Hey all-
 
My current ferret set-up has worked out well for us for the 3 1/2 years
we've lived in our house.  My ferrets (at one point as many as 9, but now
down to 5 as my older ferrets have passed over the last couple of years)
have been lucky enough thus far to have their own entire bedroom, with
several cages that I keep open all the time, the carpet covered in vinyl
floor covering for easy cleaning, the door left open with a vinyl-covered
baby gate in it so I can frequently pop my head in to say hello when I
don't have time to go all the way in, and toys and playthings galore
scattered around.  They have even had their own walk-in closet where I
store all their stuff!  We had our first child a year and a half ago and I
was thankful that even though I didn't have as much free time to devote to
the ferrets I knew they still had plenty of space to run around and play
whenever they wanted.  Well, here's the situation I'm currently facing.
I'm pregnant with my 2nd baby, due in May, and the ferrets are going to
have to give up their bedroom.  They're going to move into another large
room that is a guest room/ exercise room/ playroom, but for lots of
reasons I won't get into they won't have free roam in that room like they
have in their current room.  So to give them the best possible living
situation given the circumstances (and to ease my guilt) I'm going to
try to find the best and biggest cage set-up I can so that they can still
have plenty of room to move about and play, as I know that in reality I
won't be able to let them run around the room very often.  I currently
have a Midwest cage that the previous owners built a 2nd entire floor
in (and this sits on a separate square of vinyl instead of in that
impossible-to-clean plastic pan), a much smaller 2-story cage, and a
couple of small sick-cages.  I've checked out Martin's cages and can't
really find a bad word about them, so that's probably the way I will go.
What I'd like to do is to somehow have 2 large cages (either my Midwest
and a new one, or 2 new ones- luckily price isn't too big a factor) and
somehow connect them together with a tube or doorway or something.  I'm
not exactly sure how that would work with my current cage short of cutting
a big hole in the side with wire cutters.  I've also heard that Skip
Martin (I think that's his name) will work with you to custom-design a
cage, so I imagine that if I talk to him we can work something out so
that he can either cut extra openings in 2 of his standard cages (and
maybe even design a way to connect them), or help me come up with a whole
different design than what I have in mind.  I thought that I'd ask for
advice from you all before I talked to him, though.  Has anybody been in
this situation?  Can you reassure me that my ferrets will be okay?  Any
advice on how to make the transition easier for them, and any advice on
the cage setup?  All 5 get along well, and I'll probably save the smaller
cages for when/if someone gets sick or needs to be separated from the
others.  My Midwest cage has worked out well for me for several years now,
but I don't mind getting rid of it.
 
Anyway, sorry to go on for so long.  I sure would appreciate any advice!
and in case anyone is thinking about yelling at me, don't.  We're shocked
that we were able to get pregnant a 2nd time, as our first baby was an in
vitro baby after several years of trying, and so this one was a very happy
surprise.  We're planning on building a house in 3 years or so, and if our
number of ferrets at that time warrants them having their own room again,
then they will.  In the meantime I want to give them the best possible
set-up, even if they can't have an entire room to themselves.
 
Thanks so much!
 
Jamie Furr and the Furr-ets: Gus, Einstein, Hopper, Butterbean, and Baby
[Posted in FML issue 3629]