We've had rice bins off and on for a couple of years, and while I've had ferrets sometimes eat small amounts of rice there's not been a problem with it. One of the big differences between what happened to Faith's puppy dog, and when a ferret eats some, is the transit time. Rice used for play is completly unprocessed and has a very hard shell. Since it passes through the ferret within 3 hours, there has not been any detectible change in the grains. They haven't absorbed any water so are the same size as when they went in. But regardless of how safe I feel the rice is, I still like to save it for when I'm home, partially because it's so much fun to watch the guys play in the rice. As for it lodging in their ears, etc., I don't consider that to be a likely happening. The ferrets always close their ears when they go through the rice. When they come up I see rice grains sitting on top of their heads but not in their ears. My feeling (not tested theory) is they probably fling their ears open when de-submerging, causing any rice in the ear edges to fly out. I'm going out on a limb here and saying that I assume that as burrowing animals they come equipped to deal with having their heads covered with dirt and debris. Faith, has the pup recovered from his mis-adventure with the rice? Georgia - the left coast one... [Posted in FML issue 3494]