Years ago I also lost one of my first ferrets to electrocution in the back of my oven. He'd gone missing and when I saw an open kitchen cabinet I found out my landlord had removed the side wall of that cabinet when he put in the new oven. Fearing Eddy had crawled behind the range I pulled it out and saw black liquid on the floor. Fearing it was blood from Eddy I called my father who took apart the oven and indeed did find poor Eddy in the back of the oven. The black liquid was the burned blood that came out of his mouth. Kitchen and utility rooms have far too many hazards to allow your ferrets access to them. Even if you think you've fully ferret proofed it there could be something you've missed. And allowing ferrets into your kitchen includes the risk of stepping on one when you're busy cooking or spilling or dropping things on them. They could also pull things out of cabinets that could fall on them. Please do whatever you can to block access to these rooms. The house I bought a couple years ago has the utility room, bathroom and kitchen towards the back so I just keep a gate up between the kitchen and dining room whenever the ferrets are out. They have plenty of room to romp in the dining room, living room and two bedrooms. Laura [Posted in FML 6296]