I'm not qualified to say if they're drinking too much; sounds like a lot,
but I've never dealt with males that age, and it could depend on the temp.
and humidity in your house, too.
 
What I can tell you is that my ferrets drink out of a bowl, and love it!!
(You may need a slightly larger bowl than we use!  :-) This has come up here
before and the consensus seems to be: they get more water, they don't have
to work as hard to get it, and this results in a healthier coat and in some
cases, a marked increase in activity levels.  I still keep bottle in the
cages, though, as the bowls go quickly and sometimes get spilled.  Also
keeps them used to the bottle, 'cause you can't really put a bowl in a
carrier!!  But, given the choice, my two will go to the bowl first.  Now, if
you could just find a 16 oz. bowl!!  :-)
 
--Ed Atlee
[log in to unmask]
 
PS Funny story - we recently took our kids to meet Todd & Andi Lockhart.
Having 9 fuzzballs, they have *somewhat* larger bowls than us.  Well,
Anastasia apparently thought she found the wading pool, or maybe the water
on the far side of the bowl looked better - the first clue was a very wet
ferret, after which I followed her and watched her try to drink from the far
side of the bowl!!
 
While I'm here, congrats to fuzzies & fold in Mass!!  And did anyone notice
the FML reached 2000 subscribers on the same day (yesterday)?  If the list
wasn't free, I'd be buying up stock!  Oh, that's supposed to be "fuzzies &
folks", not fold...DOH!
[Posted in FML issue 1500]