To the folks asking about Houston. The city of Houston itself has no references to ferrets in their code. It's a case of being legal by virtue of being unregulated. Not all of the surrounding suburbs and towns are legal. Some are like Houston, unregulated, but at least the town of Friendswood specifically defines ferrets as a wild or dangerous animal and prohibits keeping of wild or dangerous animals. So you will be able to find places to live where your ferts are not illegal, but before settling anywhere (especially if you're buying) contact the town's city secretary and get a copy of the ENTIRE animal chapter of the code of ordinances. Read it carefully not only for the word ferret but for any version of the scientific name (Mustela with either or both putorius or/and furo). Check for definitions of wild, dangerous, prohibited, restricted, etc animals and code that applies to those generalities. Also talk to animal control officials. It wouldn't be the first place AC told people ferrets were illegal without any code to point to for backup. Such a case doesn't make them illegal, just needs to be a red flag to you to be careful. Debra in Fort Worth [Posted in FML issue 2868]