Okay, I gotta jump on the Midwest bandwagon too. I had a midwest until the time when we were in Vegas for my daughter's 21st b-day 1 1/2 years ago. God let me win just enough to buy a really cool, & larger house for my darlins. The new house(I don't like the word cage very much.) was $279.99 and I left that casino with $276.00!! I had asked for a little divine intervention before I hit the slots. I asked Him, Okay, I don't need to win millions but please, could you please, just let me win enough to get my babies a bigger house. Benny(my hubbie) had heard me say this. He was stunned when that I left that casino with enough to get the bigger home. Ain't that jest the coolest thing?? Actually, I was stunned too as I NEVER win anything more than $5.00 in Vegas!!. This isn't really on the topic of the Midwest ferret homes y'all are concerned with, but it was a story I wanted to share & I thought would enjoy. Actually, there is a connection that that leads back to your concerns. I had a midwest as well, as I previously mentioned. I too was concerned with those long falls that end with a thud and a shaken up fertie. What I did was place hammies in front of, and a little bit lower than the shelves(should you have shelves). Then, down a bit lower , I would put a shelf that they could walk right on to. I would continue this arrangement of hammies and shelves. putting all hammies and shelves close enough to each other so that IF they fell, they would have to work very hard at it. Some of the larger hammies I arranged to go partly under a shelf and then the rest would be exposed for sleeping ,or for use as a way to climb up or down., or to just be rowdy! All of these hammies placed strategically were great to catch those, "nothing else matters in my fertie world than chompin' on my friend's ear and being so wrapped up in wrestling that we fall of the hammie!" mishaps! The hammies were used as saftey nets and a lso provided more sleeping places. This, hammies as saftey nets system, I have in place in their newer, bigger home. I had it ready before they first placed their tiny little paws over the thresh-hold. It is even more important now, as the new home is taller than the midwest they had before, and falls now, would be longer and the landings harder. My pertie ferties have been in this home now for a little over a year . To my knowledge (Fertie Moms can see everything, ya know!)there has not been one fall that was not caught by a saftey hammie. If you should try this, I am pretty sure that you will no longer have those long, very scary,( for you & your fert), falls. However, this is just a way that I dealt with falls. I'm sure there are many, many other ways out there. Maybe putting a bungee cord on your ferret so that if he falls from the top shelf, he won't hit the bottom, he'll just bounce right up! Or maybe having them wear little parachutes, though it might be tricky teaching them how & when to pull the cord! Okay, sorry, those images just popped in my head and into my fingers, & I just had to type them! Seriously, the hammie thing is just a system that really worked for me and my fuzz-kids. There are probably lots of other ways that could be tried. What ever you use, it's a really good feeling knowing and being secure with the feeling that your ferrets are safe. Dooks to You All, Sue & Crew.....Da Guys: Sammy, Chance, & Storm The Girls: Nikki, Oskey, & Annie [Posted in FML issue 4688]