Hi all,
I sent a version of this post to Sukie, who suggested I try it out on the
FML and see what others thought. So here goes.
My idea uses wood, which is easily available to most people. Any competent
carpenter, or in particular any competent cabinet or furniture maker should
be able to build this box with sufficiently tight joints to exclude light.
The basic design is as follows. Imagine that the top of this box has been
removed and you are looking down at the "innards" of the box. It would
look like this.
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Kind of crude but I hope you get the idea. The hole at the bottom of the
diagram is the entrance. The lines going partway across are "baffles"
which go floor to ceiling. So the ferret enters, turns right, left at the
end and then right again into the sleeping area. The idea of the baffles
is that they block most or all of the light that would otherwise enter if
you just had the entrance hole alone. This would hopefully negate the need
for any kind of tarp to put over the box. Especially if the baffles, or
the whole interior for that matter, were painted with a flat black paint
that would not reflect but instead would absorb all light.
As for the wood type, a nice grade of plywood would probably be simplest.
The whole thing could be sealed with a non-toxic sealer to prevent
absorption of moisture.
I thought about ways to make the interior accessible to us for cleaning out
and replacing bedding. At first I thought that perhaps the back of the box
could be hinged at the top and swing up, but then I had a better idea. The
box would be made in two parts. One part being the bottom and sides,
complete with baffles, and the other being a top which would slide down
over the whole thing like the lid of a shirt box, with an entrance hole
matching the one in the bottom piece of course. This would give access to
the whole of the interior, including the "tunnel" area created by the
baffles. And this option has the advantage that, at long as one measures
correctly, you don't have to worry quite so much about light-tight joinery.
You just make the interior dimensions of the slide-on cover
ever-so-slightly-bigger than the exterior dimensions of the bottom
compartment.
Other points: This design I think would allow plenty of air to get inside
while preventing light from doing the same. Another piece of the design
would be to make the entrance as small as would be reasonable and safe.
Perhaps 4" by 3" or 4" x 4" for those really chunky ferrets. ;-) By
locating the entrance hole at the bottom edge of the box and in the corner,
you would further inhibit light from entering.
Also, given that one presumably would only have artificial lighting on 10
hours a day, the remainder of the time only dim outside light or no light
(at night) would be entering the room. So there would be even less chance
for light to penetrate all the way to the interior of the box where the
ferrets would be sleeping (under their blankets probably).
I've given some thought to a patent. I'm not sufficiently educated yet on
the process of patenting to know whether I could afford to do such a thing,
or if it would be otherwise do-able. Perhaps those "in the know" could
give me some tips?
Anyway, I am looking forward to any comments that anyone might have.
Cheers,
Karen
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A righteous man has regard for the life of his beast, but the mercy of
the wicked is cruel."
(Proverbs 12:10 RSV)
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If you love ferrets, check out:
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~crassi/index.html
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[Posted in FML issue 2510]
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