Well, an odd and startling thing.  This evening I was cleaning litter
boxes and decided to send a Good News post to FML, when I picked up
Philippe, my youngst ferret, and saw his tail has lost a lot of hair.
The end inch is almost naked, and a couple more are sparse, I think this
must have happened suddenly -- or was I just unobservant????  P acts
fine -- plays, hides his toys, tackles the cat, as always.  He is only
about 14 months old....
 
So imaybe I am about to enter the cauldron of major ferret illness?
I'll be calling the vet tomorrow.
 
The good news is that my outdoor ferret pen is finally getting finished.
Some of you might remember a flurry of messages from me asking questions
and loking for advice last spring and summer.
 
I just threw out a Sort-Of-Significant Other (my old SOSO) whom I had
originally hired in Sept to weld the mesh, angle iron, etc etc together.
His daughter produced a baby between then and now, but over 10 months he
never did get that pen done.  Ah well.  Anyway, last week I hired some
guys, and now I have TWO pens almost complete, joined by a set of
up-in-the-air wire-mesh tunnels for the ferts.
 
One pen is 20' x 10', and the other is 6' x 24'.  Each is about 5.5'
high.  I'm 5'2!  The tunnels are 5" square.
 
One tunnel will run out of the indoor cage, go through a window and go
abt 20', supported on top of 4.5' high posts.  Then the tunnel will make
a T and become two tunnels, each heading for a pen.  Each tunnel will
pass through a few feet of leafy tree branches, enter its pen and then
slope down to the ground.
 
The tunnels will have indoor/outdoor carpeting on the bottom.  I hope
I'll be able to hose it clean through the mesh.  It is very dry and hot
here in the summer, so the carpeting will dry quickly.  Also, the tunnels
will be in 5' sections joined by latches I can undo if I need to.
 
This setup should give the ferts a whole new life!  They spend most of
their days in the kitchen these days, and are in their cage at night.
I can't wait to see what they do when they first get to go outdoors at
will.
 
To keep them from climbing too high up the walls of the pens, a ring of
4" drainpipe will run around the inside at about 3' up from the bottom.
I assume their feet wont be able to get a grip on it.  If necessary,
i'll put up two rings.
 
The gang willl also be able to run through the pipe for play.  It will
have short little Ts protruding from it, looking into the pen.  The open
ends will be covered with mesh, creating lookouts that the ferrets can
peer out of.  Also, I'll be able to dismantle the pipe at the Ts in case
I need to retrieve a sleeping fert.  I got these ideas when I visited the
MAFF last May and WOW saw the fert play gym made from this stuff.  They
inspired me to do this !!  Yay, MAFF!  I gew up in MAssachusetts and it
makes me happy the state has such a fine ferret group.
 
Back to the cages -- both are made of 1x2" wire mesh and have a ceiling
of mesh.  One has a metal frame and one has wood.
 
One has a mesh floor under a couple of feet of dirt, and the other one is
built over a sort of flagstone patio.  Each has a set of two gates for
me.  I'll go through the first gate, shut it, and then open the second
gate to pass in or out of the pen.  A sort of moat or lock system to
thwart fert mobbing and escapes.
 
The pen on the patio is at the back of my house, under beach plum trees.
The branches make a canopy, and its bottom touches the pen ceiling, The
trees have a lot of long thin branches.  In spring they're covered in
sweet-smelling light pink flowers, and now there are a bizillion little
red plums, and the leaves are nice and green.  It looks great and feels
idyllic.  I've got a small wooden picnic table and 2 benches in that pen,
 
The other pen is on the side of the house, under a big deciduous tree
whose name I don't know, but it is very green and leafy, It's a big tall
tree, and branches come close to the ground.  Outside the opposite side
of the pen is a row of lilac bushes and a rose bush.  I'm going to plant
tall running bamboo (some is black-stemmed) inside the pen.  Also some
vines -- inspired by the post from the author of Ferrets for Dummies
about her outdoor ferret set up.
 
Also from reading her post, I will set up a misting system for heat waves
like we are having now.  There will also be a pool for the ferts.  I have
a filter and pump, and I hope that, between us, the guys and I can fugure
out how to set that up so the water stays cean and the machinery can't
hurt the ferrets.  Anyone got experience with this?
 
Also, I have to decide what to use for the pool.  DO YOU THINK THE
STANDARD MATERIAL (is it fiberglass?  resin?  ??) FOR GARDEN POOLS IS
TOXIC?  (sorry abt the caps -- I want to be sure you see the question
if you are skimming.)
 
This pen will have a queen-size fouton setup that can be couch-shaped or
fold down flat.  I'm anticipating some good times in the pens.  I wish I
could run through the tunnels from pen to pen like the ferts, but I'll
just stay put and read my books and look up at the brinches and drink my
lemonade and eat my snacks and let ferts run over me and grab up Rico to
kiss him before lick lick becomes Chomp.
 
I've also got shade cloth to screen that pen from too-curious visitors
and to go over part of the ceiling that lets in scorching sun in late
mornings.  For the rainy/snowy months I'll put up some sort of cover over
part of each pen.  I've got lots of Rose's bedding to put up, and I've
discovered a great thing the ferrets like to sleep under.  But I will
describe that in another post.
[Posted in FML issue 5311]