Jeremy:
 
I like to keep young ferrets in a fairly small area until they are pretty
well trained.  A living room is a BIG room to a baby ferret - the entire
house/apartment probably feels like the WORLD to them.
 
That's 1 reason why I (personally!) feel that caging is an ok thing to do.
When I've gotten a new baby, initially, I've kept them in a large Kennel
Cab II.  There is room for a proper litter pan, towels/blankets and I use
plastic cups on the door.  In 99.9% of cases, it forces them to use the
litter box.  Most animals are clean by nature - they don't want to sleep
in all that stuff.
 
A new baby *feels* safer in a carrier - it's very den-like, small and secure.
 
When I first get my ferrets up, I hold/cuddle/kiss them for about 30 - 60
seconds; what I'm doing is waking them up.  When they are fully awake,
I take them to the litter pan and place them in it.  If they hop out, I
put them back in it; if they hop out again, I put them in it again.  We
play this game until they use the box; when they do, I give hugs/kisses
and a raisin.  (I only use the raisin when 1st training; once they've got
the hang of it, I drop the treats)
 
Then I can put them down and they can do their thing.  My ferrets don't have
access to the entire house; they have full run of the 3 rooms downstairs,
but bathroom and bedroom doors are shut when they are out.
 
Ferrets have a short digestive tract and need to use a box more frequently
than you might think.  I watch my ferrets when they're up and if they back
up to a corner or near a litter pan, I'm right there grabbing them and
putting them *in* the pan.
 
I don't give babies full run of the downstairs either; when I'm training my
own litters, I sit on the floor with them spread out on a blanket - that's as
far as they go - the blanket is their boundry.  I also keep a litter pan
sitting next to me - when I see one of them needs to use it, I put them in
it.  This has worked successfully for me.  My babies use the box on their own
before their eyes are opened!  (Of course, baby ferrets don't open their eyes
until 30 - 35 days old - *much* later than say kittens!)
 
I've kept kits from own litters, and these guys DO make the effort to go
to a pan.  I have pans in the living room and kitchen, and the 3 that
I've kept myself use the litter pans 100 percent of the time!  Farm and
rescue ferrets are about 75 - 95 percent.  Actually, the rescue ferrets
are the least reliable; farm ferrets have a higher rate when I've gotten
them as kits.  But with the amount of rescuing I've done, I haven't bought
a pet store ferret since 1991.
 
Well, Jeremy, I know this is long but I hope you find something in this
post that will be useful to you.  You probably have gotten the idea by
now that I don't let them have full run day/night.
 
ALL of my ferrets use the pan in their cages 100 percent of the time.
 
You might want to consider confinement at least at night and when you're
gone - and you don't need to feel guilty or bad about keeping them
confined.  If they get plenty of up time and lots of love and kisses,
if you keep their cages, dishes, litter pans, blankets clean, keep them
vaccinated, seek medical attention when you need to - then you've got
nothing to feel bad about - they're lucky little ferrets to have you.
 
Debbie Riccio
WNYFLFA
[Posted in FML issue 1158]