ganns@hound.UUCP (R.GANNS) (07/16/85)
A friend of mine lost an entire litter of ferrets when it got unexpectedly hot one early spring day while he was at work. The outdoor cage was in the sun. I had mine in an outdoor cage also at the time, but it was in the shade; when I got home, I could hear one ferret panting from 50 feet away; I immediately took him into the basement where there was cool concrete for him to lie on; he was unable to move when I found him, but later recovered. While driving from Oregon to New Jersey one summer, I placed a shallow, plastic lined box with a layer of ice cubes in the bottom on the front seat of the car; the traveling cage was placed on this. I also kept a house-plant misting bottle handy, and when it really got hot (no a/c in the car), I hosed the little buggers down with the mister (they liked it). I stopped in air-conditioned motels at night, and let the carpet sharks run loose then for exercise (no need to worry the motel management by informing them; the travel cage is easily concealed under a large coat for carrying-in), and "do not disturb" sign used when going out to eat.