Several years ago, my mother gave me an antique tiger oak wooden roll top desk. I love that desk. Well, so do the ferrets. I couldn't work at the desk without them always clammering to get on it or in one the drawers. Finally, I gave in and emptied out the bottom drawer so they could go in and out of it and sleep in it. Well, soon enough they found they could get under the drawer and have a romping good time there. So, I had to set up underneath the drawer for sleeping and playing ferrets, putting down a sheet to protect the carpet, one of their beds on top of the sheet and then little throws or blankets for them to curl up in. They were very happy and content ferrets. That is, until they began exploring even more. It seems this antique desk has wooden bars in the back that hold each of the drawers in place. The ferrets soon learned how to climb the wooden bars and make it up to the other drawers. Sigh. The other drawers only had about an inch space between the top of the back of the drawer and the bottom of the next drawer. That didn't stop these adventurous guys. They were squeezing their way into the drawers and ripping and tearing through everything. I worked hard at blocking the back of the drawers with pieces of wood, thick cardboard or making the drawer very full. It was to no avail. I do not know how they could be standing precariously on these wooden bars at the back of the desk in pitch black and still manage to work their way through my blockade in the drawers. It was nothing short of amazing. So, not having any luck with that, I cleaned out the remaining three drawers and let the ferrets have all four drawers and under the bottom drawer. We put sleep sacks and such in each drawer and they always crashed in the desk when they were out of their room. It did make it easier for hunting them down, since they were using the desk all the time! We read a lot of articles on care of ferrets, of course. There has been a lot written about the need for the ferrets to have complete darkness for long periods. The ferret room, their own bedroom, though it has very heavy and insulated curtains, does not get completely dark. So, we decided that since they love to sleep in the desk and the desk gives them the complete darkness, we would let them have my beloved antique tiger oak wood roll top desk. We moved the desk into their room and they couldn't be happier. I, on the other hand, am having to make do with a desk half the size of the one the ferrets sleep in! Triple sigh. Debbie [Posted in FML issue 5019]