As any kid will tell you, it's important to have your own "space" ... My husband made a half-door for our spare -now the ferret- room so that we could see in but they couldn't get out. I use a large cage to keep them out of trouble when no-one's home or we're all asleep, or when I'm vacuuming. Otherwise, they have run of the room, and it's been f-proofed for them. I don't give them run of the whole house; frequently one at a time will get supervised house exploration and "tickle chase down the hall NO STAY OUT OF DADDY'S SPEAKERS where'd the cat go can I bounce on the waterbed?" time.... The only furniture in the room, besides the 2 cages, are a closed dresser (no way to get under or inside it), a file cabinet (ditto) and a sturdy storage chest, which is just high enough they can get under it to play. They have their toy basket, the pet taxi, the occasional cardboard cave, a 2 story cat condo, various tubes, tunnels, toys, etc. to play with on a rotating schedule, and several litter pans in their chosen spots. I keep the cages covered with large towels when they're out to play, since they do love to climb on them. This protects them from getting their paws caught in the mesh when they jump off (Litje pulled a back leg muscle as a kit this way - got hung up on the way down - so, no more bare-top cages.) They get an hour out in the am while we get ready for work, and usually 5 - 6 hours every pm, so they get plenty of exercise. Of course, having four ferrets makes it easier on them to amuse themselves when no one is in the room with them. The room has been dubbed "Woozlevania." Blessings, Carla & the Woozlemaniacs Litje (Waterbed Breakdancer Extraordinaire), Turlough (Where's the Kitchen?), Gaoth (Wheeeeee!) and Quidni (Look, Mom, I can Fly! oooOOPS!) [Posted in FML issue 1458]