With the heat of summer upon us, I'm going to post again about how to keep you ferrets cool, even if you don't have A/C. If the temperature is rising & you find yourself w/out A/C, ice is best weapon. Freeze litre soda bottles, milk jugs, or water fillable cooler freezer packs & use several with a towel draped over them with their regular bedding piled on top. The fuzzies can lay in-between the frozen bottles & cover themselves if they want to. Covering themselves while laying in-between the bottles will keep the temperature cool close to their bodies - like a thermos. They can also get on top of the mound of bedding if they start to feel too cold. Also, cover the cage w/a blanket to keep the cool from dissipating into the rest of the room. In an emergency when you don't have bottles frozen in your freezer, run don't walk to your nearest source - convenience store, supermarket, gas station, etc. Bagged cubes (or broken chunks of block ice) can be used in zip-lock bags. I've used this method for injuries needing ice packs, the freezer bags don't leak. It's a really good idea to have frozen litre bottles in the car when you travel w/fuzzies in the summer too. If you lose you A/C or your car breaks down you'll be prepared. For those who don't have A/C a word of caution - just having the windows open isn't enough. If you're sweating the heat can kill your fuzzy, they can't tollerate the heat as well as you. If the humidity isn't too high, misting (closer to soaking) your fuzzy will help cool them cosiderably, but it's only a short term fix & has to be done constantly so they don't dry. Ice lasts longer & you don't have a saturated ferret. But keeping taking a spray bottle in the car (don't leave it in the car - the water will get hot) is also a good safety precaution. Also, make sure their drinking water is cool. Most fuzzies don't drink hot water. ******************* I was just watching Pet Connection with Dr. Bernie Pukay on the Animal Planet channel & he had a very good piece on ferrets. With the exception of not clarifying that descenting doesn't help body odor, it was a very good presentation. I just wish I had caught the name of the guest who had the 4 ferrets (I'll have to write to find out, since I know Sheena & Tracy - it's a Canadian show). She brought a beautiful sable mitt hob (don't even bother correcting me about the color name - I don't care & that's what he looked like), he was a really big boy. She also had an albino, sable, & chocolate. They talked about how they can make wonderful pets for someone who wants a *ferret* for a pet (you know what I mean). They talked about ferret-proofing (by name) & biting. The biting part was good too. Dr. Bernie has handling the big mitt the whole time. He said that for the most part they don't bite (please tell my rescue Oscar Meyer), but that biting could be attributed to bad breeding practices & how they're not the best pet for small children. They also talked about body odor is mainly attributed to whole ferrets & about bathing. This was a very favorable presentation - not perfect, but pretty darn good. It was really gratifying to see a positive presentation that wasn't in response to a negative incident for a change. KODO IS DEAD - LONG LIVE KODO Juliana Frodo, Rocks, Anola Gay, SNAFU, FUBAR, Tabu, Chaos, Tuxedo, Bijou, Fiasco, & Dazzle [Posted in FML issue 1987]