Hi all-- Well, I switched to pellet litter and loved it. Pepper did, too, which was part of the problem--he started sleeping in his outside-the-cage litter box instead of poohing in it. Sigh. I had to switch that box back to clay litter. (He uses pellet-litter properly *inside* his cage, where there's little choice). Well, then we got the new fuzzy, Mort, and he followed Pepper's lead and poohed 8 in from the outside box. I coudln't induce them to use the box, ever. Since I rent, I've been cleaning the carpet under the computer desk daily and it got tiresome. So . . . I made home-made linoleum (Martha Stewart style) for easier cleaning. Here's what I did: I cleaned the carpet very well. Then I cut the top and bottom off a large cardboard box, and cut alone one side so I had a nice strip of heavy cardboard. I covered this with vinyl shelf paper, which I've had laying around for months. I left 3 in of paper extending past the carboard, and attached it to the baseboard of the wall, so the carboard ends on the floor, but the shelf-paper continues a couple inches up the wall--so there's no crack for urine to soak into the carpet. (I had crappy not-very-sticky shelf paper, so I used alot of clear packing tape, too :-) Finally, I nailed my new "mat" to the floor. Otherwise, of course, the ferrets would get their little noses under it and move it, kick it around, etc . . . when I move, I'll pull up the nails, pull up the mat, and no one will be the wiser. I put the litter box back in place--the plan wasn't to give up litter-box training, but to ease clean-up in the meanwhile. Well, I let the fuz-muffins out, and lo! Morty came along the wall, onto the mat and kept going until he entered the litter box and did his business! Whoa! He got a raisin. Three minutes later Pepper came along and also went right into the box. And got a raisin. A few hours later, after playtime and a nap in the couch, both used the box AGAIN. I'm ecstatic. It seems to me that even IF the box is only a few inches away, once they get a whiff of a previous pooh spot, that's where they go. Somehow my home-made linoleum completely obliterated all scent of previous erroneous pooh-ing. Problem solved, though I'll continue to monitor progress and give rewards as reinforcement. Don't give up! I also covered small pieces of cardboard for other infrequently used improper pooh corners. --Sherri (sublimely happy to find pooh in the box) --Pepper (Hmm, go in box, get raisin, go in box, get raisin--I think I've got it.) --Mort (What?! Why are you looking at me like that? All I did was hold it for an extra 8 steps, and you're ecstatic? A raisin? I get a raisin for holding it an extra 8 steps? Hoomans are weird.) [Posted in FML issue 1808]