Someone asked about fixing water dishes to prevent their fuzzies from
upsetting the bowl.  Well, following an idea of someone who had posted on
the FML, I had lined the bottom of my ferret cage with ceramic tiles so that
they wouldn't walk on wire when they're in there.  (The area around the
litter pan is not covered with tile in case someone "overshoots." The
dropping can then fall through into litter below the cage.) Stimpy decided
that crock bowls were fun to play with at first, so I decided to attach the
crocks to the tile with contact cement.  No problem since then, and since
the tiles are fairly heavy, the combined tile with cemented crock can't be
pried loose by my fuzzbutt and I doubt that he could pry up the tiles
either.  Of course, if you do this, wait until the cement is *thoroughly*
dry.  The fumes could be harmful.
 
Re: hiccups in ferrets...Stimpy, my 4.5-month old male gets hiccups all the
time.  Before deciding on my first ferret, I had checked out all of the
stores in the area that carry them.  Stimpy had the sweetest disposition of
the ones I'd seen, and despite being in an open cage where people could prod
him, he knewnot to bite too hard.  When I came back for a second look at
him, I bent close to the cage and he was lying in his hammock looking bored
and he had the hiccupsI don't know why, but it was very endearing to see him
jiggling with his hiccupsevery 10 seconds or so.  I bought him on the spot.
He has had the hiccups off and on again many times since, and seems to be
unaffected by them.  I've even seen him eat and drink during a spell of
hiccups.  No problem.  They seem to go away after 10 or 15 minutes, just as
with most humans.  --Jeff Johnston ([log in to unmask])
[Posted in FML issue 1346]