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Subject:
From:
"William L. Sebok" <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Fri, 16 Dec 1994 21:40:52 -0500
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Recently I was introduced to clear dryer hose by Wayne and Sylvia Baggett (also
on the Ferret Mailing List).  This has great potential as a ferret toy.  Many
clear dryer hoses can also be used to construct a wonderful, but rather cheap,
ferret maze.
 
The dryer hose is called "DryerMate CLEARDUCT". The package says "a product of
Nemco, Inc., Grand Haven Michigan 49417."  I can get it at Clark's "DoIt
Center" on US Route 40 just west of Baltimore, Maryland. I have no idea where
else it may be available. A section of clear dryer hose costs about $5.
 
The ends of the dryer hose fit onto 3 inch plastic plumbing joints.  These are
a bit harder to find than 4 inch fixtures but are still easy to find in a
hardware store.  With the plumbing joints and the clear dryer hose one can
construct a maze.  I like to join sections of hose with T joints which provide
access points to the outside.  A T joint costs between $3 and $5.  There also
exists what I call a "psi" joint which has 4 openings: a path straight through
and branches to each side.  These cost about $10.  A "psi" joint, besides being
interesting to a ferret, can be used as one side of a loop in the maze: one arm
of the joint is connected to a branch of the maze while the other arm provides
access to the outside.
 
The maze is easy to put together and take down.  Since the hose is flexible it
is easier to handle than rigid tubing.  The ferrets also like the rough surface
better than the smooth surface of rigid tubing and like the sound they make
as they run through the hose.  The maze can be moved around and rearranged in
different configurations to hold the ferret's interest.
 
With it I have constructed a maze for our ferrets that goes all the way around
the ferret playroom.  It snakes behind and under the furniture, and drapes over
a platform made of 6 side-to-side long boxes there is an extra side loop of
dryer hose. The maze has become a perennial hit with our three ferrets.  The
ferrets love to chase each other, tails wagging. One ferret goes backwards ---
both ferrets have their mouths open as if they were biting.  Buttercup, our
youngest (an 11 month old jill) can run backwards through the maze at almost
full speed.
 
The platform of boxes is itself another maze.  These boxes were used to hold
slide projector screens and were left over from construction of the building
where my wife Clare works.  I have cut holes on the tops of these boxes so that
there are many entry points from above and holes on the sides of the boxes so
that there are many paths from on box to an adjacent box.
 
It keeps the ferrets from getting bored.
 
Bill & Clare Sebok
 
Lupi (the dog)
Ben & Jerry (5 yr old jills)
Buttercup (11 month old jill.  Keeps the rest on their toes).
[Posted in FML issue 1045]

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