Barbara, we solved our ferret baby gate jumping problem.  It may not work
for you b/c you're at a stairway (from what I understand), but it's worth
the try.  Since Pepper isn't just leaping over, he's having to grab ahold
and push himself over, trying angling the baby gate toward the room that
he's in.  My ASCII art is less than impressive, but here goes...  X marks
the ferret.
 
            \
             \
              \
               \
        X       \
 
This is a side view of the baby gate...  you're looking through the wall.
Anyway, this is working for us.  They can't climb the gate b/c it's a
backwards angle.  If Pepper manages to jump to the top, as Max sometimes
did, his little legs will dangle and he'll have to be ultra strong to pull
himself up w/o using his back feet.  If he manages to grab the gate with his
back legs, well, he'll still be at the real difficult angle to climb over
the rest of the way.  I hope this makes sense...  Good luck!!
 
Anna and her crew... down to four ferts (no deaths, just adoptions)
 
************************************************************
*    "In the whole history of the world there is but one   *
* thing money cannot buy--to wit the wag of a dog's tail." *
*                                         -Josh Billings   *
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[Posted in FML issue 1465]