires etc around, an open heater, and I have never *once* seem him to anything that would even slightly endanger himself. Anyway, I'll stop ranting now. I'm no ferret expert, so feel free to tell me I'm wrong, however you'd be unlikely to change my mind. - Reet (ps on the subject of nicknames, Dexter's is Dex, Dexxy and mofo <--- This one some may understand, but I shan't explain :) ) [Posted in FML issue 2396]