Hi all-- Another solution to carpet "digging" . . . a spray bottle filled with water and set to "stream" mode. It works from across the room! with most cats. It only works with Pepper if the water is REALLY cold . . . otherwise I can soak him and he won't bat an eyelash. Then I have a mad wet ferret running around. When he gets tired of being squirted he attacks me. No belief in "act of God" with him--he KNOWS it's me! A note about deaf ferrets--I thought Pepper was deaf for the first month we had him. It turned out he was just distracted--he was so busy getting to know the house that he ignored nearly *all* noises. It's hard to tell sometimes because ferrets tend to "startle" easily even when they *can* hear. Another thing might have been that we changed his name--it was "Whitey" when we got him, and, being a DEW, it was just *too* trite--I had to come up with something else! Now that he's used to the house and the name, he responds to my voice and his name . . . sometimes he comes right to me, most the time he at least looks in my direction. That's all for now. --Sherri [Posted in FML issue 1751]