Re:  misc.
Hi everyone.  I am a new subscriber and fuzzy mommy.  I have been a voyeur
so far but have some ideas that might be worthwhile.  I more or less became
an instant mom to 6 sneaky snakes.  I had a bad problem with a rat in the
house 2 winters ago & decided I needed something that could go after it so
was thinking of "a" ferret.  I raise exotic birds and had an ad in the
paper selling them.  Someone called & wanted to know if I would trade a
bird for a ferret.  Rosie entered my life.  Stopped at Pet Supermarket on
way home from vet after getting her shots & a sales person in there said 2
are better because they need to play.  I said I couldn't afford the ones
that they sold & she suggested that I put a card up on their board because
allot of people would want to get rid of their ferrets after awhile.  Along
came Blossom, her people had cats & she had fleas.  They gave her 3-4 baths
a week & her coat & skin were so dried out.  Poor sweetie.  Well I figured
that would be enough but before i could retrieve my card Igot a call from a
lady whose husband is in the military & they are being transfered to CA.
Since they would be on a base they didn't want to risk their guy getting
confiscated, so along came George.  Our 1st guy!  Ok, before I could get
card down I got another call.  A lady had 3 girls & didn't want them
because she had cats & wanted more cats & was afraid the ferrets would kill
the cats, (apparently no research or didn't care).  She had all 3 in a
small cage with 2 tiers!  Didn't let them out for several days straight & 2
litter boxes in that small cage.  She also said she didn't change the
litter very often.  One little girl is deaf & I doubt that she even knew
it.  I had just read about deaf ferrets so suspected it the second day.
Doesn't matter to me, she is sweet no matter what.  She had "stuff" caked
on her back nails so hard that the vet almost decieded to give her a tiny
snuff of gas so she could remove the stuff.  I had thought it was a fungus
of some sort.  So that is my ferret math.  And just a note, with avian
people adding more & more birds to a household is called "Parrot Fever".
It happens when one isn't enough & you can't have too many.  So for me it
is Ferret Fever.
 
I have created a "fun sack" for my 6.  It is a nylon winter jacket that
someone gave me which is too small for me.  It crinkles.  I zippered it
shut, sewed the bottom half shut & stuffed it with crinkle sacks.  When I
let my guys out in the morning they pile into & onto this.  They crawl
around inside of it & dig in the bags.  It is easy to keep clean & if the
lining gets torn it is cheap to replace.  They have fun crawling through
the sleeves also.  I plan on going to my local "Goodwill" store, (any
thrift store will do) & buying up childrens & some adult size winter
jackets.  The ones with the fuzzy lining are great & if the outside fabric
is made of corduroy that is even better.  If I get some with hoods I plan
on sewing (velcro strips) one half of the hood dwn to the front of the
jacket.  I am going to look for only jackets that zipper down the front to
keep the sneaky snakes from stealing buttons, and will attach the end of
the sleeves to the front of jacket or will wrap the sleeves around bars in
cage to hold it secure & presto change-o a sleep sack!  Also sweatshirts
with half of the bottom sewed & even better sweat pants & they have plenty
of used jeans.  Ck out the "big" dept or adult & you have cheap denium,
already partly pre cut.  I gave up on trying to keep any trash in my
bathroom basket.  Intead I throw old plastic vitamin bottles in, (after
washing out & recapping) I put small things inside the bottles that will
rattle or jingle.  They are light and apparently fun as it takes no time at
all for someone to get into the basket & start pitching them out as they
burrow down in them.
 
I know this is long but wanted to congradulate everyone for making this
list really appreciable.  I had been on 2 bird lists & after 2 days got
off them as quickly as possible.  I was getting about 100 e-mails a day &
sometimes more, with really stupid stuff like people posting just one word
in response to other people posting maybe 2 or 3.  A real bother.  This is
nothing like that.  This is what I had thought those were.  Real
information & topics.  Keep it up!
 
Lynn & her Dixie Friskies, the Sneaky Snakes.  Rosie, Blossom, George,
Cocoa, Sadie, & QT.
[Posted in FML issue 2591]