Belated thanks to everyone who gave me advice about having a ferret in a
small apartment!  Dervish and I have found a ferret-friendly efficiency and
will be moving this weekend.  It's 400 sq. feet; as someone pointed out,
ferrets are little animals --- what's small to me is pretty big to Dervish!
 
Dervish is 100% litterbox accurate in our 4-bedroom house now ... if she's
loose, she runs up the stairs and to my room to use her box rather than go
to the nearest corner.  I'm not worried about her litterbox hit rate in a
smaller place (although the carpet *is* brand-new ... :-).
 
Anyone looking for an apartment with a ferret, I can offer one bit of
advice: use an apartment locating service if there are any in your area.
They know which buildings allow pets (officially and unofficially), and
their services are usually free to the renter because they get commission
from the apartment manager.  Using one saved me a lot of time.  (Anyone
in Austin, I have one to recommend.  :-)
 
Thanks again to everyone who wrote to me with advice --- I promise I'll get
back to everyone as soon as I can!
 
-(TX) Meghan and Dervish the WonderFerret
[Posted in FML issue 2927]