Hi all--
 
Well, I switched to pellet litter and loved it.  Pepper did, too, which was
part of the problem--he started sleeping in his outside-the-cage litter box
instead of poohing in it.  Sigh.  I had to switch that box back to clay
litter.  (He uses pellet-litter properly *inside* his cage, where there's
little choice).
 
Well, then we got the new fuzzy, Mort, and he followed Pepper's lead and
poohed 8 in from the outside box.  I coudln't induce them to use the box,
ever.
 
Since I rent, I've been cleaning the carpet under the computer desk daily
and it got tiresome.  So . . .  I made home-made linoleum (Martha Stewart
style) for easier cleaning.  Here's what I did:
 
I cleaned the carpet very well.  Then I cut the top and bottom off a large
cardboard box, and cut alone one side so I had a nice strip of heavy
cardboard.  I covered this with vinyl shelf paper, which I've had laying
around for months.  I left 3 in of paper extending past the carboard, and
attached it to the baseboard of the wall, so the carboard ends on the floor,
but the shelf-paper continues a couple inches up the wall--so there's no
crack for urine to soak into the carpet.  (I had crappy not-very-sticky
shelf paper, so I used alot of clear packing tape, too :-) Finally, I nailed
my new "mat" to the floor.  Otherwise, of course, the ferrets would get
their little noses under it and move it, kick it around, etc . . .  when I
move, I'll pull up the nails, pull up the mat, and no one will be the wiser.
I put the litter box back in place--the plan wasn't to give up litter-box
training, but to ease clean-up in the meanwhile.
 
Well, I let the fuz-muffins out, and lo!  Morty came along the wall, onto
the mat and kept going until he entered the litter box and did his business!
Whoa!  He got a raisin.  Three minutes later Pepper came along and also went
right into the box.  And got a raisin.  A few hours later, after playtime
and a nap in the couch, both used the box AGAIN.  I'm ecstatic.
 
It seems to me that even IF the box is only a few inches away, once they get
a whiff of a previous pooh spot, that's where they go.  Somehow my home-made
linoleum completely obliterated all scent of previous erroneous pooh-ing.
Problem solved, though I'll continue to monitor progress and give rewards as
reinforcement.
 
Don't give up!  I also covered small pieces of cardboard for other
infrequently used improper pooh corners.
 
--Sherri (sublimely happy to find pooh in the box)
--Pepper (Hmm, go in box, get raisin, go in box, get raisin--I think I've
  got it.)
--Mort (What?!  Why are you looking at me like that?  All I did was hold it
  for an extra 8 steps, and you're ecstatic?  A raisin?  I get a raisin for
  holding it an extra 8 steps?  Hoomans are weird.)
[Posted in FML issue 1808]