Whew!  I just got back from a trip to Massachusetts to stay with friends.
Scooter and Paddington came with me (their first visit), and it was quite
the trip!
 
Boy, did they teach me an important lesson: always check EVERYWHERE in a
room before setting them loose!  Paddington and Scooter stayed with me at my
friends', in a travel kennel in the guestroom.  In the morning, when I went
to the bathroom to shower, though, I took Paddington with me into the
bathroom to give him a chance to "stretch his legs" while I showered.
 
Now, I REALLY thought that I had checked that bathroom, and it was perfectly
safe for him!  For one thing, it's not a very big bathroom, and I had felt
under the cabinets, and found that they had solid bottoms; there was nowhere
for a ferret to escape.
 
That's what I thought!  When I got out of the shower, though, there was no
Paddington in the room anymore!  The door was locked, so I knew he didn't go
that way.  I checked the cabinets ... no Paddington.  Then I really
panicked!  I threw on a robe and started calling Paddington's name ... and
then I heard a scratching sound INSIDE the bathroom wall.
 
The next five or ten minutes would have been very comical, if only I hadn't
been so scared.  (I've heard horror stories about ferrets who get stuck in
the walls of houses).  I found the spot under the baseboard heater (only a
little over an inch high!) where Paddington had managed to make his great
escape.  I ran to get Craisins, Ferretvite and caramel corn to coax him out.
Occassionally, he would poke his head out ALMOST far enough for me to grab
him ... but never far enough.  He would also disappear periodically for
about ten seconds at a time, and I wouldn't hear ANYTHING from him.  Talk
about panic!
 
Finally, after about ten minutes, I ran downstairs to tell my friend George
that he had a ferret in the wall of his house, and I didn't know if he was
coming out!  George took this news pretty calmly, I must say (he's had a
ferret himself before), and offered to help out.  As we trooped back
upstairs to have another go at it, though, there was Paddington sitting in
the middle of the bathroom floor, happily munching the Craisins and caramel
corn I had brought to coax him out.  I swooped down on him and grabbed him
... and boy, was I ever relieved!  (I bet George was, too!)
 
So, now my friends have nicknamed him "Paddington the Plumber" .... and I
told them I'd ask him to waive the bill for them this time.  ;-> The moral
of the story is: ALWAYS check EVERYWHERE before you let a ferret loose in a
room; they fit into the darndest places!  Anyone need any plumbing done ...
cheap?  ;->
 
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    |           |         Ela Heyn
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[Posted in FML issue 1800]