I just read the tip about getting down on all fours and checking things
out at ferret level.  That is so important!  I had heard about making
sure (in apartments especially) that cabinets and undercabinets are
finished off.  In my own apartment the inside of my bottom kitchen
cabinets had open spaces in the back (can't imagine where they lead to,
but I'm sure my fuzzies would have been curious if they ever got into the
cabinet) so I blocked the spaces off with wood.  About two years ago my
then boyfriend and I decided it would be good if I could bring the
ferrets to his basement apartment on the weekends sometimes.  We thought
we did everything.  We got a cage set up there, he got rid of his
recliner chair, and I bent down and checked to be sure that the space
under the cabinets was solid (the four inch space underneath bottom
cabinets, where they jut out are sometimes not finished off).
 
Well a quick check and I felt solid wood under the cabinets, no worries
there.  But I didn't get down on all fours, I didn't look along the whole
length of the cabinets.  Jillie, one of my sweet fuzzgirls did.  The wood
was not finished in the corners and along the ends.
 
When we let them out for the first time they went wild exploring.  I went
wild worrying about where they would poop on his carpet.  My boyfriend is
the one who noticed Jillie heading under the cabinet.  He made a dive for
her and pulled her out by her bum.  I could not believe my stupidity to
not check more thoroughly, and I was horrified to imagine where she would
have ended up.
[Posted in FML issue 4258]