Well, my post of Saturday exceeded the 125 line deal and was sent back (boy
was I wordy) and I have sent it to Bill to try again. Other people have
addressed questions I responded to anyway....
Interesting to note that Sheena Staples north of the border had never heard
of greenies til she joined FML - Hi Sheena. I commented on this in my post.
My point exactly. My own Canadian ferrets have never heard of greenies or
ECE either - and have proved resistent to it on three ECE attacks in my
household. In three years of tracking the greenies - have yet to receive a
confirmed report of a known Canadian origin ferret that has contracted this
enteritis.
I have never truly believed that a house can be totally ferret proof. No
matter what you do, the ferrets will always think of something or find
something that you haven't thought of. This was brought home to me last
night. After Sparky, one of my ferrets, set the house on fire a couple of
years ago - I replaced the box spring bed with a platform bed. This was
done because the little darlings had totally ripped out the underneath of
the mattress. I purchased a rather sturdy ebony platform designed for
waterbeds. Solid base when assembled. The only thing I overlooked was that
ferrets could elude me behind the headboard and hide things under the
overhang from the base behind the headboard. This area being inaccessible
to me. And they discovered this fact very quickly and everyone runs there
when they steal something. little monsters..
Well, I don't know how it happened - the bed is shifted slightly sometimes
when cleaning - but a crack of about an inch wide developed on one of the
corners. I discovered this last night when I heard scratching sounds from
inside the bed. What?!?
When I located the crack - barely wide enough to stick my fingers in - lo
and behold, ferret noses touched my fingers. How did they get in such a
narrow opening?, I thought. We all know they can slide in extremely small
openings, but this was incredible. More incredible was the fact that three
neutered hobs all over four pounds, and two intact hobs each over 5 pounds,
plus several much smaller jills, were in there!! I did not know this at
first though.
Hanging upside down over the bed and enticing ferrets with raisins,
ferretone, nutrical, pieces of cookie, chocolate chips (I got desperate) -
it took 3 hours to get them all out. I think. By this time it was 2:30 in
the morning. I used a mallet to hammer the sides together as much as I
could although a small crack was left. I tremble to think of what awaits me
when I get home tonight. Surely they cannot work it open again......or get
in the sliver left. Gad. Think I am in trouble.
It was really something seeing the hobs get out - several of the bigger ones
I helped - something like delivering a baby without the episiotomy. The two
whole hobs - both big boys - get along well together, for some reason. They
have not read the book about how whole hobs are supposed to kill each
other.. Although sometimes I really wonder about them, because they get
upset if separated for even a few minutes.
What next? I have quite gotten used to the flying ferrets scaling bare
walls and such - would not be surprised to see one dash across the ceiling.
But one does have limits. I have explained things to them. Not that this
will do much good.
I have learned that it is nearly impossible to outsmart a determined ferret.
Little Alicia, a wee silver mitt, likes to chew leather. I have learned to
walk with her hanging from the toe of my shoes. She also likes to chew the
corners of purses, and climbs everyday to the top shelf in my closet to
indulge in this habit. I tried to outsmart her by hanging purses from hooks
on the outside of the closet door. No problem. She just catwalks along the
top of the door, drops down into a purse, climbs back up and hangs over the
side, and chews the corner of the purse. I squirt her with my water pistol
or the dread spray bottle (which is my best war weapon). No problem. She
ducks back into the purse and climbs out the otherside - eluding me as she
swings from purse to purse. I end up with a lot of wet handbags. I am
considering a full surrender. This morning I also woke up to find my
bathtub full of scattered PineFresh litter. How did this happen? Old
dummy, tired from fishing ferrets from under the bed, left the bag on the
sink. Probably Sweet Hart (blaze from hell) climbed up and knocked it in
the bathtub so everybody could have a pinefresh sandbox.
I also found some reddish colored poop, which completely freaked me. I
grabbed ferrets left and right up-ending them to check for signs of
bleeding. This problem was solved when I retrieved an empty Pounce liver
treats can from behind the door. This pounce treat is reddish in color.
Sweet Hart, afore-mentioned blaze from hell, can open cans. He recently
learned to unscrew bottles too. His first attempt was the Ferretone. Major
pig out ensued. Major loose stools followed. Poison control felt no
serious problem - fortunately bottle nearly empty - and problem worked
itself through the ferrets soon enough. Now you are probably thinking that
I should not have left the Pounce or the Ferretone where ferrets could get
it. Right? Hah! Both were left on the top of the T.V. - which is on top
of a chest of drawers - which is on top of the VCR stand - approximately 6
feet up. Somebody - probably aforementioned blaze or his partner in crime -
Honey Bun - scaled up the back. I am definitely going to surrender. sigh.
Most of my ferrets are manic. I just wish I could depress them. meg
[Moderator's note: If a post is over 125 lines it gets sent back to you
automagically. I never see it nor even know that you sent it. If you feel
it shouldn't/couldn't be edited down, send it to ferret-request rather than
to the list and I'll handle those as space permits. Thanks, BIG]
[Posted in FML issue 1469]
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