I's gonna try as hard as I can to be brief & not be too silly here.  But I
wanted to share this, in case some other new or potential ferret owner has
not figured it out yet.  And maybe prevent serious injury to a fuzzy or two.
 
I am a brand-new ferret owner.  Bilbo & MIssy live in a very simple cage
with a sheet metal pan attached to the bottom to catch their droppings.  I
clean it every other day.  I dump and wipe all the mess that I can, but I
then rinse it all off in VERY hot water.  I do this in the tub with a
european-style showerhead (sorry, if that bothers some).
 
The point of this is that each and every day since I have had my little
fuzzies they have *SURPRISED* me with yet another place they get into that I
didn't think they could, and today has been no different.  They are such
good little helpers, they follow me everywhere while I clean up their cage,
scampering around and nibbling at my toes.  Until tonight, everytime I
turned on the water in the shower, they scurried off on some different
adventure and I do not see them again until I am done with the cage cleaning
task.  But, not tonight.  As I am standing there, with nozzle in hand and
steam billowing up from a half full tub of scalding hot water, in race these
two ferrets tumbling all over each other and hurling themselves along in a
typical game of tag.  No Thank Goodness, neither one of them did a
somersault over the edge of the tub, but it sure took a few years off my
life.  Though they haven't done it yet, I instantly realized there will come
a time when they are big enough and curious enough to do an Olympic style
dive right into the tub.
 
I really knows how lucky I was, and will now forever more, do this part of
the cleaning task, behind a bathroom door.  This is just meant to warn any
other new ferret owners that might be listening that ferrets are just like
kids and need every bit as much watchin' out fer.  They's the mostest
funnest pets I ever given my heart to, but they's sure are tricky and needs
theyselves lots o' human thinkin' to keep their lives safe.  Dad-gum-it, I
couldn't even gets all the way thru THIS withouts gettin' silly.
 
Just us crazies,
Ken & Missy & Bilbo
 
Oh, and By The Way, the new place these two done figgered' out how to get
into weren't the bath tub, Thank-the-Lord, but it were the *CLOSET*.  I's
in deep ferret-poop now.
[Posted in FML issue 1505]