I too have made the switch from litter to newspaper.  My three produce so
much poop that I felt like I was constantly cleaning boxes.  Now I just put
a section of the newspaper in each of their corners and replace it once a
day.  I get the sunday paper every week anyways, now when I'm done reading
it I have a weeks worth of ferret potties.
 
Eating photos... this topic is a week old I guess but I've had to do some
catching up.  All photo chemistry is toxic, residual chemicals in the print
could possibly make a ferret ill.  The light sensitive chemicals in the
emulsion are toxic too.  The base paper of commercially developed prints is
polyester so I don't think that would be very digestible either, could cause
blockages.  I have a whole cabinet full of photo chemistry I was cleaning
out today.  I left to go to the bathroom and returned to find a ferret
inside the trashcan licking a container that once held liquid emulsion, the
light sensitive ingrediant is silver nitrate which causes chemical burns
when you spill it on your skin- who knows what happens when you ingest it.
I don't know whether she swallowed any or not but after having her mouth
washed out, pepto bismol and copious amounts of milk forced down her, she's
probably regretting her actions (has the squirts right now).
 
Keeping cats and dogs out of ferret food... I find that it is harder keeping
ferrets out of the cat and dog food.  My cat and ferrets now subsist on the
same diet for this reason, Iams kitten and Proplan turkey barley.  The food
dish is under a low piece of furniture to keep the dog out of it.  This
works well if the dog is a fairly large one.  You could also try putting the
bowl under some thing that has ferret sized access holes- a laundry basket,
one of those plastic crates- or leave the food dish in the cage in a spot
where a larger animal can't reach it.
 
Kim (evry night I put my shoes in the closet, every morning I pull them
from behind the couch)
[Posted in FML issue 1637]