"The Ferrets" website at http://www.mentisfugit.com/theferrets

Ramps/Tubes/Tunnels

What to use?

I recommend tubing or tunnels rather than ramps for getting from floor to floor. I know at least one of my ferrets would have fallen down a ramp hole and the other would easily have done the same if she'd been playing and not paying attention.

Funnels & Bubble Wave Tubes: Here in the city we are "tubing deficient," so I used the overpriced Super Pet plastic multicolored "Funnels" and their newer version -the "Bubble Wave" tubes.
Dryer hose: Dryer hose might be sturdy enough if you wrap something around the hose and tie it to the side of the cage every one or two inches. Also, you'd need to reinforce the inside bottom part of the hose where the ferrets will actually be treading. Mine ripped holes in the bottom plastic with their claws as they were climbing up and down and trying to get traction. The holes were there for days before I realized it and saw little feet falling through the bottom of the tubing! I replaced the tubing and added a cloth tape "runner" on the inside of the tubing along the bottom.
Plastic Gutter Pipe: I read once that someone found some black plastic gutter pipe that was just like dryer hose but sturdier and still bendable. I looked for that but couldn't find any near me.
PVC Pipes: PVC pipes and joints look like they make GREAT mazes for out of cage play time but they're too smooth to use for ramps. Not enough traction. Most are also way too heavy to suspend safely.
Wire Mesh Box-Tubes: You can bend wire mesh to make a four-sided box-ish sort of tube.

Any of the above are preferable to having a ramp with an open hole for a ferret to fall down. This is especially true if you have older or blind ferrets.

What worked for me:

The following is what worked for me. You may have a larger variety of supplies at your disposal and may come up with cheaper alternatives.

I used 4 of the elbow/corner Super Pet "Funnels" (2 for each floor -you can use 4 Super Pet corner "Bubble Wave" tubes too) and a small length of dryer hose reinforced on the inside (if you use the "Bubble Wave" elbow/corner tubes, you can use a straight Bubble Wave tube instead of the length of dryer hose.) I was able to cut a 5" x 8.5" rectangular hole in a corner of each sheet of plexiglas if I scored each side 30+ times (so I'd nearly cut all the way through) and then carefully snapped it. If I didn't score it that many times I ended up with a huge crack down the middle of the sheet and then I had to go out and buy another one. :P If you're using another type of floor, cut your holes to fit the size and positioning of your tubing.

This is easier to see in the larger picture. (Click on the image above. )

The way my cage is set up is as follows (Of course a different setup may be more to your liking.) If you're facing the front of the cage, the hole on the first new floor (actually the 2nd or middle floor) is on the front right corner. The front edge of the hole is 5" long, and the edge going back along the Right side is about 8.5". To allow access from the bottom to the middle floor, I put two elbow funnels together like a "U." With the funnels making a "U" shape, if you were to enter through the middle door and turn immediately to your right, you would be facing the opening to the funnel going down. The plastic rim around the opening has a small hole in it and it's wired to the side of the cage right there (I used twist ties and tucked the wire edges in). The length of the funnels then run down and back along the right side of the cage on a diagonal. The ring that connects the 2 funnels together is also wired to the right side of the cage. The bottom opening of the "U" is suspended about 4" or so off the bottom floor and roughly halfway back in the cage.

To make this stable, you need to suspend the edge of the bottom tube from the ceiling/floor above. If you used dowels, reposition them so one of the dowels is directly above the tube and then loop a wire or chain over it and hook it to the hole on the front rim of that funnel. Also, you should securely tape/wire (in my case "bungee") the entire "body" of the tube to the side of the cage in a couple more places to make it sturdy.

I put the tubes on a diagonal incline because I don't think ferrets can use tubes well if they're placed straight up and down. They can climb up them if they're vertical, but climbing down is more like free-falling or jumping down a "tubed" distance. Having tubes on a diagonal worked very well for my ferrets. Just remember to tie off the funnels/tubes to the side of the cage in several spots for reinforcement, otherwise the funnels might separate at the joints. Some people also glue or tape them together at the connection joints for extra security. If you glue them, make sure the glue dries completely before you put your ferrets in. The fumes could be toxic, particularly in an enclosed tube.

Going from the middle floor to the top floor got trickier because it's a longer distance (4 rectangles high instead of 3). Make the same hole in the top floor on the back right corner so the 5" opening is on the back edge of the floor (instead of the front edge) and the 8.5" edge is still along the right side. What I did was take 2 elbow funnels and attach a length of dryer hose in between them. I used about an 8" length of dryer hose (it's in the cage now so it's hard to measure exactly). I removed 2 funnel rims and somehow with patience I was able to stretch one end of the hose over each of the rings. It took a while! So in the end I had a length of dryer hose and each end was stretched around one of the funnels' connector rings. Then (and this was the cool part!) I folded some of the dryer hose over the ring and back into the inside edge and was still able to snap it back onto the elbow tube, sandwiching the edge of the dryer hose plastic and the tip of the wire inside between the rim and the plastic funnel so nothing was sticking out. I loved how that worked! :0) You can also duct/cloth tape the dryer hose to funnel connections. Remember to put a cloth tape "runner" along the bottom inside of the dryer hose section to prevent holes from wear and tear.

Next I rested the bottom elbow directly on top of the one towards the front of the middle floor and wired it into place. So now if you're at the middle floor door and look to your right, you'll see 2 entrances to the funnels, one on top of the other. The bottom one goes down, the top one goes up. I stretched the other end diagonally back and up through the hole on the top floor and fastened that. I poked a small hole to get to the precut holes in the rims of the funnels that were now covered by dryer hose, and twist tied those to the right side of the cage. Then I reinforced that whole length of tubing by tying it to the right side of the cage in several places.

*Note: When I first wrote these instructions, the newer "Bubble Wave" tubes were not available yet. The dimensions of the older "Funnels" necessitated a length of dryer hose to complete the distance between the 2nd and 3rd floors. However, if you're using the newer "Bubble Wave" tubes, you don't need to use any dryer hose to get from the 2nd to 3rd floor. A straight "Bubble Wave" tube connected between 2 corner/elbow "Bubble Wave" tubes will span the distance perfectly. Remember to tie the tubes off to the side of the cage in several places to prevent them from separating at the joints.

One more thing to do before you're done with your new "tube/tunnel" ramps. The holes in the floors are rectangular but the tubes are circular. This leaves gaps around the tubes for little feet to fall through (and they will). I used my favorite tool of choice to fix this problem -TAPE. Seal the holes and gaps around the tubes with clear packing tape or duct tape. If you're using sheet linoleum to cover a wire mesh floor, you can cut appropriate sized round holes for the tubes in the linoleum and, if necessary, you can still use tape to seal any remaining gaps between the flooring and the tubes.