OK now please no bashing... I am opening up to something STUPID I did when first becoming a ferret owner. Romeo and Juliet were out playing and I purchased a new piece of collapsible plastic dryer vent hose for them to play in. I stretched the hose out on the floor and Romeo came over and sniffed it. Keep in mind that the hose was about 3 inches in diameter. Romeo wasn't interested very long and Juliet didn't even look at the hose. So stupid me I couldn't figure out that the hose was too small. I smelled the hose and it had a 'new plastic' smell to it. OK... that MUST be the issue. I have no idea where I got the thought to use a vacuum cleaner to 'suck' the new plastic smell from the inside of the tube... but that is what I tried. One would think Romeo would be scared because of the vacuum... nope. So here I am with the vacuum cleaner tube 'sucking' the fumes from the collapsible tubing. Romeo gains interest in the tube once again and decides to CRAM himself in the other end. Well... I didn't notice UNTIL the HOSE STARTED TO COLLAPSE with ROMEO'S BUTT sticking out the end of the tube! He dragged across about 6 feet of floor. I pulled the vacuum away from the tube and it stopped collapsing. Romeo backed out of his end of the tube and looked @ me like HEY THAT WAS FUN. DO IT AGAIN. He proceeded to cram himself back in to the tube again. I had to take the tubing away since it was too small and I didn't want him to get wedged in there. Dave [Posted in FML 6091]