>From:    KEVIN GELLER <[log in to unmask]>
>It took us 5 days to get down to Montana last fall.  Does anyone have
>any experience with driving long distances with ferrets?
 
Okay...  5 days is a longer one way trip than we've done but not longer than
a round trip we've done.  We went from Virginia to Ohio to Chicago to
Indiana then back to Virginia for the Chicago ferret show last year.  This
year we're expecting to go from Virginia all the way to Minnesota and back
(if I get a judging assignement there).
 
Ferrets travel pretty well.  We use the cat sized carriers.  Whole hobs are
one per.  Jills and kits get bunkmates.  We do use larger sizes and might
carry more in them.  Do you have a cap on the truck?  If so they would be
fine back there.  Before we had our van OR or cap for our truck we actually
had ferrets in carriers in a custom made insulated dog house.  Everybody was
fine.  Stop and feed the ferrets about every two hours - try to never make
it more than three hour intervals.  Water will just drip if you have the
bottles on while driving and all you'll get is a wet unhappy ferret.  Use
small plastic shoeboxes (we get them at the local $1 stores) for litter
boxes but they might not get used.  Hang hammocks in the crates to give an
up and down stairs effect.  You can also put heavy card board or other
material across the crate while split and fasten in down when you attach the
two halves of the crate together.
 
Finding hotel rooms is either doing it legitimate or sneaking them in a
private entrance motel.  Of course I wouldn't advocate doing such a thing
that would not be strictly ethical.  Depending upon the outside temperature
you can leave the ferrets in the truck - okay here come the flames - as long
as the truck wouldn't get over some 80 degrees or under some 40.  Yes
ferrets can die very easily in over heated cars/trucks but it can be done
safely as well.  Be careful.
 
This is getting lengthy but I will answer more specific questions about
what we do if asked.
 
bill and diane killian
zen and the art of ferrets
[Posted in FML issue 1497]