stupid ladybug play bed thingy...

[babycakes0707]

i bought that lil ladybug puch that you can set up a mobile with dangly bees and butterflies and my ferrets really liked sleeping in it so i just put the ladybug in their cage as a bed...one day i found molson with a thread from the ladybug tied around his neck i felt so awful!!!! he had a red mark all around his neck,it wasnt bleeding or anything, it was like bruised. i dont know how long it was there, probably overnight because i would have seen it the day before. i just dont understand how it happened! maybe their claws ripped the ladybug and the threads came loose? either way, i just felt awful and i threw that lady bug out!!! guess you have to be careful with everything you give them..even a bed...

[Heather]

I hope your little one is ok? These type of accidents are always scary. One figures that they were created with ferrets in mind. There are a lot of toys that are created for ferrets that have never been intended to be installed in cages, they're meant to be used as interactive play pieces outside the cage. Those type of toys (dangling play parts, pieces with elastics are supervision only type toys. It's just unfortunate that it doesn't mention this on the packaging.
ciao

[sherrylynne]

It's kind of like that octopus play toy. Can only be used with extreme supervision, even though it's meant for ferrets specifically. The inside of the head is filled with foam, of all things

[horse656]

is it actually?
my girls love playing with it. i haven't put it in their cage so i guess i won't now.

my girl Belle loves sleeping in the lady bug thing, i only put the lady bug part in though, no toys. i guess you should check all the stuff you're going to be putting in their cage. i will as well. i don't want my girls hurt.

[Kerit]

The octo-play was redone awhile back. Shouldn't be any foam in it now, though it certainly had it at one time... I wouldn't leave mine alone with string of any sort, but then Hocus is incorrigible and can't be trusted with much of anything.

[Heather]

Ok, here I am tearing apart all my little octopuses for the foam (I have 3 of them, all turned in with fuzzies) There are no foam parts in any of the ones I have .
ciao

[horse656]

i can just see you shaking out all your babies out of the octopuses to check for the foam

[sherrylynne]

Mine does, unfortunately! I was reading FML a while back, and one of the members had written in about finding little foam bits all over the ferret room. After basically tearing everything apart, she found the inside of the head of the octopus was what they had picked at, and discovered foam holding it up in it's shape. I bought mine about a year ago, and found the same thing.

[horse656]

mine has foam in it as well.

[Kerit]

My memory is that the foam used to be exposed along the inside and was an immediate problem, but it's just sandwiched between fabric layers now? I've never had one, so I'm gonna check it out on Monday.

[horse656]

oh, i thought they remodeled it so that there was no foam, is what i understoof from reading.

[sherrylynne]

I may have gotten an older one when I picked it up. Who knows how long stores have these things in stock
But yeah- the foam in mine is sandwiched between the fabric layers. You can feel it. It "squishes", and feels, like foam.

[Kerit]

Well, the current octo-plays do have a layer of foam inside the fabric to keep its shape -- as do the Alligator and Elephant toys. If your ferret is a digger or chewer, I'd say that could be a problem and they should only be a supervised playpen-type toy.

[Heather]

Went prying into one of the octopus...they do have foam in the head (so your toy isn't out of date sherrylynne), the little tent thing that I have also retains it's shape with a thin layer of foam. Maybe, my guys are a little strange but they really couldn't care less. Those toys are never left in cages or are they in the ferret room. They're played with in the dining room/sitting room where there are people there most of the time. They appear to be used as sleepy places not play spaces anyway. These would be toys that should not become what could be termed "cage" toys or anyplace that the ferret could spend quiet time tearing apart the toy, especially if they have an appetite like hurricanekatt's Koda who has an appetite for destruction
ciao

[sherrylynne]

I think what was bothering people so much is that they are toys specifically meant for ferrets, put out by Marshall's
And since they were intended for ferrets, some simply assumed they were "safe" to be left out in ferret rooms and cages.