Oh, boy.  I get to share one of the major parts of my day.
 
Poop on wood floors: dissolve some Murphy's oil soap in a squirt bottle of
water.  Store it near frequent accident spots.  Squirt each mess, do
something else for a few minutes, then wipe up the mess.  Watch out for
Mortimer.  He likes Murphy's almost as much as ferretone.
 
Other poop:  I like formula 409
 
Protecting carpet from digging: This works with 2 out of 3 ferrets in my
household.  Buy some of that ugly plastic carpet runner.  Allow about three
feet per door.  Cut it and tuck it in sideways under the door.  Make sure
there's lots hanging out on the sides.  NEVER let them go beyond the door or
they will defeat your plastic runner, no matter what you do.  They shouldn't
have more than a *vague* suspicion that there is something interesting
behind the door.  I also thought if you could cut some of that hard, clear
plastic that they use on carpets under office chairs it might be ideal.
Haven't tried it yet.
 
Protecting carpet from digging, part 2: Sprinkle pepper on the floor where
they are digging.  If it doesn't work, it's at least funny.
 
Protecting carpet from digging, part 3:  Get rid of the carpet.  We are
putting down wood laminate flooring in the family room.  From what I hear,
this should be even more ferret proof than hardwood or vinyl!
 
Food and water messes: Put food and water bowl inside an old large cake pan.
 
Litter pan: Buy one covered kitty litter pan and one plastic tray of some
sort (like the kind you put under dish drainers).  Take the top off the
covered kitty litter pan and set it lightly on top of the tray.  Line with
newspaper, litter, pellets, whatever.  It's not *very* messy.  Again, 2 out
of 3 ferrets in our house will use it.
 
Wrong corners: In addition to blocking with food or bedding, you can examing
their trajectory.  When ferrets wake up from a nap, they cruise along in a
pretty straight line, or a smooth arc, and poop when they get to a corner.
You can improve your hit rate by adjusting sleeping quarters so that they
are in a convenient trajectory to the litter boxes.  Don't require 90 degree
turns, jumping up, crawling under, or anything else complicated.
 
Baby wipes: I question whether these are good to use on carpet, since they
contain oil meant for baby bottoms.  You can make your own baby wipes for
babies by putting paper towels in the baby wipe container and putting in a
liquid containing soap and baby oil.  For the carpet, I would omit the oil.
In fact, for wood floors, I would use Murphy's oil soap solution.  For
carpet, I might use a carpet cleaning solution.  For the bathroom, Formula
409.  Etc.
 
That's all!
 
-Catherine
[Posted in FML issue 1762]