OK, those of you who responded about having sand boxes at home and letting
your ferrets play in the sand on cool beaches did not read my post
carefully.
 
I was not talking about digging in the sand, I was commenting about BLOWING
sand.  Sand contains silica - same stuff they make glass from -
 
When ferrets tunnel, they don't dig the dirt up into their faces - they
scoop it underneath their bodies.  Sure, they getting dirty noses and dirty
faces, but since you want to use their 'wild' attributes as an example -
here's one - they don't, by nature, dig on beaches - they dig in the woods
and meadows - dirt - not sand - is what they dig in.  Dirt seems a lot safer
than sand - it's more moist and compacted - not so much like dust particles.
Of course, in the wild, the dirt is not full of pesticides, chemical
fertilizers, etc.  In the wild, they are able to make a tunnel......can a
ferret really make a tunnel in a pile of dry sand, or is he fighting a
losing battle?
 
One more thing about the beach - no matter how cool on the beach it is,
the ultraviolet intensity can cause damage to the retina - probably not
noticeable to you since ferrets have poor eyesight anyway, but do you really
want to expose your ferret to that risk?  I HOPE nobody is taking ANY
ALBINOS to the beach!
 
IF you don't know why, albinos have no pigmentation at all - absolutely no
protection from the sun - animals can get sunburned just as we can - and
albinos have absolutely no business being in the sun - just ask Johnny
Winters.
 
(These are, of course, just my opinions on the beach - no scientific data to
back them up - except for the albino part and the retinal damage part).
 
Debbie Riccio
WNYFLFA
Rochester, NY
[Posted in FML issue 1526]