Misha - Dan had ferrets before and told me he would love to have another some day.  I said "a what?  What's a ferret?"  He told me all his old ferret stories and I still wasn't convinced this was the critter for me.  Then one day he called me and told him to meet him at the pet store.  I thought oh boy, we're getting a puppy because we had been looking at puppies.  I drove up to the pet store and he was waiting outside for me.  We walked in and walked right past the puppies!  What da heck?!  We walked right up to the ferret pen and he said oh no it's gone!  There was a champagne he had his eye on for a few days and by the time he decided to get it, it was gone.  But there was this beautiful little sable there that I fell in love with.  I said what's wrong with this one?  He said nothing, it just wasn't the one I had picked out.  Well, Misha came home with us anyway.  And that was the start of that.  She has been our little matriarch ever since.  Misha is an escape artist.  She is also our smallest, at just 1 lb, 2 oz and has been able to squeeze in tight spots since a baby.  She was the first to find her way out of the J-Feeder.  I can't tell you how long it took us to figure out how she was escaping.  Misha's favorite toy is the molded plastic casings that ink pens come in.  She will hide them from one spot to another all day long.  Misha was a biter as a baby, but with a little work, outgrew it.  She is a total sweetheart now and loves ferretvite so much she trembles when she gets it.

Nester - Just a few short months later, there was another champagne in the store and we weren't going to let this one get away.  Nester came home.  Him and Misha pretty much got along together from the beginning.  There were a few skirmishes here and there but they settled their differences fairly quickly and have been getting into trouble together every since.  Nester is our second escape artist.  He also learned to escape through the J-Feeders and that is how we finally found out how Misha was getting out.  I caught him red handed one day digging out all the food, squeezing his way to the top of the feeder (to the outside of the cage), then jumping to the top of the refrigerator, down to the counters, walking into everything he could find and leaving tiny little paw prints everywhere he went.  Hehehe, it was really cute, but dangerous, so we fixed the feeders so they couldn't get out any more.  Nester loves to tease Misha with her plastic casing toys and when she hides them, he goes behind her and hides them somewhere else.  Nester is probably the sweetest one we have.  I don't think he has ever bitten in his life.  He's also Bruce's favorite, but we don't hold that against him.

Nathan - Same pet store, here we go again.  I did NOT go looking for ferrets.  I was in there for supplies but just happened by the ferret pen.  There was the most beautiful dark sable that I had ever seen.  I quickly walked away telling myself we don't need another ferret.  I went back...........walked away.  I called Dan so he could remind me why we didn't need another ferret.  He didn't answer.  I took this as a sign.  Nathan came home with me.  Misha and Nester did NOT like Nathan.  They ganged up on him and drug him around like he was a rag doll.  Poor baby boy.  They did eventually work it out and they all got along fine.  Nathan is a sweet little boy, but prone to unprovoked attacks (on me).  He doesn't bite Dan, just me.  I never know when he will do it either.  Other than that, he's almost as sweet as Nester.

Lasher - By this time, we had moved and the office I worked at had moved too (right above a PetSupermarket).  One of the girls I worked with also worked part time at Pet Supermarket.  One day she told me they got in the cutest ferret she had ever seen and I just had to see it.  I went to check it out and OMG!  This clumbsy thing came charging at the glass and went SPLAT!  That was it, I just had to have him.  I finally had my silver!  He was just as clumbsy at home as he was in the store.  He had the funniest dance I had ever seen.  He was also the biggest ferret we had, so I think that contributed to him not being very graceful.  He is soooooooo laid back.  None of the others ever messed with him at all.  There was no dragging of the baby or any of those things.  Now all the newbies go to him for protection from the bullies.  He takes them all in under his wing.  He's such a good big brother.

Ursulla - Ursulla was a gift for Christmas.  Dan came home holding a cricket box, but there weren't crickets in that box!  She was our first white ferret.  She is the class clown and you can't help but laugh every time you see her.  She has bones of rubber and does this silly twist, turn, roll in her dance.  She is also the most vocal of them all and screams at the top of her lungs if she is just looked at.  For a while she had us running every five minutes to see if she was dying, but we soon caught on.  She is the first to pick on the others, then screams when they pick back.

