I actually mailed this as a private mail to Michelle, but there were so
many responses on the FML that I felt I'd give my 2 cents on the matter as
well...
 
Here goes:
I have my ferrets loose 24 hours a day.  They live in the hall where they
have their litterboxes, food, water, toys and sleeping quarters.  When I'm
home and have the possibility to check on them I let them into the kitchen
as well.  (I have a kind of table that they can climb and I've found my
flower pots on the floor one time too many...=) ).  I live in an apartment
with the bedroom and the livingroom having doors from the hall.  To keep the
ferrets from getting into these rooms I've put up barriers in the doors that
I am able to climb over (look at similar barriers at web page
www.optics.rochester.edu:8080/users/pgreene/gallery/gallery-howto.html) but
the ferrets cannot.
 
I think this is a great solution because I didn't want the ferrets to be
caged at all, but I also worried a lot over what they might get into while
I'm away.  Not to mention the fact that my hob Albin isn't all that good at
finding the litterbox and gladly goes wherever he might be at the moment...
for instance my bed or the sofa... There is nothing in the hall that they
can get into and hurt themselves and nothing that they can eat that might be
hazardous to their health.  Well, lets just say it works well for us all.
 
Of course this depends on what your apartment looks like and so on, but
it's an idea on how to solve the problem.
 
Maria
[Posted in FML issue 1836]