Oh boy, another story for ya'll!
 
I took my four fuzzbutts to my parents house along with their "travel cage"
which is the four-story superpet cage.
 
In the basement of my parents house is a carpeted storage/playroom (for
kids) with shelves of boxes along two and half of the walls.  Everytime I
am there, I would let them out of the prison (cage) to run around the room
for a while before I go out.  I thought it was pretty ferret-proofed since
it is in the basement which means it was concrete on three sides and the
floor.  The forth wall is drywalled and has no openings, except for the
top.  The reason is because it doesn't have any ceiling installed, so it
is wood beam exposed.
 
I stepped out for a half hour to do something, when I returned, I found
Food Stamp napping in the cage, Mocha and Cheswick napping in the drawers
of the dresser.  Put them in the cage and proceed to search for Soda-Pop.
Couldn't locate him, even after shaking the treat can (he loves the treats
in it).  Figured that he found a snug spot somewhere in the boxes and in
deep sleep.
 
I decided to leave him and come back later in the day after he has his
sleep.  Hours passed and I walked in expecting to find some presents in
the corners, only to find the place too clean.  You guys know that you
can tell when a room has been occupied by ferrets.
 
My trained eye told me that there is no evidence of a ferret.  Panic came
next.  Torn the boxes open in vain attempt to locate Soda-Pop, my first and
favorite.  After going thru all the boxes, and banging pans so he might
come out to investigate the noises.  No pink nose anywhere!
 
I looked around to see how he can get out of the room.  I was sure that he
wouldn't have gotten out by the door.  All around the room is sealed....
EXCEPT for the ceiling!
 
Shelves on one side goes up to the ceiling but the there are no holes on
that side of the room in the ceiling BUT on the other side (where there
are no shelves) there are openings in the ceiling (which is the floor for
upstairs)
 
NO WAY he can make it over to the other side of the room...wait... there is
a christmas "weath" that is put up for storage that goes across the room in
the wood beams.....OHHHHH NO NO NO NO!
 
There we have it, a loose fuzzbutt running around in the
floor/ceiling/walls of the house!  Panic again (it was a BIG house), my
first concern is that he would look down the walls and fall down in the
walls and unable to climb back out.  I wanted to drill holes in every 16"
slot between wood studs along the walls in the whole house.
 
As the evening slowly pulled along, we had no clue to where he is... till
my parents heard a scrapping sound in the ceiling at the bar.  Rushed to
get a drill and saw, I went around the other side of the wall in the closet
of a bedroom.  Parents thought he has fallen down in the walls since the
scrapping sound now is down in the walls, not in the ceiling anymore.
 
Got the picture in mind?  Me drilling carefully but frantically sawing the
holes so he can get out.  No ferret in this slot... more scrapping sound
moving around down the wall... another hole of course.... still no ferret...
 
We stopped everything and listened very carefully... THERE!... right in the
middle of the wall, and up around chest-level, I drilled and sawed a hole.
Behold!  A pair of ruby eyes of a naughty dirty stinker!  (he is an albino,
but with all the dirt/dust, he was grey with red eyes).  Lots of kisses and
a bath followed...
 
We are now very happy to be back home to my ferret-proofed apartment!
Thought it would never happen to me after reading all the stories of
ferrets escapades.  I have done *everything* to ferret-proof my apartment,
but this "adventure" will serve to remind me to never underestimate the
abilities of these stinkers!
 
By the way, he could go up and down the walls quite well, by pressing his
back against one side and "walking" up on the other.  And yes, I have to
fill those holes when I visit again later this week.
 
--
Ferrethill and the Fab Four: Soda-Pop, Mocha, Cheswick and Food Stamp
 
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* "Thar ain't no fool like them war-dancing weezels!" *
*                                                     *
* IQC number: 35125920                                *
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[Posted in FML issue 2689]