Alot of animals eat their own stool.  There are usually two reasons for
this.  It is a normal and very natural behavior.  Yucky to us for sure,
but normal for them.  It comes from instinct, which even though ferrets
are domesticated, they still have ancestors who were not.  When an animal
lives in the wild, they will "clean up" after themselves and their babies
so that larger prey animals do not know they are in the area.  Females
with litters or babies tend to do this behavior more often then their
male counterparts.  They are protecting their young.  Females also
develop a taste for it, because they need to stimulate the babies to
release both functions.  Babies can not do this on their own until they
are older.  This is the one reason.  So your ferrets are basically
keeping their cage clean of any mistakes they have made, my guess
because they are so smart, they don't want you to find their mistake!
 
Second reason, it tastes good to them.  They like it.  Sure it is not
our cup of tea, but animals sometimes tend to do this.
 
Hope this helps.  Marguerite
 
Life is not how many breaths you take, but
how many times it takes your breath away...
TinyPrints Ferret Rescue PetFinder Web Page
http://www.tinyprintsontheheart.petfinder.org
TinyPrints Ferret Rescue Store
http://www.tinyprintsontheheart.com/onlinestore.htm
Aloha Ferrets Ebay Store
http://stores.ebay.com/Aloha-Ferrets-Store
[Posted in FML issue 5033]