With summer and hot and humid weather at hand, I'd like to clear up one
seemingly common misconception about keeping ferrets cool.  A fan, by
itself, will NOT cool a ferret.  A fan merely blows air.  It feels cool to a
human, because the air blowing over sweaty skin causes evaporation, and
evaporation causes cooling.  Ferrets don't sweat, therefore blowing air over
a ferret will not cool the ferret.
 
There are a couple of things that you might try if you don't like the frozen
water bottles.  Blowing a fan over a pan of ice can blow the cold air around
the ice over the ferret.
 
If you put a bucket of water near the cage and drape a towel over the cage
with one end of the towel in the bucket to wick up the water, then aim the
air from the fan at the wet towel, the moving air will evaporate the water
and cool the air (if the air is not to humid.)
 
Personally, I like the idea of the frozen bottles of water.  Cheap, easy, and
the ferrets can curl up around them or not, depending on how they feel about
it.  <G>
 
Dick B.
[Posted in FML issue 1984]