I agree: Spending more time with your ferrets helps them remember to poop
where they should.  I can't figure it out.  When I am home, I do not spend
my time chasing after them monitoring where they poop and yet they always
poop where they are supposed to.  However, if I leave the house for an
extended amount of time (long day at work or overnight), there is poop
everywhere when I return.  We have found newspaper to work the best.  We
have one section of the newspaper lying flat in the corner on the floor of
their cage and then also a newspaper section lying on the floor next to each
of 4 catboxes around the house.  They almost always use the newspaper and
then you can just pick it up in the morning and at the end of the day, and
replace them with fresh newspaper sections.  (We subscribe to the paper just
for this reason!)
[Posted in FML issue 1249]