>Hi everyone!  I am having a problem with my 6-month old male ferret, Taz.
>He recently started pooping on the bottom of his cage.... I've tried
>everything.
 
I don't know if I qualify as a ferret expert, but I've had decent luck
with the two that I have.  At first, they did tend to poop in a lot of
places that I wished they wouldn't.  After I watched them for a while,
and understood a little of why they poop where they do, I was able to
make some changes.  I've never actually "litter-trained" them, just made
some places more attractive than others....
 
The things to keep in mind are that ferrets like to keep pooping in
one place, they like that place to be in a corner, they like to feel
"sheltered" while they do it, and that they like to dig.  I found very
early that simply cleaning the litter pan out completely and filling it
with clean litter was a great way to turn it into a sandbox for them.
Now, I save a piece or two of the "old stuff", and put it in the same
corner after I change the litter.  They jump in, sniff the poop, and
instantly associate it with a place to use the bathroom.
 
Since they like to go in the same one or few spots every time, when I
brought the first one home, it pooped in the corner that it deemed "good".
I put the litter box in that corner, and that solved most of the problems
instantly.  : )
 
In the large room where the ferrets get to play unattended, I made a couple
of "special" litter boxes.  I took some fairly tall boxes (about a foor
tall), and filled them to about 4" with sand.  Then I cut a small
'gang-plank' out of one side for the smaller one to enter through - they
LOVE them.  They can poop in a corner, and feel very sheltered and private.
It only took about 2 minutes after putting each one in the room before a
ferret had "inaugurated" it.
 
If a litter box gets too dirty or filled, they won't like using it any
more - change them fairly often.  I saw in one person's sig line that they
had about 10 ferrets, as big of feces-factories as mine are, I don't want
to imagine changing litter boxes after 10. : )  Just remember to 'seed'
their favorite corner in the box. ; )
 
Another advantage that you have is that they won't poop where they sleep.
(Aren't they smart?)  The two times that my ferrets started pooping outside
of the box in the cage were solved by (a) moving their litter box to the
new corner, or (b) moving their "sleeping area" to the area of the box that
they were showing interest in - after cleaning it, of course.  All in all,
it's about making a ferret look at a place and either think "Naw, that
doesn't look good to poop in." or "Wow, lemme take a digger there!"
 
Gerald
[Posted in FML issue 3491]