I have had limited exposure to ferrets, basically just friends' houses in my younger days, but my recollections are similar to the above -- stinky, biting, PITA little critters.
I would much rather have a rat, which I also have some experience with and they are (surprisingly) good pet animals. They will piss and crap on you...but besides that, no problem
Between myself, friends and family, I've also been around tortoises, hamsters, birds, snakes, lizards, frogs, salamanders, rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs, fish, cats, dogs, horses, and I think overall that I would rather leave the animals up to somebody else at this point. We have two adult dogs right now and I honestly am not sure there will be others once these two leave us. I just can't make the sustained time and energy commitment to care for them as I feel they "should be". Guilt trip. (The barking and piles of crap in the yard do get old, too.)