Just a quick story about ferrets getting loose...We were living in an
apartment complex on the second floor.  The area was set up so that each
section of four apartments would meet in a hallway with doors on each
end.  We tend to let our ferrets do a little exploring when they get back
from a car ride so they know the area rather well.  We also walk them
outside enough that they know the neighborhood.  Well one night we were
bringing in groceries and somehow one of them (Matso, a 2 yr old sable
who was mostly blind at the time) got out without us noticing.  We shut
the apartment door and proceeded to put up the groceries.  About 5-10
minutes later my wife hears a scratching at the door and assumes its one
of the ferrets trying to get out, so she does the general "quit that"
yell and continues to put up groceries, but the scratching continues.
She finally decides to grab the kid but can't find either of them, then
she hears the scratching again and realizes its coming from outside.  She
opens the door and in trots Matso, all ready to get a drink from his
bottle.  The moral of the story, at least with our kids is that they are
pretty good at knowing how to get back to their food and water and toys,
if you let them explore a good deal of the area.  It may help if they
ever get loose, just like it helped us.
 
---Rob
[Posted in FML issue 1185]