I make extra floors for the night time cage from cloth. They are
easily removed and cleaned, they provide fall breaks when positioned
intelligently, they are great for exercise with the way they shift under
feet, they are fun for ferrets to wrestle on, they are good to sleep on,
and they allow the cage to be rearranged often so they are good mental
exercise. It just struck me that I don't think that I have heard of any
shelters making these, yet some shelters make marvelous ferret items.
BTW, if three sets of ties of sets of clips are put on then the outside
edge can be turned up to provide a fall barrier. Sort of:
X
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X X
with ties or clips at the Xs IF the illustration works for the digest
(fingers crossed but I kept it short to improve the odds).
If a person wants one in the middle of the cage just put one four sets
so that both sides that don't meet the cage sides can have a turn-up.
I make ours with pillowcases and have for decades now but I am no
seamstress.
Right now my shoulders are covered by the absolutely most gorgeous
throw blanket/afghan from
http://stores.ebay.com/things4feritz
of S.A.F.E.. Shelter
http://www.saferrets.org
which is dense, has marvelous colors and bears beautiful pictures of
ferrets. If someone wants to save on heating costs this winter but
wants to be comfy with something pretty that will last for many years
I strongly suggest it as a great use for holiday money.
Speaking of holiday money: this is OT but so many people here have older
or handicapped relatives, friends, or themselves have needs for special
items that I wanted to tell you about a very positive experience I had.
We were sending some things for the holidays to my dad and step-mom, but
you know how during the holidays every place has some temporary help on
staff so error rates go up a bit. Well, that happened at Gold Violin
<http://www.goldviolin.com/>, too, and items arrived here instead of
there. Do you know what they did? They told me to keep the items sent
here, and they rush shipped a replacement order down to Dad and Blanche!
Wasn't that sweet? That is such a highly reputable thing to do! We have
also had luck with Mom's <http://www.momscatalog.com/> for such products,
but some OTHER catalogs which provide items to help those who want to
maintain independent living are real rip offs, so I am happy to know of
these two and know others also have needs. (BTW, one item I personally
advise AGAINST on non-carpeted floors or if the legs or ankles are too
weak is one that injured me quite a bit and because of how it slipped out
from under me on first use back when I was still in day time braces, but
which some reputable catalogs have recently begun trying to sell, is a
roll around chair with a bicycle seat and three legs. That was a nasty
fall that could easily have been worse but for a little luck; bad enough
that it is in the federal consumer product safety files.) Anyway, I know
some folks here will be interested, but back to ferrets now since I just
thought of some other questions for you.
Why do so few places make turned up sides on their cage floors? Even a
short side prevents a lot of falls from our experience. Does anyone hang
the expandable plastic tubing in cages as safe extra ramps and play fun?
What techniques and materials do you use to do that? Other tips and
suggestions? (Can you tell we will be changing our night time caging and
retiring the old one so are open to new ideas?) Anyone do it with PVC
pipes for play and ramps? Tips? Has anyone found any sturdy plastic
bowls with handles on top -- like a plastic basket? We used to hang a
basket on one rope as a swing for our ferrets and they loved it, and we
were thinking of doing that again, but Hubble chews baskets so we need a
plastic substitute. What are your ferrets' favorite cage toys? Anyone
else hang plastic and fleece balls for knocking around and ringing? We
used to hang one of those hamster roll around balls and had one who
absolutely loved that; maybe we can do that again, too.
Oh, and also OT: I am open to hula hoop use tips (human use). I got
one from <http://www.hoopgirl.com/> for my birthday so I have a skill to
learn that should help strengthen my ankles' lateral stability and my
feet once I move some of the furniture and the holiday tree comes down.
-- Sukie (not a vet and still catching up for sleep lost but will lose
more tonight)
Ferret Health List co-moderator
http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth
FHL Archives fan
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
replacing
http://fhl.sonic-weasel.org
International Ferret Congress advisor
http://www.ferretcongress.org
[Posted in FML issue 5097]
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