Many people have strong opinions on whether to cage their animals, and if
so, when, just as they have strong opinions on descenting, what to feed
them, treats, and all the other aspects of caring for our fuzzies.  The
key is to find a happy medium between you and your ferrets.  What is
uncompromising for some doesn't work for others.
 
Over my now four years of being companions with my wonderful fuzzies, I
have, as many new owners do, gone through an evolution.  I've gone through
caging while I was at work, but letting them run when I'm home, caging at
night while I was asleep only, caging both while I was sleeping and while
I was at work, but letting them run and play while I could be with them,
to finally simply leaving their cage open and letting them choose when
they use it.  These choices were influenced by where I lived, what I and
my ex-husband were doing during the day, and also what I read in various
places during my research.
 
Well, I finally decided that they just plain like it better when they
aren't caged.  They stay in my room with me, it is more their place than
mine, and while it is sometimes frustrating when Tasha or Robin decides it
is time for me to wake up, I can tell you I sleep much better on average
than when Mira is throwing a tantrum from being caged.  Bottom line,
though, is that the safety matters which might cause others to cage at
certain times do not apply.  In the room they have, which is large and
includes my walk in closet, I can still find all six of my fuzzies in a
matter of less than three minutes.  (I actually do time trials in case of
emergency.) There are plenty of snuggly spots and hiding places, but none
that are inaccessible to me.  And when I'm gone, my downstairs neighbor
knows it.  If anything were to happen, she knows where my ferrets live,
how many there are, their names, where I keep their treats and the squeeky
toy they come to, and how to close my cage if she needs to remove them in
a hurry.
 
I have also found that my kids help me sleep when they are out.  (Aside
from the 2am toe nibbling, and lick lick chomps from Robin as soon as the
alarm goes off.) I drift off every night to dooking, the sound of their
feet as they run across my hardwood floor, licking at the water bottle and
food crunching, snuffling noises in my ear, and other fuzzy sounds.  These
days, I actualy have trouble sleeping if those noises aren't present.
Last summer, my boyfriend's sister stayed with us after a surgery on her
knee.  So she wouldn't have to climb another set of stairs every day,
(besides the one at the entrance,) we used the extra bedroom in the attic,
and she slept in my room with the ferrets.  SHE loved it, and I couldn't
sleep.  Too darn quiet it was.  Well, I guess I'm crazy ferret lady, now.
Can't sleep when the ferrets aren't around.  Oh well.
 
I guess what I'm saying is this: With all of the strong opinions here on
the FML, and strong recommendations in other places, it is often difficult
to determine exactly what is the right thing to do.  Of course we must all
be safety-minded, and take into consideratino all advice we receive, but
in the end, you just have to do what is right for you and your fuzzies.
No matter how much someone says that this is the one and only right way,
that won't make it work better for you.
 
Melissa Barnes
[Posted in FML issue 3604]