In response to leaving your ferrets alone for any length of time
let tell you what my girlfriend does with her fuzzie, Freya.  Frey grew up
in a cage and still more or less lives there during the daytime hours when
Nicole can't be around.  She is out and romping whenever people are home,
but spends her nights and business hours in her ample cage.  She puts
herself to bed in her cage and has lots of romp and play space in there
during they day so when Nicole has to be out of town we have had absolutely
no problem leaving her alone in her cage for any length of time(never more
than four days).  There is almost always someone stopping by once a day to
check on all of the furry kids, but never in the two years that I've known
Freya has there been a problem with leaving her alone.  I would stress that
we leave her in her cage which is an environment that she is completely
comfortable with and have people check on her, but even so the helpful
neighbors don't do anything more than check her food and water and litter
pan.
[Posted in FML issue 1098]