Hello everyone! We are currently having problems with one of our two ferrets and are open to any suggestions that you may have. They are both twelve and a half weeks old and we have had them since they were six weeks old. Our male, Ottar, is a very mellow sort of fellow, and Bandit, our little girl, is extremely spunky. We have been having a lot of problems with her in the past couple of weeks. She chews on his ears (until he screams and we make her stop) and the food dish, which we remedied with bitter apple. She is still terribly mean to him, dragging him around by his ears, and pestering him until he leaves the hammock to sleep on the floor or in the litterbox. Also, in the past couple of weeks she has decided, after three weeks of using the litterbox diligently, that she doesn't need to use the box anymore and that she needs to go on the floor of the cage. We realize that by him sleeping in the litterbox on occasion that they will smell his "sleep scent" in there and not use it as it is supposed to be. Whenever we see him sleeping in it we put him in the hammock and everything is fine. We thought that maybe they thought that the litter was too dirty and didn't want to use it, but that doesn't seem to be it either. When we clean it, he starts sleeping in it again when she kicks him out. Is there any way that we can try to break her of going on the floor and using the litterbox again? I reward them with Ferretone when they go in the litterbox when I see it and swat them on the head when they go on the floor and I see it. When they do go on the floor I pick them up and put them in the litterbox and tell them that this is where they are supposed to go and then clean it up. I've even started telling them that they have to go potty in the litterbox before they can come out and play and he runs right down the ramp and jumps in and goes and I give him Ferretone and let him out. She, on the other, would rather get on the floor and go to the bathroom right in front of me while I'm watching her. I have also tried every kind of discipline that I can think of and none of them seem to work. We started out snapping their noses when they were bad, but she would run right back over and start doing the same thing again as soon as she was put down. Then I went to swatting them on the head with one finger and that didn't do any good either. Then I went to swatting her with my open hand on her head (using 3 or 4 fingers) and that doesn't seem to work either. Is bitter apple bad to put in their mouth when they do something bad? She hates it, of course, but I did it once and she stopped misbehaving once I put her back in the cage. I'm just afraid that it could hurt her if she had that done a lot. Is it possible to discipline them by only rewarding them when they are good and not doing anything when they are bad? Would that work? She is usually good when she is out of the cage playing with him, but while she is in the cage she is nasty. We think that it is because she thinks that she should be out more, but they get out every chance I have to let them out. We are both college students and both have part-time jobs on the weekends, so sometimes they don't get let out as much as we would like, but that is why we bought two of them instead of one. They are in my dorm room right now, we will be getting an apartment in a few more weeks. I have thought about giving her toys to play with, but they are all noisy and I'm afraid that they will be found if they are too loud. I also can't leave them out at night to play because they need to be supervised while they are out becuase they get into my roomates belongings. I am about at the end of my rope right now with her because I just don't know what to do. I would greatly appreciate ANY ideas or suggestions that you could give me on any or all of these problems. I'm sorry that this was such a long messege. Thank you for reading it and giving us a hand with her. Susan and Aaron -- --------------------------------------------------- If you have ICQ you can message me. My ICQ#:6768376 My current status is: <img src="http://online.mirabilis.com/scripts/online.dll?icq=6768376&img=2"> If you don't have ICQ you can page me through my Personal Communication Center: http://wwp.mirabilis.com/6768376 (go there and try it!) Or You can send me a regular e-mail to my EmailExpress address: [log in to unmask] If you want to be added to my Contact List click <a href="http://wwp.mirabilis.com/scripts/Search.dll?to=6768376"> Add Me</a> Download ICQ at <a href="http://www.icq.com/">http://www.icq.com/</a> Include your ICQ details in YOUR e-mail signature: <a href="http://www.icq.com/emailsig.html">http://www.icq.com/emailsig.html</a> Aaron Hale [Posted in FML issue 2298]