Hi; Forgive me for stating the obvious but I feel compelled to give this little reminder in hopes of sparing other ferrets some grief. Ferrets & small children can be a bad combination. My 3 year old cousin visited over the Thanksgiving holiday and, of course, fell in love with my ferret and wanted to play with her. I thought it would be safe to have her sit with Ratty while I supervised. I was wrong. She obviously did not know how to handle a small pet and, though I am sure she meant no harm, grabbed my ferret around the neck and stomach and squeezed her rather hard; it took two adults to pry Ratty away from her. (This was after her 6 month old sister yanked on Ratty's fur and tried to shove her in her mouth.) When I said "no more" and rescued her, the 3 year old started throwing a tantrum and banging on her cage. To my ferret's credit, she did not try to bite either child. However, I know she (Ratty) was considerably stressed by this experience and I have definitely learned my lesson. I just thought I'd share this since we are approaching another big family holiday time and those of us without small kids sometimes forget just how rough little hands can be to our fuzzy friends. Ann [Posted in FML issue 2510]