Hi Jerri,
 
I can tell you first hand that although you can keep both guinea pigs and
ferrets in your home, there are lots of things you must do and watch for.
 
The guinea pigs must have their own cage.  The cage must not have openings
or holes that are large enough for a ferret to get through.  The door/lid
must stay tight enough closed so that a ferret cannot pry it open.
 
If you choose to have both the guinea pigs and the ferrets out and about at
the same time, you must remember to keep an eye on the pigs at all times.
Ferrets will attempt to drag the guinea pig off to a hidey hole which is
not fun for the GP.  Ferrets will also try to "take the pig down" by biting
the ears, neck, etc. and hang on tight.  The GP will squeal loud enough
to make you believe that hell has finally arrived.
 
I have one caged GP and 18 free roaming ferrets.  When the GP is out, he is
always watched and the first to be protected.  If you want your GP to have
exercise, I recommend using a separate room where the ferrets do not have
access, or depending on the number of ferrets you have, separating them
into a separate room while the GP's are out.
 
As far as it goes for GP's recognizing their names, yes they do.  And GP's
can be litter pan trained.  My friend who was from Peru raised them when
she was a young girl.  But back there they are raised for meat as well as
for pets.  When she came to Canada, her love of having pet guinea pigs
followed, and from what I saw, they always used their litter boxes.  She
said it was very easy to train them to do this as they are naturally
inclined to use one spot as their latrine.  She used regular (not
scoopable) cat litter.  She recently got a job at the Bronx Zoo, so
unfortunately I cannot ask her how she did it.
 
As a another side note: Don't buy those big stupid balls that tout giving
hours of fun for your pet to roll about in.  It's a waste of money.  GP's
just sit in them and don't move.  And they are far too small for ferrets.
I personally consider these "fun" balls to be cruel - the space is just
not large enough for an animal the size of even a small ferret to use.
 
Hopes this helps.
 
Betty and Her Blur O'Fur
For the love of Ferrets...
Missing Dolly
[Posted in FML issue 3450]