I know that the subject of ferret litter pan training is mentioned in
the FAQ, but I'm having a problem that I cannot find an answer for.
 
I have two ferrets (a he-it and a she-it) almost a year old.  Until about
a week ago, I put wood shavings in the bottom of their two-story cage.  I
discovered through some research that shavings should not be used in the
cage, so I have been trying to litter box train them over the past week.
I put a pan in the corner of their cage and eliminated the shavings.
 
Montgomery has been very good about using the pan, and he doesn't play
around in it very much. Phoebe, on the other hand, likes to dig around
in the box. But before I started using the litter box, she used the
other side of the cage as her toilet, but I can't put the litter box on
that side because it would interfere with the ramp going upstairs. So I
put the box on the other side. The problem is that she continues to go
to the bathroom outside the pan.
 
I've tried the usual trick of putting her in the pan whenever she backs
into a corner, but that doesn't work. And worse yet, with her digging
habits, sometimes I have to punish her while she is in the pan doing
bad things. I fear that if I punish her too much, she won't go in there
at all. So to sum up, I can't reward her if she steps into the pan
because she digs there, and I can't punish her if she digs because I
want her to use it. Any ideas???
 
--
Keith Buell
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[Posted in FML issue 1265]