To All You Who Love Watching Ferrets Chasing Each Other on the Floor,
This is for you.
1.) A new Tube Toy, easy to make and essentially Free to you.
12.30.2009.
2.) Edward Lipinski's accidental discovery offers exercise for ferrets
and best of all, provides potential adopters of your rescued ferrets a
time of Joy and Laughter, as they watch the scrambles of one or several
ferrets scampering both inside and outside the tube, one pacing the
other, side by side. All this is seen completely clearly through the
transparent plastic tube walls.
3.) With the New Year's celebrations/parties almost here there will be
available some, maybe many bottles of soda pop, ginger ale, orange
juice, and colas of all kinds. These plastic bottles are the building
blocks of what I'd like to call Pop Tubes.
4.) The pop tubes are 2 Liter(2Qt 3.6 Fluid ounces) in capacity and are
thin walled, such that they can be cut easily with a razor blade and
short scissors. The idea here is to cut off the bottom of the pop tube
along the bottom of the circular reenforcement line.
5.) The top of the pop tube that carries the screw cap is to be cut off
as well as the bottom. However, it is best to cut all around the top,
maybe 2-inches down from the top, so the ojive portion can be pushed
into the bottom of a second pop tube previously cut. The ojive is the
surface of the top of the pop tube that circularly reduces in size to
take the bottle screw stopper.
6.) Take your first two pop tubes and stuff the top of one of them -
with the ojive - into the bottom of the second one, such that the two
pop tubes become physically one two-piece clear tube. Next, tape onto
the joint of the two pop tubes a strip of clear Scotch tape, taped
along the longitudinal axis of the pop tubes, rather than circularly.
I use two 2-inch lengths of tape. one on each side of the tube. Using
just two strips of Scotch tape permits some limited adjustment of the
tubes thereby allowing the construction of curved/circular pop tube
layout. Use a lot of pop tubes.
7.) To help the scampering ferret, especially if he's being chased by
a playmate, take a length of white masking tape and tape it around the
two openings of the pop tube layout. This helps the chased ferret find
the opening more quickly than would be the case otherwise.
8.) You will note that the ojive part of the pop tube is of smaller
internal diameter than the rest of the pop tube. So the ojive cut is to
be made low enough up on the pop tube (nearest the screw cap) to allow
your largest ferret to get through the tubes layout without getting
"stuck" in the area of the ojive. Also, you will note that the amount
of ojive inserted will tend to act like a one way valve, permitting
easily running through the tubes one way, but somewhat restricted
running or backing up the opposite way.
9.) I've noted that some ferrets, when inside the pop tube will rotate
themselves such that they appear to be scratching their backs by
rolling against the edge of the ojive. So they seem to be enjoying
themselves very much. After a few scratchings they sure get frisky.
10.) Edward Lipinski here hopes that you will want to make a pop tube
layout for your scampering ferrets as a 2010 New Year gift. This
suggestion to you may be quite worthwhile, especially if you are a
penny pincher such as I.
Edward Lipinski
Pet Food Producer Supremacist
The Only Pre-digested Flesh/Veggie Diet in the World.
[Posted in FML 6563]
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