Hi Jerri, I can tell you first hand that although you can keep both guinea pigs and ferrets in your home, there are lots of things you must do and watch for. The guinea pigs must have their own cage. The cage must not have openings or holes that are large enough for a ferret to get through. The door/lid must stay tight enough closed so that a ferret cannot pry it open. If you choose to have both the guinea pigs and the ferrets out and about at the same time, you must remember to keep an eye on the pigs at all times. Ferrets will attempt to drag the guinea pig off to a hidey hole which is not fun for the GP. Ferrets will also try to "take the pig down" by biting the ears, neck, etc. and hang on tight. The GP will squeal loud enough to make you believe that hell has finally arrived. I have one caged GP and 18 free roaming ferrets. When the GP is out, he is always watched and the first to be protected. If you want your GP to have exercise, I recommend using a separate room where the ferrets do not have access, or depending on the number of ferrets you have, separating them into a separate room while the GP's are out. As far as it goes for GP's recognizing their names, yes they do. And GP's can be litter pan trained. My friend who was from Peru raised them when she was a young girl. But back there they are raised for meat as well as for pets. When she came to Canada, her love of having pet guinea pigs followed, and from what I saw, they always used their litter boxes. She said it was very easy to train them to do this as they are naturally inclined to use one spot as their latrine. She used regular (not scoopable) cat litter. She recently got a job at the Bronx Zoo, so unfortunately I cannot ask her how she did it. As a another side note: Don't buy those big stupid balls that tout giving hours of fun for your pet to roll about in. It's a waste of money. GP's just sit in them and don't move. And they are far too small for ferrets. I personally consider these "fun" balls to be cruel - the space is just not large enough for an animal the size of even a small ferret to use. Hopes this helps. Betty and Her Blur O'Fur For the love of Ferrets... Missing Dolly [Posted in FML issue 3450]