Ferret proof loft?

[Deleted]

So next month I am going to be moving into a new place that has a loft upstairs. It's just a small area, could probably fit a dining table and chairs. But with this new addition of space I was thinking it would be a great place to put my ferrets cage and every once in a while leave him out in a play area. But I just had a couple questions about "ferret proofing" as I've had ferrets before, just never made a designated room for them before. I was always the "ferret proof" portion of the room that just supervised them every second while they were out and about haha.

But I was wondering first: considering I have two very high prey-drive huskies in the house (I'm sure some of you know the husky's reputation with cats ) I was thinking of putting two gates up.. One for reassurance in case one of them fails to hold back the two dogs. I would out one either halfway up the stairs (they're in an l-shape design) or at the bottom and one of them at the very top/entrance to the loft. But I need suggestions on gates that are 1. Tall (so the dogs can't jump them)
2. Obviously not any kind of wire or bars the ferret can climb or slip through and
3. Durable enough the dogs can't chew/bash their way through

Also I needed to know if I kept batman up there.. Would I run the risk of him jumping off the edge of the balcony at some point? As terrifying as that is, it's just a precaution I was wondering... It's a fairly high balcony about up to my belly button and I stand 5'6". And I highly doubt h*ll actually try to sink his claws into the wall and climb it haha his cage would be up against the wall away from the balcony so unless he jumped far enough to clear the space in the room I doubt he'd be able to use that to get up there.

[Deleted]

So the balcony is a solid wall?

Personally I'd be getting child gates that swing open, and attaching some sort of tall wood to them, with a hole for my hand if needed at the height of the latch.

[Deleted]

That's what I was thinking. I Really dot want to be climbing over two sets of gates every time I go up there haha so I figured I could just attach some planks of wood and just make sure I cover any holes. And yes the balcony is solid wall.

[Heather]

Make sure you have nothing against the balcony wall. As far as assuming that a ferret won't jump from the balcony if they get the opportunity....don't....ferrets have a very poor sense of depth perception (I find my UK crew are much better than any of my farm ferrets, but if you've got farm ferrets they're not the best with heights) There have been a number of people who've successfully used plexi built into a gate system to prevent our little wall weasels from clearing our gates ;D
Just don't underestimate their capabilities to climb. Just make sure that you don't have a clear jump path to the balcony railing. I don't have any jumpers (well at least none that have shown the inclination) but I've found my guys in the strangest places....like this one of Mad Max in the cupboard. He used my husband's suit to get here and would open the cupboard doors to get there. He'd then clear all the t-shirts off the shelf so everyone could play in the clean clothes.

This is Fun-Go who saw every gate or make-shift gate as a challenge meant for him to beat.

I just added this one because this is little Meeteef....he's 9 yrs old in this pic....they're never too old to try ;D

I would be more concerned about your ferrets getting to your dogs than your dogs getting to your ferrets (both have the same end result but ferrets are notorious escape artists and they're silly stupid when it comes to dogs....be very careful about your set up)

ciao

[Deleted]

Haha yes I've had experiences with dogs and ferrets before and my dog ended up getting the worst of it. My old ferret escaped his cage ad my room then proceeded down te stairs and wandered the front room until my German shepherd found him and got a rude awakening with a big old claw (or bite mark) to his face haha. I don't plan on putting anything against the balcony wall so he shouldn't have access to the top of it. Though I will be sure to closely supervise his first couple times out and about to see if he tries anything.

[Deleted]

This is the gate I use:

www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0012XDF8S/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00









This gate will keep ferrets in, but I don't know about keeping dogs out. I've known huskies that can jump 5-6 over fences. Your best bet with a husky is to keep them in a room behind a closed door. Make sure that the cage is not kept against the loft wall because they can and will climb the cage, then they could get on top and if the cage is high enough, possibly go over the railing.

Also, does your loft get hot in summer? Does it have AC? My loft is warm all year round due to heat naturally rises, but it easily breaks triple digits in summer because the AC just doesn't push up to the third story enough. Ferrets do not stand temps above 80 well, so keep this in mind.

[Sherry]

In addition to not having anything up against the half wall, I have to add- don't have anything they can push around, else it WILL go up against the wall in order to get up Or even anything within about 2-3 feet from it so they don't get brave and jump.

[Deleted]

Thanks (: that gate looks great. I was thinking with the stairs they'd be at a downward angle and therefore wouldn't be able to jump it but I never leave my huskies out unattended anyways as they're both only a year old and crate trained (can't completely trust them quite yet to not destroy everything in their path haha)

If I absolutely need to I was thinking of possibly putting a lip on the balcony of some sort... I don't really know how to explain it, but just like an l-shaped piece of wood that would counter any climbing over?

[Heather]

Mad Max (the dude in the closet) was my ultimate escapee challenge. He drove my husband insane. We had a gate set up on an angle at the bottom of the stairs. He figured out how to launch himself from the third and fourth step, catch the top of the gate and go over. We adjusted heights, widths...he'd go down there and work the angles until he could get over the top. So, we tried a suggestion of cutting half of a pipe along the top (it would roll, thus not allowing him any grip to climb over). He figured that out In the end it was the loss of his one eye that cured his escape issue (absolutely no depth perception). Thor was the only one of my guys (go figure the one ferret who was dump as a stump) who figured out how to jump over the demi-door between the ferret room and the hallway . He'd climb a cage and launch over 4 ft to hit the top of the demi-door. He stopped doing this when one night he over launched and landed in the dog water bowl located just outside the door (think super large for giant dogs) ;D ;D.
ciao

[Deleted]

Hahahaha oh wow I can imagine how horrible that must've been for him ): it's amazing how clever they can be! Pretty fearless too, Til it comes back and bites them in the rear haha

Well when we do move in on the first ill take pictures of the stairs and loft area so you guys can see the exact set up were going to have. I'm sure it'll be easier to figure out from there

[Deleted]

Jan 6, 2013 22:47:00 GMT -5 Heather said:

I'm loving this outdoor enclosure do you have any more pictures of it?

[Sherry]

There will be pics in here holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/115/outdoor-enclosures