Hi all--
 
I figured it out!  Well, ok, I admit, Princess told me the secret.
 
Who's wondering why little girl ferrets tend to start pottying in new
places, thus requiring the addition of more litter boxes?  (I know a secret,
I know a secret --na-na-na-na-naaah-na!)
 
Ha!
 
Okay, I'll spill.  Princess demonstrated, with her gentle, picky, delicate
little body language that it's like this:
 
You see, boys go doo-doo, and boys go wee-wee.  And when boys go wee-wee,
they wet an area about an inch in front of where they go doo-doo.  Then the
little dainty girl has to go doo-doo and wee-wee, but as she backs into the
corner like a proper little lady, she must plant her feet in the boys
wee-wee.  And she doesn't LIKE it.  It's icky.  It's dirty.  It's BOY
WEE-WEE.  She thinks this is terribly unsanitary.  So therefore, it's
natural that she creates a new potty, hoping it will be her private potty so
she doesn't have to step in boy wee-wee anymore.
 
And that's the secret.
 
Really.  I watched Princess check out the litter box from all angles and
finally, after much sniffing and thought, select the one spot to use where
she didn't have to step in the wet litter in the middle.  And if that meant
she had to use a corner that wasn't IN the corner, so be it.  And so, having
heard about little girl ferrets selecting new corners, I concluded that
Princess' behavior was the answer and the reason behind it all.
 
So--remember, the more often you clean the litter boxes with a mix of girls
and boys, the less often you'll have to clean up new corners that the girls
choose to be their own.  Whew.  And in my house of 5, that means doing boxes
2-3 times a day instead of just once.
 
Take care,
 
--Sheri
[Posted in FML issue 2195]