As a woman and a die-hard Beavis & Butthead fan I just had to chuckle at the
post about protecting women from obscene language.  Not to offend anyone,
but I can probably out-cuss any man on this list ;)
 
I do agree, however, that responding to a post you disagree with by swearing
and yelling (all those capital letters and exclaimation points) only makes a
person look foolish.  It is much wiser to take a little more time and
construct an intelligent, well-thought-out reply.
 
Cheap Ferret Games::::
 
1) Let your ferrets be lifeguards:
My late best-buddy Tasslehoff used to 'rescue' drowning toys out of a
plastic container filled with about 2" of water.  She'd pull out squeaker
toys, bottle caps, small action figures, and anything else unfortunate
enough to be drowning in her pool.
 
The two new little ones took to the whole pool idea immediately.  Kili,
however, can't quite lift the toys high enough over the edge of the pool
during the trickiest part of the rescue effort and often drops them back
into the water.  He has since taken a rather drastic measure to accomplish
his goal, climbing all the way into the water to grab a toy, and then
lifting the toy out first when he clambers out again - much easier to do
than dunking your head and walking backwards I guess.
 
Of course, being hyper 11-week-olds, they have both accidentally landed in
the pool whilst flinging themselves around the room.  And we all know how
much fun sopping-wet, dancing ferrets are :)
 
2) Variation on the ice cube game:
I put an ice cube in a tall glass and then lean it over onto a folded sock
to keep the ice cube from rolling out.  It takes them quite a while to
scrape it out - and by that time Bumblebee thinks tiny ice cubes are a neat
snack.
 
3) Sleeve hidey-hole:
I've never had a cage with ramps before and I was attempting to use an FML
suggestion to cover them using a long shirt sleeve.  This was a very wide
sleeve and I accidentally put it on "upside-down" with the small part of the
sleeve on the bottom part of the ramp.  I noticed the large pocket it left -
and so did Kili.  He and Bumblebee sleep there now!
 
4) Ferret tissues:
These two guys are still pretty small so I put an empty family-sized box of
tissues into their cage upside-down.  They have both crawled in there
together to nose around at the bottle cap I left in it - and fallen asleep
with their heads sticking out of the hole as if they were the only two
tissues left in a box of ferret tissues!
 
5) Round glass bottles:
This may be a Bumblebee-specific toy (she's the only ferret I've ever seen
do this) but she knocked over an empty Arizona iced tea bottle, rolled it
allllll the way across the bedroom floor, then around to the only side of
the dresser it would fit under, and stashed it with her collection of
rescued action figures and bottle caps.  Recycle: get it out of the
hidey-hole and stand it up across the room again..  not sure how
entertaining it is for her, but I love it :)
 
Of course, always make sure the bottle opening is too small for them to get
their head stuck.
 
6) An old favorite:
Pick up a toy, store away from ferrets, bring back in a month.  Works every
time!
 
Take care all,
 
Melissa A. Durfee
(whose boyfriend is convinced that these two creatures are turkeys and not
ferrets since they "gobble" instead of "dook"!  =)
 
My inspiration for the day:
"Life is cool." --Beavis, after his first encounter with a nudist colony.
[Posted in FML issue 1731]