Ferrets congregating around a food dish and getting hefty tell me they are big time B-O-R-E-D. You need to liven them up. Offer them more free roam time. Don't simply put their kibble in a dish and leave them for the day (and night). Put their kibble in a treat ball that has to be pushed about to dribble out a piece at a time. Marshalls makes a ferret specific ball for this. Cat treat balls may work, but most dog treat balls let too much kibble fall out. Do NOT offer one ball per ferret! instead figure that one filled ball will offer a meal for two to three ferrets. Hide the ball in different levels of their cage so they HAVE to hunt it down. Remove the kibble dish altogether. Easter eggs can be filled with kibble then snapped back together and hidden around the house. Locate some plain paper dixie cups and then get unsalted lard, mix the lard with the kibble and mash it into the cup, freeze the cup, then offer this as a meal - the cup can act as a foraging cup that will make the ferret earn its food. Toilet paper cores can be used also. Push the "suet" well into the middle of the tube. IF the ferrets are NOT insulinomic and IF you are feeding a supreme kibble (no grain, actual meat proteins and high fat) then consider that contrary to popular belief - ferrets do NOT have to have kibble in front of them at all times! Even if you work it is easy enough to offer them a serving in the morning as you get ready for work. Then remove what they haven't eaten right before you leave. Feed them directly upon returning home from work, while you unwind. Remove the meal after about 30 to 45 minutes. Then when you get ready for bed, offer them another serving. 45 minutes or so later remove any uneaten food. This will gradually condition them to eat when served and if you weigh their food before and after serving you can get a handle on what they are actually consuming. They'll get 3 opportunities to eat every 12 hours which should be more than adequate. Do NOT offer "treats" until your ferrets are acclimated to the new regimen. Avoid feeding Bandits treats or foamy fries or Cheweezils. Instead switch to freeze dried meaty items, and plain dried chicken strips. Or take a big step and offer samples of raw items! If you offer a treat - have the ferret earn it by doing a trick. If you feed three treats in a day, eliminate a meal that day. IF you have stairs available, make a trail of kibble up and down the steps for a meal. If you have fun tunnels, trail the kibble through the tunnels (only if the ferrets still fit of course) - eventually they will. If using water bottles - switch instead to heavy crock bowls - they'll drink more from these and the extra fluids will help keep them feeling full and satiated. Make a deep dig box, or use an underbed box filled with rice, cut a hole in the lid and hide a frozen foraging tube in the bin at night. Interact more with the ferrets to get them riled up and bouncing. Ferret bowling, spin the ferret, bag drags, hide and seek on sofa mountain. Take them on an outdoor excursion. Let them swim in the tub. In short - get them interested in being active again - don't enable them to continue to become couch potatoes! This should help - I've personally used several of these to slim an obese waddling ferret (as well as converting him to his true carnivore diet). When first coming to me he couldn't even fit into a tunnel or climb up one step without assistance! Ferrets aren't obese by nature - an obese ferret is a depressed ferret. brighten them up, change their surroundings, their meals and their YOU time and they'll transform! Hope this helps! Cheers, Kim [Posted in FML 7191]