>From:    Emily Topp <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Keep ou!
>Has anyone had any luck, short of nailing wood strips to the wall, with
>any sort of easy-up-and-down barrier (for especially climby ferrets?).
>I've been trying to figure out how to use a shower curtain tension rod,
>for example, but haven't come up yet with a good thing to drape over it
>that they can't climb.
 
Hi Emily,
I have used tension rods to block access to low windows in the past with
great success.  For each opening you will need two rods, one to go at floor
level and one to go higher than your ferrets can jump.  I bought heavy duty
clear plastic sheeting, the kind that is sold for lining floors before
putting wood down on them.  I cut the sheeting to be as wide as and several
inches taller than the opening I needed to cover, and then created sleeves
for the tension rods in the plastic sheeting (I used double-sided carpet
tape to stick the plastic together-- make sure that the "seam" is on the
side your ferrets can't access).  Voila, a lightweight barrier that isn't
a horrible eyesore and is easily removed.  If you have trouble with your
ferrets clawing at the sides of the barrier and pushing through, you can
add strips of wood (I used 1x1) flush with the edge, so that they can't
bend the edges back.  I used more of the carpet tape to stick on the wood.
Hopefully this made sense!
 
Regina (the window barriers proved so durable, now that I live with normal
windows I have turned the barriers sideways and am using them for closet
shelving :)
 
Regina Harrison  [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/1083
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         This city is an ogre squatting by the river
         It gives life but it takes it away, my youth
       There comes a time when you just cannot deliver
         This is a fact. This is a stone cold truth.
[Posted in FML issue 3068]