Condolences to those with sick, missing, or angeled party-poopers... First, let me share my heart-felt sorrow with those of you who have lost your little fur-butts. Though my emotional stability isn't near strong enough to read your posts of loss (I do occasionally, but end up extremely depressed for a very long time), I at least read every top in the list and know when a baby has passed on. My heart breaks every time I hear of a little fert going across the Rainbow Bridge. Though I know they are going to a far better place than anywhere here on Earth, I still wish they could have remained just a little bit longer, to bring a little more happiness to their loved ones. My Rusti is now 7 1/2 years old. She looks it, too...except for her face. Cutest thing you've ever seen! :) Today, I let her out for a bit while Taz (my ferret-who-doesn't-know-he's-a-ferret ferret) was cruising through the house. He found her munching on a snack on the couch. I was shocked to see him approach her, do the ferret-sniff thingie at her tail-end, then proceed to "dominate" her! He was pushing her around with his massive head, licking her ears and nuzzling her! Since he's about 3 times her size, I had to finally put a stop to is, as she was beginning to become concerned. But I think that Taz has finally found another ferret that doesn't frighten him! I wonder if he will play with her... Potty training while a ferret (especially a *young* ferret) is out roaming through the house, is hard. A lot of people that have a new (or a baby) ferret don't realize just how much work is really *necessary* in order to get the ferret to know the rules. Just like you would pay extremely close attention to a baby who has learned to crawl, you also have to pay extremely close attention to a young ferret, or one who has been introduced into a new, larger world. That mean you don't let the ferret out and then to go laundry, or mop the bathroom, or cook dinner. You let the ferret out and then stay there, watching what your fert does. You watch where it goes, how it acts, what it pays the most attention to, what warrents more investigation, etc. This isn't a job that's done in one afternoon, either. This can take days, or even weeks. You have one of two choices, once you have the ferret. Either get your work done FIRST, *then* let the ferret out while you have time to pay attention, or leave the ferret in a severely restricted area where the ferret can (literally) do what it wants, without getting angry with it. The logic here isn't really new. If you have a baby that has just learned to crawl, you don't plop her down in the middle of the living room floor, then wander off to iron your laundry. You put her down, then almost STARE at her, to see what she does. You follow her wanderings to see what she tries to get into, then either redirect her if you don't want her in something, or show her how to get things out, such as toys and things. A new, or baby ferret deserves no less attention. It might be a pain in the rear to have to go through this, but it is something that should be done right, right at the beginning. It isn't fair to do any less than this. Your ferret deserves the time and attention to learn what you expect, where they are allowed to be, and where to do their business. Now, having said all of this, let me tell you how I've come to get a better-than-90% hit rate from all of my ferrets, when they are out of their cages. First, I watch where they go to poop. Even if there is no litter box there, a ferret will pick some favorite spots. Once I've determined where they find it most fun to "go", I put a litter box in that place, filled with the same litter they have in their cage. However, knowing ferrets, I don't just put a litterbox there. I also put newspapers down (at least a 4-page section) under the box, to extend up to 12 inches out from the box. This is for those that like to "go in the neighborhood", yet still doesn't require a lot of work to clean up. For those areas that get hit really hard, it pays to put a large, heavy-duty plastic garbage bag down first, then put the newspaper and finally the litter box, on top. Replace the bag as necessary. It can also help to put a layer of clumping litter in the middle of the newspaper, to absorb larger soakings. This tends to keep the dampness from getting through to the carpet/floor underneath. Clean up the newspaper carefully, when you choose this option! For those that find the expense of putting litter boxes everywhere, go to Wal-Mart and go in the cat aisle. You will find small litter boxes for about $2 each, which work quite well for smaller (average 2 - 3 pounds) ferrets! The catch here, is that you will have to "make the rounds" each day, after you have put your furry (or furries) to bed and scoop, refill, change, etc. I have to do this with three different shifts of ferrets, so I *know* from where I speak! It takes about 1/2 hour per day to clean up everyone's deposits. However, it's a half hour that I don't mind, since it gives my little kids much more freedom. Finally, I got a funny! Add-A-Kiss, who's really just a slip of a fert (her ego is about 4 times her size, though) had found out how to escape from her cage. I wired the doors shut. Ten seconds later, she was at my feet, asking to be held. I welded the doors shut. Ten seconds later, she was at my feet. She wasn't escaping through the doors (there are two on her cage). Neither of the other two were getting out, either. I thought maybe Scotty, from the Enterprise, was beaming her out and snickering into his sleeve at me. It turns out that the top, rear corner of the cage had become mis-shapen. Apparently, at one time or another before I got that cage, someone had bumped a lower part of it, causing the top corner to bulge out. This resulted in a space *just* large enough for her to suck in her belly and ooze out through. This wasn't immediately obvious. When I let her cage-mates out to play, I put her back in and latched the doors, then sat there and watched her. She sat there and watched me, knowing what I was doing. However, I can out-stare a cat, so she lost. Wanting out to play, she began to nervously scamper through her cage, from one level to the next. Though she poked her nose through the openings around each door, she never really tried to get out that way. Finally, she went to the corner, stuffed her snout into the opening and *thought* she was going to escape! Heh! "Good try!" says I! I had used a hammer and a pair of pliers on the bent area and put it back into its (well, almost) original shape. She didn't fit anymore! Scotty! Move the Enterprise back into your own time zone! On a side note: Fuzzer, when he saw me working in his cage, came up and gave me a (gentle) bite on the hand, to tell me to leave his cage alone! :) When I stopped hammering, he let go...when I started again, he bit again! :) He's the Alpha Male, alright! :) Todd and the Fuzzbutt Rodeo Clowns! --- mailto:[log in to unmask] http://giftsandcollectibles.sites.cc/ http://www.success.net/microlink/ [Posted in FML issue 3370]