Hi, this is my first time writing to this list, although I have been reading for about a month...I have one ferret, a twelve week old albino boy named Skunk. He is my little lovebug. he is the first ferret I have owned. I work at the local petstore, and one day when I came to work, the manager asked me if I wanted a free ferret. She told me he was sick and blind, so i went in back and took a look. i saw the smallest, weakest little ferret in the world. he had a huge black mass in his ear. i took him home, and hand fed him warmed up moist aims kitten food every two hours, then the next day his energy level was way up. i took him to the vets, and the black mass was wax, which they removed. The vet thought that my little man wasnt fully weaned yet, so with the pet store forcing him to only eat hard food, they were basically starving him to death. and the blindness? well once he started getting some food in his little body, his attention span went way up, and yes, he can see. after about a week or so of hand feeding, he could eat solid food. last week at the vets, he got his first distemper shot, and he weighed in at one pounds, two ounces!! to the girl who wants to bond with her little kids, you just need to spend time with them, and play with them. I make up little toys for him that he just loves, like a pepsi bottle that i took the bottom off. he rolls around on top of in, inside of it, everything. then he grabs it with his teeth and drags it under my bed. he goes everywhere with me, and falls asleep on my lap every day, after he runs around for about two hours or so at a time. He is terrified of my dog, but i cant really blame him because he is a very hyper rottweiller. they get to smell each other with the safety of the baby gate blocking any real access. my question to all of you is when do the kits start making noise? my little man isnt deaf, but i have never heard a peep from his mouth. does he have to be around other ferrets to learn this, or is it something he will do when he gets older?? also, i wanna get cheweasels for him, is he way too young yet or does it not matter? also, is it ok to put baking soda in the litterbox to cut down on urine odor? well that is all for now, sorry for writing for so long. Thanks, From Kristin, and her little man, Skunk [Posted in FML issue 2575]