by Krystal
(Irwin PA)
My ferret Kaluha is such a curious little girl! One of her favorite hidding spots was underneath the kitchen cabinets. Because the bottom of the cabinet pulls up and I saw nothing that she could possibly get into, I cleaned out the cubboard and let her go to town.
Six months later (yes it took that long) I noticed her missing. I looked in all her hiding spots and soon heard a scritch scratching noise coming from the heat vents. I soon realized my girl found a small opening in the wall behind the wallpaper of what used to be and old heat vent before they converted my three story house into three apartments. Since I live on the second story, when she clawed through the wallpaper and fell, she fell two stories straight to the basement of my neighbors apt. Luckily they were home and they were nice enough to let me in their home to extract her from the vent.
Amazingly enough besides being filthy she was completly unhurt. Just in case I took her to the vet who also was amazed she fell that far down and was unhurt. Since then I have totally blocked off the old vent and have not allowed her to get into the cupboard any more. It amazes me to this day she even knew that hole was behind the wallpaper when I saw no signs of anything there. It just looked like a plain old wall to me…
Comments for Air Ducts and Ferrets Oh My! |
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I have a question for ferret owners I have had my ferret now cleo for two years and she has never noticed the vents in the house until now! I am at my wits end with her she wont leave them alone and There easy so pop up bam she’s in. How do we get her to stop there’s over eight vents in this home renting and I don’t want to screw them down might get in trouble with the landlord. Im scared she is going to be burnt to a crisp. . Any suggestions please!
Hi Ashley
I asked a ferret friend who lives in the US about vents as we don’t have them at floor level here in WOz, and she suggested duct tape. She said you can’t cover the whole vent, obviously, but perhaps get a tile to cover half or a third of the vent and tape it down, that could prevent Cleo from getting up into the space.
My friend said that it might be difficult if you have carpets, as strong duct tape might pull up some carpet fibres but she thought it wouldn’t be too obvious to your landlord.
Sorry I can’t give you more suggestions 🙁
It really is amazing how something which doesn’t take a ferret’s interest for years suddenly becomes an object of its obsession!
Hopefully some other readers will see your comment and share some ideas for you.
Hugs to Cleo from her new friends down under 🙂
Cheers
~Nona
My pet ferret is trapped in the heating/cooling vents in our home how do we get him out??? I rent this house so I cannot destroy anything…..he climbed through a bent vent in my bedroom…Im afraid to run the air….what should we do???
Tammy, does your ferret come to a squeaky? You could squeak loudly and see if he’ll find his way out.
Does the vent lead to the outside and can he escape that way? Make sure you have any exits covered so that he does sneak out and go walkabout 😮
Can you ring the fire brigade and ask them for help? I don’t know if they could do anything with your ferret being in the vent but perhaps they can offer you some suggestions on how to rescue him?
Make sure you have food and water at each exit to try and tempt him out but hopefully he’ll hear the squeaking and that will encourage him to get out of the vent himself!
Do you know anyone who’s a keen DIYer? Perhaps that person could help with advice?
I’m sorry but that’s all I can think of to assist you 🙁
GOOD LUCK! ❤️
I’m not part of this group, but we just barely went through this and may have some advice. My ferret Celia went into an open vent and had an adventure all through the ducts in the house, apparently all our ducts go horizontal with drops as the house level changes, so our ferret ended up a full level lower than she began. We could hear her scuttling through the vents, and by banging on the wall and calling her name, we were able to locate exactly where she was. Thankfully for us, the place where she was had drops from the second floor, so she was trapped in one area, so she couldn’t wander through the house anymore and therefore made it easier for us to do a rescue mission. We tried baiting the vents with some stinky ferret food, guiding her to certain vents, we put lights at the entrance to every vent, but nothing worked until my mom got an idea. We own a ferret thru-way that extends 15 feet, but acts like a slinky and shortens to about 18 inches. We tried just shoving it into the vent, but there wasn’t enough weight to drop all the down to floor level, so we used wire to attach a can of food to the end, threw it down and sure enough it clunked to the bottom. Not long after that, she discovered the ladder we created for her, and after a day and a half, Celia had escaped from the labyrinth. It was such a relief to see her little dirty face
It’s really scary how ferrets manage to get themselves into such dangerous situation! They have no fear and are so inquisitive ?
Am really glad that you got Celia back safe and sound and I hope she never gets into that situation again! You’ll probably find that you have a few grey hairs from her adventure ?
Please give Celia a hug from her new buddies down under ❤
Cheers
~Nona