Hi all!
 
Well better late than never.  I'm finally able to respond to the poor ferret
owner with the Houdini-Ferret who keeps escaping from her cage through the
bars.
 
A brief story first...  Once upon a time, I naively thought that I could
contain Paleface.  Ha ha ha.  I was traveling to work in West Virginia (On
the road again..), and I decided to take Paleface with me.  (I have since
decided that I do not feel safe leaving a ferret in a hotel room, no matter
what; I just don't trust the places.) Anyway, I purchased a special cage for
the occasion.  It collapsed enough that I could fold it up and discretely
bring it into the hotel.
 
Paleface traveled happily in the new cage, swaying in his hammock, all of
the way to wild, wonderful West Virginia.  I arrived late in the evening,
wearily checked in, smuggled the tube-dog into the room, set up the cage,
and flopped down with a ferret-like sigh.  No sooner did I land on the bed,
when I witnessed the most remarkable phenomena.  Paleface sucked-in his
breath, narrowed himself up, and walked right out of the cage through the
bars.  I put him back in, and, you guessed it, out he went.  This was the
same damn cage he sat in for four bloomin' hours without a hitch!
 
What on earth was I to do?  I _had_ to go to work in the morning and leave
him in the room.  (Again, now I wouldn't recommend doing this _ever_.)
 
Now for the moment you've all been waiting for (the point of my story): I
hurried out to the hardware store and bought a roll of 1/4" mesh, a pair of
wire snips, and a good file.  I cut the hardware cloth (mesh) into long
strips, tall enough to fill each cage section, and long enough to run the
length of the cage.  I filed all of the edges very thoroughly to remove any
sharp edges, and I wove the hardware cloth in and out of the cage bars.  I
repeated this procedure until the entire cage was woven with hardware cloth.
By midnight, I was in my bed, and Paleface was in his.
 
Hope those of you with Houdini-ferrets find this solution helpful.  It is
also a workable solution if you are afraid of heads or hands getting stuck
between cage bars.  Do be very careful about the mesh edges though.  Make
sure that they are well-filed.  Paleface has never hurt himself on the mesh,
but he's a mellow guy and resigns himself somewhat when he knows he can't
get his way.  Other ferrets may be more persistant.
 
Cheers!
 
Gina
and
Paleface  (Curses!  Foiled again!)
[Posted in FML issue 1454]