Been meaning to share this for a little while.  I posted a few months back
about a slide made with dryer hose, which some of my ferrets really enjoy.
However, because of all the wire, they can only go sooo fast, so I want to
make them something faster.
 
Bought a bookshelf a few months ago, it came packed in approx. 6 feet long
cardboard box.  It's very slippery, perfect slide material.  My roommate &
I made it into a portable slide, with a tunnel on the the bottom.
 
Here's how we built it:
 
  |^\     4/^|   Besides the cardboard, you need 2 6-feet long 1x2
 8|  \_6__/  |   inch common pine, and 2 4-feet long 1x2 inch common
  |  tunnel  |   pine, which you should cut into 14 6-inch long pieces.
  |__________|   Make this into a ladder, with the g-feet wood lying on
      7.5        it's 1-inch side, and the wood pieces lying on their
                 their 2-inch side, about 3 or 4 inches apart (basically
space them evenly).  Then fold (helps to slit it slightly) the cardboard
into an upside down A frame as shown on the left.  You'll need a bit of
extra cardboard to fold over the bottom.  My card board was a bit longer
than 6 feet, keep the extra length as you want the slide a bit longer
than the entrance of the tunnel.  Attach the ladder to the base of the
tunnel at the base and sides.
 
Some hints for attaching the cardboard to wood:
I have a small staple gun, but the staples aren't quite long enough to
attach the cardboard firmly, so I end up using 1-inch long nails.  What
you want to do is cut small pieces of duct tape, put the duct tape on the
cardboard where you want to secure it to the wood, happer the nail about
3/4 of the way into the cardboard, and then flatten the rest sideways
over the cardboard.  The duct tape keeps the nail from ripping through
the cardboard.
 
Now to finish the ends.  For the top, cut away 5 inches or so off the
slide part, this is so the ferrets can get on the slide from the ladder.
I fold this part up so there is a little bump before the slide.  You may
also want to use a bit of string and tie the sides together at the top.  I
also drilled 2 holes on each side of the ladder at the top, I attach some
strong string to this and use it to attach the whole contraption to their
cage.  You may want to put a box or something around the top so they can't
get out or fall from there.  For the bottom, just cut away some cardboard
on the side so that the ferrets can get into the tunnel to climb up.
 
Note that the math for the ladder and the cardboard doesn't add up.  This
is because 1x2 inch pine is actually 3/4x1 3/4 inches.  There's some
obscure reason for this.  Also 2 4-feet pieces of wood yields 14 6-inch
segments and 2 shorter pieces.
 
Now attach the slide top to something.  Make sure the bottom of the slide
rest on a cushion or something.  Don't make it too steep, it's too fast
for them and they won't go down it.  For various reasons, the best slide
position end up going from the 2nd level opening at my cage top to the
side of my pillow.  A hammock is just above the cage opening, so often I
will have a ferret wake up, stretch, crawl on the slide and come crashing
down my face.  Even Birch and Storm, my wusses, will slide down it.  And
they all enjoy running up and down the tunnel as well, if not more.  It's
also really funny to watch them try to run up the slide.  Another fun
thing is to put a treat on the 5 or 6 inches down the slide and watch a
ferret try to get it without falling down - each time they touch it, it
will slip a lttle further.
 
Other possibilities:
The cardboard does wear (specially with the ferrets ripping off chunks at
the bottom and top, and punching holes through the slide from the tunnel),
so I'm thinking I will have to make the whole thing out of wood eventually.
One thing that would be fun is to make the slide part out of plexiglass,
but I guess they wouldn't slide down as fast, cardboard is really great for
that.  Another idea I had (inspiration from Bob C. post on polish nails)
was line the ladder with sand paper.
 
Note I'm not a wood worker, so there might be better ways to do things.  If
there's something you don't understand, let me know and I'll try to explain
in greater detail.
 
Every ferret needs a slide!  Have fun!
 
// ***********************************************
// Selina, Birch, Dief, Sprite, Storm, Sand & Bear
// http://www.cgl.uwaterloo.ca/~ssiu
[Posted in FML issue 3022]