Summer is rapidly approaching and perhaps many people are going to be
hitting the road with their fuzzies in a motor home.  I have a word of
caution.  In the house there were mice.  A old tale to get rid of them is
to get a hamster.  Theory being that the mice don't like the smell of
hamsters & will pack up & leave.  I imported hamster.  Mice didn't leave.
I brought in Guinea Pig, mice thought it was hilarious, they didn't leave.
For personnel reasons I moved into my motor home.  No they didn't chase me
out.  I took with me, 2 large Amazons in cages, 1 Sun Conure plus cage,
1 Quaker plus cage, the hamster plus cage, the Guinea Pig plus cage & 1
Schnauzer without cage.  We were visited at night by fruit rats.  I
couldn't figure out how they were getting in.  Ok so the hamster and the
Guinea Pig didn't impress them either.  So go back to another old tale and
brought in a white rat.  Theory here being that they freak out when they
see white rat, maybe think it is ghost rat or something.  Not my fruit
rats.  They came in to chat & share food & happy times.  So I get another
white rat.  Theory is they (fruit rats) will think another ghost rat better
leave before we turn into ghosts to.  Well now fruits are coming in droves.
Word must have gotten out about the wild times in the RV, good food, all
you can eat, who cares about oranges anyway.  I finally found out that they
were migrating in from the engine compartment.  In my RV, a Pace Arrow,
under the dash it was open to the motor compartment and the outside.  All
they had to do was hop up to the where the batteries were and they could
get in under the dashboard.  I couldn't figure out how to keep them out, as
it seemed like a major chore to try & close that up.  So to get to the
point, I don't know about other motor homes, only this one.  But before you
let your fuzzies out in a motor home please check to see if that area is
open, or else you could be motoring down the highway & have a bouncing
fuzzy ball behind you.  And if anyone has successfully managed to close
this area off perhaps you could share with others how you did it.
 
I had wondered how a toilet roll tube could suffocate a ferret, which is
what I heard.  I thought if they got their heads in they could surely push
it off with their feet.  On my desk next to my bed I had one of those desk
sets that have the 4 different sized tubes sticking up, for pencils, pens
or whatever.  They lift off for easy cleaning.  One day I saw Sadie who had
somehow gotten herself into the tallest one.  She looked like a hot dog in
a bun!  It was wedged on her from her shoulders to her hips & there wasn't
any way she could get out of it.  She started to breath harder so I knew I
had to get her out of it fast.  I was thinking I might have to run oil down
on the inside of it to get her out when she finally popped out.  So I think
that maybe they suffocate because of the pressure on their lungs.  Anyway
please be aware of this danger, maybe glue the tubes to the base or
something, as she had knocked it all down & it came apart.
 
BTW has anyone been able to get ahold of Millie Sanders?  The lady with the
wonderful cleaning crew.  Mail has been returned to me the last few days.
 
Lynn & the Seven Sneaky Snakes   Rosie, Blossom, George, QT, Sadie,
Cocoa, & Caffie
[Posted in FML issue 2687]