In reply to Hank, who couldn't get airline tickets for his weasels, let me share my own little trick. Recently I also went to visit my family in New Mexico. The flight was on TWA, which doesn't allow ferrets either in the passenger compartment OR as checked baggage (they do allow potbellied pigs, interestingly enough). But I did want to take my little sweetie home to meet my niece and her ferret. The solution was simple. I stuck my girl's carrier (which has a wire grill in the top) in a medium-sized duffle bag. The combination fits under an airline seat. I took the ferret out of the carrier-bag combination before sending it through the X-ray machine, and put her in a fanny-pack. As it turned out, the guards at the X-ray machine spotted her (she was squeezing out of the bag, the little sneak), but the only reaction I got was amusement. After reinserting ferret into carrier (out of sight of any airline personnel, of course), I left the duffle's zipper open for ventilation, carried her on the plane, stowed her under the seat, and no one said boo. The same for the trip back. The weasel took it all just fine. Nobody expected me to be carrying a small, quiet animal on board, so nobody looked or noticed her. Understand, I'm not recommending this ploy, just letting you know what I did. Heaven knows what the airline people would have done if they found out. Regarding paper pellets for litter: I tried some, and they work better for me than anything else, including wood pellets. They hold up better than Pine Fresh, and odor is much diminished. [Posted in FML issue 2504]