Steve You seem to have covered all the options: provide a water bottle and worry that the ferrets aren't getting enough water, or provide a bowl and deal with frequent cleaning. I've not found any other solutions. I went for the frequent cleaning. The bowl in the cage is cleaned twice a day when the litter box is scooped. The bowl in the kitchen sometimes gets dumped and refilled MANY times a day since it is right next to the food dish. Hey it's easier than some of the stuff we do for them! Linda Iroff Oberlin OH Frolic with ferret friends at the International Ferret Symposium in Las Vegas, Feb 1-3, 2002. http://ferretsymposium.mdex.ca/ [Posted in FML issue 3608]