Handy ferret tips:
Once I was cleaning the house, and had to change the vaccuum cleaner
bag.  On our vaccuum, this means removing the hose in order to open the
body to get at the bag.  Of course, while I was getting a new bag, Nancy
decided to poke her head in through the hose hole, to better see what
was inside.  Never mind that she could have just peeked in over the top.
Nooooo.  It's a hole -- gotta stick your head in.  And she got stuck.
She rolled over and over, but couldn't back out.  We tried drizzling
salad oil around her ears -- no luck.  The problem was that when she'd
pull backwards, her ears would fold over and the skin around her neck
formed a ruff, and this would hold her in.  What DID work was using an
index card as a funnel.  We rolled the index card around her head to
hold her ears flat in their normal position.  In fact, as soon as we did
this, she pulled herself free.  She then "bup"ped loudly, and pogo'ed up
and down in place.  We snatched her out of the air, and immediately
bathed her, since the salad oil made her look like a drowned rat.  Talk
about adding insult to injury.
 
Ferret Tip #2:
We have found a way to keep the rug weasels from annihilating the carpet
in front of doors and closets.  We measured the width of the door, and
added 6-8".  We went to the local Home Depot, and bought that amount of
vinyl floor runner.  You know, the stiff clear plastic stuff that comes
in rolls, and has grooves in the top surface, and little knobs on the
bottom.  It's supposed to be for placing on top of the carpet in the
winter, so you have a place to put muddy shoes and boots.  I think it
was $0.59 or $0.69 per linear foot.  Anyway, we got a bunch of this
stuff.  Then I made cut-outs the shape of the doorjambs on either side
of the door, and slid it under the closet door:
 
   |   door   |
___|__________|___
 
        ^
        |
    __________
 __|          |__
|     Plastic    |
|________________|
 
Voila! They'll try to dig, of course, and the scratching noise may drive
you crazy, but at least you'll get your security deposit back.  One
warning -- keep an eye on the stuff, they're persistent little buggers,
and they'll eventually work the runner out from under the door, and
you'll have to shove it back under again.  Good luck.
 
-- Anon.
 
P.S.  Thank you thank you thank you for the descriptions of what a
ferret hammock is.  I immediately went out & bought some fleece, and
made one for Nancy.  It's a double layer, and she sleeps inside when
it's cool, and on top when it's warm.
 
[Posted in FML issue 0403]