To Marston J. Gould:
 
Get rid of the wife.
 
OK, OK, I have some possibly helpful advice.  A breeder and shelter
operator I know keeps his ferretarium quite cool--perhaps as low as 40
degrees in the winter.  His ferrets tend to have nice, thick coats
(which is why he keeps them cool) and are quite good at burrowing into
their bedding to keep warm.  I think he also keeps the lighting as
close to natural daylight as possible, which might help them to know
when to grow their winter coats.
 
Our 4 ferrets seem to be able to keep plenty warm in a semi-heated
garage (the furnace is in the garage, but isn't supposed to heat it)
that they visit some weekends.  They do it by either sleeping on top of
their bedding (bath towels, mainly) when the temperature is over 55 or
so, or snuggled into their bedding when it's colder than that.  They
don't seem any more shivery than usual (usual is a 65-70 degree home)
when we get them up to play.  When they're all piled together, wrapped
up in their blankets, it gets *hot* in the middle of the ferret pile,
even when it's really cold in the garage.  Their cage is up off the
floor and out of any drafts.
 
Grendel, our most outdoorsy ferret, loves to go for walks in the snow.
He's only been out for half an hour or so at a time, but he really
seems to love it.  His fur poofs up and he rockets around sniffing
everything.  (It's a bit like post-bathtime.)  He has never seemed
interested in heading back into the nice warm house.
 
I would be very careful about letting the room you keep the ferrets in
get much over 80 degrees.  If you think it could get higher than that,
I would get them a room of their own inside the house.  Be sure they
have plenty of water and food no matter what temperature you keep them.
 
Good Luck!
Grendel, Gilbert, Miss Lily, and Boomer, and their humans
 
[Posted in FML issue 0724]