Dear Ferret Folks-
 
There have been a lot of good schemes for making outdoor ferret
enclosures.  Me, I just have too much on my plate to build one.  (OK,
to ask my excellent husband Dann to build one, let's be honest here.)
 
I was thinking about it, though.  First, I want to come back in the next
life as Kim Schilling's ferret.  Just a comment.
 
Second, I was thinking about the possible usefullness of those "Build
your own Fishpond" kits.  You can buy them at places like Home Depot
(Man-Land) and local greeneries.  They are molded pond bases in extremely
heavy plastic.  They are maybe a eighteen inches deep, with one end
several feet deep.  In essence, they are a kiddies plastic wading pool,
only much tougher, deeper, and shaped like a little fishpond.  You dig a
hole, pull out any rocks, and slide the pool into the ground.  These
things last for years, they are really tough.  No ferret is going to dig
a hole through one.
 
I'm thinking that might be an awesome base for a little outside
enclosure.  It would solve the "Dig to China" problem.  You could
backfill the deep end with some soil, and it would stay moist.  Good
for digging.  The rest of the pond, the shallow end, you could put soil
or sand or maybe mulch, and potted plants in for cover.  Nesting boxes
could be slipped beneath a few cooling plants, or maybe an upside-down
egg crate with hammy.
 
Obviously, this isn't going to accomodate 20 ferrets.  But just a few?
Very possibly.  Some of those pond bases are huge.
 
I'll leave it to a better engineer than me to figure out how to enclose
it.  It does have the advantage that the cover or walls could sit
entirely *inside* the heavy plastic walls of the pond, trapping diggers.
 
Just a thought.
 
Alexandra in MA
[Posted in FML issue 4947]