On Thu, 29 Mar 2001 11:05:15 -0500 GEORGE MORROW II <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >Well after all that I just wanted to know if any of you good folks have >ever had a fert return to your house after being gone outside a good 10 >hours? I considered that it great compliment she came back. In 1996, I had two ferrets, Smokey and Li'l Girl. They were both only 2, and I nearly lost her. (Little Girl was a sleeper - like 20 hours a day from day 1! Smokey, though, was up 20 hours and slept 4!) I fell asleep on the couch while they were out playing and when I got up to go to bed, couldn't find them to put them up. It was the only time I had EVER let them stay uncaged all night, and at 1:30 am I awoke to hear LG playing. Well, because I was tired and didn't know where Smokey was, I let her stay out. I was afraid I would be awake all night if I took the time to set out food and water for him and closed her up in the cage. So I said, Okay, what's one night? Well, someone opened my apt. door in the middle of the night. At 6 am, I felt someone watching me. I looked and it was Smokey, staring at me from underthe dresser. He did the *Lassie* number - you know, Follow me! Hurry! Timmy's in trouble! - so I followed him to the living room. There I saw the open door and thought, the ferrets, I have to find the ferrets. It was so funny because it took a minute for it to dawn on me that ONE of the ferrets was right at my feet! I just KNEW that Li'l Girl was gone, though. Sure enough, I couldn't find her anywhere inside. I went out and started asking questions, determining that she was last seen about 4:30 am by someone leaving for work. He knew I had ferrets and thought she might be mine, but couldn't catch her. Well,I spent all day looking under every apt. building, in every hole, under cars, even under the homes of the neighbors. No Little Girl. I even checked all the streets to see if she had been hit by a car. No Little Girl. BUT, all day long I had this voice telling me, "If you will go at dusk to the last place she was seen, you will find her there." So, I told myself, okay, I will. I talked to the man when he came home from work to determine EXACTLY where he had seen her. And, I kept hunting. As the day passed, I talked to more and more people. Finally, it was near dusk and I literally had to interrupt a conversation as the voice became more urgent. "Go NOW, Renee, or it will be too late!" So, I ran to the last reported sighting spot and there she was, running down the sidewalk, free! I could almost hear her squealing in delight at her freedom! I called her and she ducked under a car in the parking lot. I got on my belly and grabbed her. Still not sure how! I kissed her and loved her and took her home. She was so full of herself! And, it turned out that my door was probably unlocked by a disgruntled former employee who had a master key. I was not the first person it had happened to. They changed my locks, but I NOW keep my critters caged at night and, just in case I fall asleep with one or more out, I keep food and water ouside the cage and ANYONE I see gets put away for their own protection. I also take these other precautions to protect them: *No matter how sure I am they can not crawl into the washer, I verify the location of each one and keep them out of the laundry room immediately before starting the washer. *I open the dishwasher to verify no fuzzies and visually confirm their whereabouts. Same when using the oven or the dryer. *If someone *escapes* - inside or out - no appliance is used. They can crawl into outside vents or up into heater/AC vents. It is all turned off. *Same is true for furniture. And laundry and rugs. The first piece of advice I was given about finding a lost ferret was, Look in the place they absolutely, positively can NOT be and that is where you will find them. And, ya know, it is SO true! No matter HOW careful we are, they are always a little smarter! Sorry this is so long. I hope the fact that I am so overly cautious about this helps someone. Renee :) [Posted in FML issue 3373]