Sorry for my subject line, but I couldn't resist. All of the talk about poop and litterbox training, and I had to jump in. Why my friends think I'm crazy: 1. I not only don't mind picking up the occasional poop in the corner sans litter box, but I examine it (ahem, not under the microscope or anything, but you know) before tossing it. Poop can tell you a lot about the health of the pooper. 2. On a related note, one of my friends watched my fuzzy for a few weeks last year when I was away and in my daily e-mails, I would always ask for a poop report. When I got back, my friend told me that he was going to get me a Poop-o-Meter that measures volume, color, and consistency, for Christmas. Christmas was 8 months ago, but I still have a raincheck for such a device. 3. My SO and I have SEPARATELY come to the same conclusion that the best time to pick up the occasional accidental poop in the corner sans litter box is about 20 minutes after it's been sitting there. Too early, and it leaves a squish mark on the carpet. Too late, and it's dry and hard to pick up. Okay, I hope no one was eating breakfast while reading all that ... If so, my deepest apologies. Seriously though, 90% of the time, my fuzzie's cage door is open and she is allowed to come and go from her cage as she pleases. Sometimes she chooses to take a nap in her hammock or curled up in her blankies on the floor of her cage, and when this is the case, she has a 100% hit rate for the litter box. When she's out of her cage, she'll use the appropriate place for pooping (i.e., with either a litterbox or paper) about 75 - 80% of the time (actually, I don't know -- believe it or not, I don't keep track. After what I wrote above, you probably don't believe that :) ). But those other times, when she's playing so intently, and is far from her preferred pooping place, and suddenly realizes that she has to poop and then does so... she'll suddenly become a speed bump and stare up at me remorsefully. So to whoever wrote that they have a "low tolerance for animals crapping in (their) living quarters" and describes ferrets with a lower than 99-100% hit rate as "an animal that craps all over your house with no hope of being trained otherwise" : I'm not throwing flames, but why so extreme? Would you feel the same about a child that occasionally wet the bed? Perhaps a little more empathy is needed here. I mean, I believe that (1) they do know what their litterboxes are for, BUT that (2) they do have short little legs and (3) they do play so intently. So added all together, this means that an "accident" is just that, an ACCIDENT. I do NOT have crap all over my house, but there IS the "accidental pooping" now and then (is that like that movie, "The Accidental Tourist"?), and when there is such an ACCIDENT, I see no point in getting upset about it. Just pick up the poop and move on. Just my 0.02. Helen [Posted in FML issue 2749]