Akasha & Dierdre - They go together because we got them together.  We were at the pet store and Dan fell in love with this little sable blaze girl (Deirdre).  He walked around the store carrying her and she was so good she fell asleep in his arms.  I fell in love with a little champagne.  As I carried her around, she couldn't stay still for a second.  She spun and turned and twisted the entire time.  I had to have her!  Bottom line is neither one of us wanted to give up our little girl so we got them both.  That was the last time Deirdre was that good.  Now she is a total terror and bites anything that gets close enough.  Akasha is also the exact opposite and is a loving little girl that only gives you kisses if she smells alcohol on your breath.  The little alkie.

Canker & Zahar - I was out running errands with a friend and we stopped by the restaurant where Dan was working for lunch.  My friend assured Dan that I would not go home with a ferret (we had to go to the pet store on the errands).  There were two ferrets there.  One was a beautiful black sable with a white undercoat.  Of course I had to have him (Zahar).  Canker was a butterscotch color and since Dan & I had decided not to get any more ferrets unless they were different from what we had already, I could take them both!  That way I could also keep my friend's promise not to take home A ferret.  Zahar was a big boy and still is and bullied Canker around.  Canker was way too young to be sold and we had to clean his behind every day because he couldn't clean it good enough for himself.  We had to seperate them because Canker was not big enough to fend off Zahar's bulliness.  Canker has the crankiest look for a ferret that I have ever seen, so we nicknamed him Cranky Canky.  Zahar loves to be loved on by the humans but still picks on all the other ferrets.  Although Cranky Canky looks cranky, he is actually a very loving little boy.  He also thinks that every single toy has to be picked up in the tubes at the very top of the cage.  He will work all day and night to make sure they are all there.

Lestat and Armand - Dan called me at work one day to tell me there was the most adorable blaze ferret he had ever seen at the pet store, so don't go there for a few days until they were gone.  I listened to him and didn't go in for another week.  Ferrets at that store never stay longer than a few days.  A week is unheard of, and this was the week before Christmas.  I knew they would be gone by then.  WRONG!  They were still there.  I knew immediately the one he was telling me about was one of them that was still there.  Of course I took this as another sign........lol!  And how could I possibly leave the other one there all alone the day before Christmas!  Merry Christmas Dan!  Lestat (a cross between a butterscotch and champagne color) has always been sort of a pouty boy.  Armand (the blaze) was a very sweet boy from day 1.  Lestat has a liking for shoe soles.  He will tear out a shoe sole before you can blink, and away he goes with it.  Armand developed juvenile cancer and was diagnosed in the November before he turned one year.  Even when he was sick, he was still the sweetest boy ever.  Lestat pouted even more after his brother died, but has just recently started playing with his other brothers and sisters, so is doing better now.

Taltos - FA and FD were here visiting and FA wanted to see babies.  Off to the pet store we go.  One little boy caught all of our attention.  He was a silver with little white patches on his knees and a spotted nose.  There was something about him that drew us all to him.  Believe it or not we actually left the store without him.  When Dan came home from work that night, we were telling him about the little boy that we couldn't get off our mind.  The next day I asked FA and FD to stop by the store and pick him up on their way here.  While waiting for them to get here, Dan called me from work and said go get him!  LOL, I didn't tell him we had already.  He came in here like he had always been here.  Most ferrets sort of flat ferret and slink their way around sniffing until they get to know the area.  Not him.........he strutted himself around like he had been here all his life.  He was the most rambunctious little baby we had ever brought here, always into something and everything.  He has since turned into a cool little guy, but those first few months were an adventure.

Angelique - The baby skunks had come in and I was going to the pet store about every other day to see that theywere fed properly and being handled on a daily basis.  One day, there was this lonely little girl sitting in a tiny cage all by herself, all curled up in her litter box.  Her owners had brought her in saying they couldn't afford to feed her any longer.  She was brought in with her brother that had sold the day before.  She broke my heart and since I had done so much to help with the skunks, the owner let me have her for $20!  Happy Father's Day Dan!  LOL  Her little feet were blood red from being on the wire flooring of the cage in the pet store and she limped at first.  After a few days of treating her little feet, she was walking normal again.  She is a very sweet little girl and another one that acted like she belonged here from the beginning.  There was no fighting or dominance issues with her at all.  Within one day she was lining up for treats at treat time just like all the others.