On a recent trip down South, and following the advice of many a friendly
FMLr, I stopped by at Martin's Cages and, over and above the pleasure of
meeting and conversing with the Martins (who are lovely people and with a
great love for animals), I also drove away with a pre-packed three full
level ferret penthouse (modified so that the top level could be put
together as a full floor with closed ends, pretty much like the second
one).  Beth and I put it together while at her place and all of our fuzzies
got to do the rounds through it at playtime.  Elliot in particular went
into ecstasy over it, rubbing himself on the vinil coated grills and on the
little carpet mugs.
 
Getting it up to Canada was a bit more interesting.  I thought I had the
cage well secured but the moment I hit the 495 and my speedometer went up
to 120 kph two bungie cords flew right off.  I had to spend a lot more time
making sure it was really secure.  By the time I got home I was exhausted
but I spent the next three hours setting the cage with towels, blankets,
hammock, a little tent and tubes, food and water, litter boxes with some
fresh shit from the trip on the one they use for toilet purposes (since
they have made an arbitrary decision to use the other one as a wood-pellet
play box and treasure burial ground).  Then I put them in and I was able to
truly enjoy my supper watching them go nuts on their new luxury housing.
 
But now to my question.  Sprite, the mischief machine (who had previously
taken to gnawing on and *eating* the polar fleece blankets) has now taken
to biting, gnawing and eating pieces of the little carpets that are
provided with the cage to place on the shelfs.
 
I've tried spraying bitter apple on them but this only works briefly, and
it is just not practical to cover these little rugs with bitter apple cream
every time.  She tends to gnaw at the edges anyway.
 
I have nightmares pertaining to intestinal blockage.  Is there a solution
that anybody has ever come up with for this kind of problem?  Would
gun/duct tape wrapped around the edges of the rugs help, or does it only
make it worse and more dangerous?
 
Thanks in advance,
 
Jaime
[Posted in FML issue 2993]