Big T... what can I say about this ferret. One word sums it up: BAD! Oh, but in such a good way. As of this writing, Big T is 19 weeks old, but he is already larger than any of my other ferrets and weighs in at over 3 1/2 pounds. He sounds like a buffalo running across the vinyl floor in the ferret room. He's a monster.

As it happens that I am just now creating this 'online scrapbook' of my ferrets now, when Big T is 19 weeks old and Little T is 17 weeks old, the sections for these ferrets will grow more than some of the others. I hope to continually add to these sections as these babies grow up, whereas with my other kids, I'm working backwards. So, if you see more here about Big T and on Little T's page, that's why!

Great Beginnings

Why did I decide to add babies to my already huge ferret family? Over half of my current group was born in 1997, which means that in the coming year or so, I expect, very sadly, that medical problems will start to creep in. I have found that it truly helps to balance out the ages in your group - not have ferrets of all one age, so you are not dealing with a lot of medical problems and heartache at the same time. It's also really helpful emotionally, when you're dealing with some tough stuff with your older gang, to be able to interact with and watch the youthful exuberence of the young'uns. So when Mary McCarty of the Centre County branch of the PFRA approached me with the news that she was breeding a litter with her Zu Zu, I considered adding a baby, and that is Little T. Soon after, Ann Barzda of Hillcrest Ferrets announced she was expecting a litter. I resisted - for years, I had planned that my next baby would be a mutt, and I had planned to get in touch with Scarlett and Bunny out in Ohio about adding one of their babies to my group - they've put out some of the most adorable mutts I've ever seen. So I decided I would raise two babies together - one of Mary's, and my baby mutt.

As things would go, though, fate was working against my master plan. The first thing to happen was a nearly tragic situation. Mary was driving home with Aria, Big T's mom, in a bad winter storm right after Aria got pregnant. They were in a serious car accident that totalled Mary's car. Aria was caged in one of Skip Martin's barn cages in the front seat. The dashboard was pushed completely in, and the barn cage was damaged, but was tough enough to save Aria and the unborn babies' lives. Thankfully, Mary was fine as well. But it was a scary situation for Mary, and everyone was so relieved that Mary and Aria were fine. I couldn't stop thinking about Aria and the little unborn babies, and it sort of drew me to that litter, that already they had overcome some adversity.

Then the babies were born, and as luck would have it, they were born on Friday the 13th of April. My birthday is also a 13th, and the number 13 has always been good to me... I'm also a fan of Friday the 13th. It just seemed fitting that these little babies were born on that day, and it just kept seeming like something was telling me that I was to have one of these kits.

As you can tell perhaps by looking at the pictures of all of my ferrets, I like sables. Next to the mutts, sable is my color. Of course, all of the babies in this litter were sables! Mary's litter, the litter I was supposed to get a baby from, were expected to be all albinos and champagnes. That was fine with me - I was interested in an albino. But then when I saw the first pictures of Ann's litter - all sables - ohhhh, I was so tempted! I still tried to resist, though I visited Ann's place to see the babies, and they were sooooo darn cute. I didn't want to change my mind about the albino (who I'd still not met) from Mary's litter, and for so long I'd planned on my mutt, but that would mean I needed to add three babies to my group. What was I thinking??

But of course, twist my arm hard enough (ha, ha!) and I can be suckered into anything. Come on, how can you resist this face?? I rationalized the decision. My mutt wasn't ready, most likely not even born yet (which she wasn't, as it turned out) and I really wanted to raise a pair together, similar in age. So I decided that I would raise one of Mary's and one of Ann's babies together, and figure out how the mutt would fit into the plan later.

I thought that picking out my ferret from that litter was going to be a tough choice, but it turned out, again, to just be fate. There was one little boy I met the first time I saw that litter that I was drawn to, but I figured that would likely change by the time they were old enough to go home. In the meantime, as the babies got older, everyone who visited the babies said that there was this one particular ferret that 'had my name written all over him.' So I figured, fine, that must be the one I'm meant to have. When I finally visited the babies again in mid-June, I was so excited to see my baby. They handed to me the one that was 'meant for me' and yes, he was adorable! But somehow, I saw this other boy, called then 'the spare' because he didn't have a home slated yet, and I knew that he was the one for me. I can't explain it, but it just was him. Later, when I went back and looked through my pictures from the first visit, it's definitely the same ferret I was drawn to the first time! And that was Big T. I'll never regret picking him (even when I ask myself, Why?? Why??? :)) and I'm sure that Barbara Anshutz is thrilled too... she's the one who picked the ferret that was 'meant for me.' She named him Max, and he is quite a spoiled, happy ferret!

Click here for a photo spread of early Big T pictures, and more stories!