Call me crazy, but I just had a personality switch during one of my brother-in-laws' INSANE visits. Ok, he has 4 kids...not well-behaved. They scream, stomp..etc. They were scared to DEATH of the ferrets. The two older girls (7 & 5) were scared to go near them, but then decided they wanted to hold them. I made them sit on the floor in front of me, put Chimi in one girl's arms at a time - each one threw him back at me as soon as he started to wiggle. I spent 30 minutes educating them on the fact that they are gentle, are not going to attack (very supervised), and all the things you can try to explain to young kids. The 4 year old boy nearly peed his pants...wouldn't even touch the ferrets through the bars. 17 month old baby LOVED them...but he thought their tails served as a ferret handle. I don't know how Pepe restrained himself from biting, but the boy finally let go....it was very stressful trying to educate these kids who were squaling and screaming. The 4 year old boy was still scared even at the end. Meanwhile, I had to explain to their mom that they are not rats, I had to litter train them, etc. The baby was going after poopies in the litter pans, he went for stray kibble on the floor, he wanted the pooper scooper so bad...it was wild. To top it off, their dad, who is allergic to everything, was not allergic to ferrets....All I wanted to do was educate them about my pets so they have a better understanding of me. OK, so here is where it gets scary. I heard the first daughter say, "Mommy, can we get a ferret?" and the other joined in...and I started spewing awful things about ferrets like I was posessed. I started saying how they steal everything. I said they destroyed my couch...they dig at the carpet. They pee on the carpet. They poop on the carpet. They get in our bed and nothing is safe. They tore up our mattress. They stink. They need shots. They get sick..The vet is so expensive. They get awful diseases... After all that hard work of teaching them how wonderful they are...and those people looking at me like a Goddess with these great pets...now I was like a crypt keeper with dirty, beady eyed rats, eating roaches in the night. Why on earth would anyone buy such an animal??? Only a glutton for punishment...and I still love them. I know these people couldn't take care of a ferret...there were danger signals. ugh...I hope they just forget it...Lisette, I agree. I wonder how many Dalmatians ended up in shelters after the release of the movie "101 Dalmatians." Bad promotion for Dalmatians. A show describing the breed? Good promotion for Dalmatians. But do either want people running out and buying Dalmatians on a whim?? Hope not. You can't win. Ok, I have to do some chores (play with ferrets) and find something funny to rant about. Later, Stephanie, Chimi (Little girls smell like syrup)& Pepe (My bum still tingles) [Posted in FML issue 2688]