Here's how I started out my oldest ferret, Hobbes, on litter pan "training".
 
When I got him I also got a 3 level SuperPet cage to which I added carpeted
floors and ramps.  To start with, I removed the ramp to the 2nd level and
blocked the opening to confine him to one level for awhile.  I took some of
the cheap Wal-Mart litter pans and cut them into four peices and removed the
lip from the top (leaving a bit of the side attached to the lip so I could
use it later) so there was just two sides and a bottom.  I then attached
pieces of the lips that I cut off to the bottom of these 'corners', so that
the lip would hold two sides of a pieces of paper laid inside the pan.  I
folded some paper towels so they were the size of the 'corner' bottom and
put them in the 'corners'.  I cut some small holes at the top of each
'corner' and fastened them into each corner of the cage with some twist ties.
 
Now I just let him poop in whatever corners he wanted to, and while he would
use all of them, he seemed to prefer the two opposite from where his sleep
tent was hanging.  I then started to dope these two with poop and pee when I
changed the paper and stared leaving the paper out of the other ones.  He
still slipped sometimes but used these two corners real well.  When I let
him start using the upper level he was pretty used to poopin' on the bottom
level and didn't soil the upper level 'corners' hardly at all.
 
Now I removed one of the 'corners' that he used reg'lar, and put in a pan
that I made from a plastic food canister (about 4" square).  It has 2 real
low sides and a high corner kinda like the triangular pans only with a
square bottom.  To start I used a paper towel in the bottom with old poop
(and didn't use poop in the other 'corner'.  He started to use the new pan
most of the time, once he got used to it.  I also didn't clean the other
'corner' as often so it wouldn't be as attractive as the cleaner pan.  Once
he got used to tha I put this homemade pan in place of the other 'corner'
and put one of those triangular pans where the homemade one was.  Still used
paper towels to line both pans and kept the new triangular one cleaner, and
sure enough he got to using that very regularly.  At this point I started
adding a bit of kitty litter to the pans on top of the paper and eventually
stopped using the paper altogether.  I still have the homemade pan in the
cage, but the guys use the triangle almost all the time.  When I got Calvin,
he just seemed to follow Hobbes' lead and rarely goes anywhere except the
pans.
 
Since they don't poop on the 2nd level of the cage (well rarely anyway) I
moved the food and water to that level, keeping the 'corners' on the food
end, which helps prevent food from being scattered outside the cage.
 
Also I put the water bottle on the end of the second level where it's over
the rarely used pan on the first level, and cut a small hole in the carpet
under the end of the tube. This keeps the carpet dry and what dribbles (is
there any such thing as a water bottle that doesn't drip?) goes into the pan
below, wetting the litter slightly which tends to discourage digging and
playing in it.
 
Couple of drawbacks:
The paper towels that they don't soil will usually become toys and get
ripped up!  Also the one low sided pan tends to invite some digging and
scattering of the litter ('specially since they rarely soil it anymore).
 
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(oo)   <--- Da Wild Weasel
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(oo) (oo)  <--- Calvin & Hobbes Da Ferrets
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[Posted in FML issue 1611]