On the topic of cage modifications:
 
I'm really happy with the setup I have right now, and Cedric & Alexander
absolutely love it.  I have both a 2 1/2 story Safeguard cage and a Midwest
cage which I think is known as the "Cat Playpen", which is similar to the
ferret playpen except for not having a ramp between levels.
 
I have the two cages connected by a tube, and the ferrets love it; they have
lots of fun chasing each other back & forth between the cages, they get a
lot of exercise compared to most cages, and they seem to like it much
better -- they are MUCH more active during cagetime than they used to be
with just the Safeguard cage.  Plus, all it took was about $20 and an
afternoon of work setting things up, and required no permanent
modifications to the cages.
 
What I did was pick up 15 feet of 4 1/2 inch flexible irrigation/drainage
pipe (about 4 cents/foot at Agway) and a 16" x 25' roll of plastic garden
fencing (about $10 at Agway) and some plastic cinch-type fasteners from an
electrical/electronics supply store (actually, they are wire ties for
running bundles of data cables, and cost about $5 for 1000 ties).
 
I used the garden fencing, cut to about 3 foot lengths, to add 2 absolutely
indestructible hammocks to the Midwest cage, about 3/4 of the way up,
attached to the cage with wire ties.  I pile these up with towels, and they
are a favorite sleeping spot.  I installed the two plastic floor pieces at
the 1/2 way point of the cage, with one piece turned upside down so it forms
sort of a tray, to keep food from spilling out into the rest of the cage.
Access to this floor is via a 2 1/2 foot segment of the irrigation pipe
(which has ribs in it for easy climbing) tied to the inside of the cage at
an angle, and the hammocks are an easy hop up once they are on the shelf.
 
Next, I removed the lower door from the Midwest cage (easy & totally
reversible with a pair of pliers) and from the Safeguard cage (a bit harder,
but reversible by replacing the metal fasteners with wire ties, which are
quite strong) and replacing them with a piece of garden fence.  I then cut a
hole in both of these new "doors" just big enough to put the irrigation hose
through and connected the two cages with about 8 feet of pipe.  I have the
Safeguard cage up about 2 feet off the ground, so the pipe acts sort of like
a slide for frolicking ferrets, and a great alarm clock for a poor human --
click, click, click go the ferret paws as they slide over the ribs of the
tubing :-)
 
I'm sure I could pretty it up a bit more, but it works, the ferrets like it,
and it doesn't sink this poor college student's budget.
 
- Bill (the hopeless engineer)
Cedric - "Whoopee, watch me slide.."
Alexander - "So many hammocks, so little time..."
[Posted in FML issue 2193]