Handy ferret tips: Once I was cleaning the house, and had to change the vaccuum cleaner bag. On our vaccuum, this means removing the hose in order to open the body to get at the bag. Of course, while I was getting a new bag, Nancy decided to poke her head in through the hose hole, to better see what was inside. Never mind that she could have just peeked in over the top. Nooooo. It's a hole -- gotta stick your head in. And she got stuck. She rolled over and over, but couldn't back out. We tried drizzling salad oil around her ears -- no luck. The problem was that when she'd pull backwards, her ears would fold over and the skin around her neck formed a ruff, and this would hold her in. What DID work was using an index card as a funnel. We rolled the index card around her head to hold her ears flat in their normal position. In fact, as soon as we did this, she pulled herself free. She then "bup"ped loudly, and pogo'ed up and down in place. We snatched her out of the air, and immediately bathed her, since the salad oil made her look like a drowned rat. Talk about adding insult to injury. Ferret Tip #2: We have found a way to keep the rug weasels from annihilating the carpet in front of doors and closets. We measured the width of the door, and added 6-8". We went to the local Home Depot, and bought that amount of vinyl floor runner. You know, the stiff clear plastic stuff that comes in rolls, and has grooves in the top surface, and little knobs on the bottom. It's supposed to be for placing on top of the carpet in the winter, so you have a place to put muddy shoes and boots. I think it was $0.59 or $0.69 per linear foot. Anyway, we got a bunch of this stuff. Then I made cut-outs the shape of the doorjambs on either side of the door, and slid it under the closet door: | door | ___|__________|___ ^ | __________ __| |__ | Plastic | |________________| Voila! They'll try to dig, of course, and the scratching noise may drive you crazy, but at least you'll get your security deposit back. One warning -- keep an eye on the stuff, they're persistent little buggers, and they'll eventually work the runner out from under the door, and you'll have to shove it back under again. Good luck. -- Anon. P.S. Thank you thank you thank you for the descriptions of what a ferret hammock is. I immediately went out & bought some fleece, and made one for Nancy. It's a double layer, and she sleeps inside when it's cool, and on top when it's warm. [Posted in FML issue 0403]