Sukie Crandall: I totally agree with you on the claws issue. My ferts are so squirmy that sometimes they go a month without getting clipped. I live alone, and that's not about to change soon, so in order for me to clip their claws without hurting them, I have to let them get a little longer than usual. There have never been any problems with their toes (Oscars were already bent when I took him out of the situation that he was living in). Lisette: I'm not flaming, but just sharing my ferts stuff. I have been owned by 3 ferts over a span of about 13 years. My first, Snoop, was never sick a day in her life, until 6 months before she died, she lived to be 8 1/2 yrs old. Oscar was very sick when I first got him, but that was due to the abuse he suffered, we got him fixed up and haven't had any problems in the last 4 years, he is over 6 yrs old. Miko, who is 2 hasn't been sick at all. A lot of other people who have owned ferts in my area have the same experiences. Almost all ferts were healthy for most of their lives, and lived quite long lives (8-11 yrs). It is unfortunate that some of yours are sick, and I feel bad, but, you can't say that all ferrets will become sick and you will have to have this surgery or that treatment, because it simply isn't true. Deborah Kemmerer: If parents can't even explain to a pre-pubescent boy what a nude model is, I have to wonder how well the kid is going to adjust to the real world later. If seeing breasts and nudity is so awful as to warp our children, why is it that western Europeans, to whom topless beaches are the norm, don't seem to have nearly as many screwed-up kids as we do? I cannot remember to whom I should acknowledge the quote, but I quite agree that "Perversity is bred by repression, not accessability. BRAVO, BRAVO!!!! I totally agree with you on that one. Isabelle Oscar (Mayer Wiener) Miko (the Geek) [Posted in FML issue 2690]