Oh, I have too many thoughts running around in my head on this one. Reet, please don't feel discouraged by others' comments regarding your ferrets' diet, unless it is nutritionally wasteful or poses a danger to their health. First, let me say that I am indeed an animal lover. If I had a house and/or land big enough, I would rescue every single creature that I hear about. I've supported Greenpeace. I would sit in a blowup boat on the open seas to protect a humpback whale and her calf from whalers. I would willingly fly to Canada to spraypaint baby seals to protect them from fur hunters. I only eat dolphin-safe tuna. But I am not a vegetarian. In fact chicken (uh-oh :-P) is my favorite food (next to chocolate ice cream). I love hamburgers. I own a leather jacket and leather sandals. And I love my ferrets. If they wanted to eat mice, I would feed them mice. But they don't eat them. When our neighbors had an infestation of mice, I sent Slinky over for the weekend to visit. Bingo, no more mice. But he didn't eat them. Just killed them after playing with them for a while. There is nothing wrong with feeding mice to other animals. I gave my lizard pinkies (baby hairless mice, not fingers) every 3 days or so. My fiance cringed every time and thought it was disgusting. In fact, I had a really hard time feeding mice the first few times. But the lizard loved them and he was in much better condition health- and weight-wise than he had been with just earthworms and crickets. Supplementing a diet with mice can be good for the ferrets. Maybe they can get nutrients and vitamins or something from it that can't be gotten from dry crunchy food. Or maybe they just like the different texture. No harm done. :-) === Aileen & the herd Slinky, Gizmo, Kyle, Noel, & Sandy "Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines." "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit." [Posted in FML issue 2754]