Litterbox woes!

Question
I am trying to littertrain my two fuzzies, and they don't seem to want to have anything to do with it. I have tried the round pellets and those end up everywher, I tried the regular cat littler and took that out IMMEDIATELY because my little one tried to burrow in it and some of it stuck to his eyes, I have tried Aspen shavings and now I am just at a loss. The little one seems to be doing better than the larger one, but my little guy will most often follow suit and poop wherever my big guy does. I recently went on vacation and the person watching them didn't clean out ANYTHING while I was away, so you can imagine the nasty maggot infested mess I came back to! YUCK!  Midnight, and I am outside with the cage torn apart, my fuzzies in the playpen inside, and cleaning every inch with scalding water, vinegar, brushes, gloves, mask, the whole 9 yards!

Anyway, what litter is best, what's the best way to litterbox train, and are those springs to keep them out of corners even worth it?

Thanks!

Answer
Dear Tara,

I'm sorry yout fuzzbutts are giving you a hard time!  I assume you mean litterbox training INSIDE the cage; this is much easier to do than training them to poop in a litterbox when they come OUT to play (mine never have 100% accuracy!).

First of all, forget those silly springs.  You can MAKE that out of anything for free, don't waste your money.  Most ferrets just shrug and poop next to it anyway!  And want to know my favorite litter of all time?  "Swheat Scoop".  Its natural, dust-free wheat and it lasts a super long time without getting a funky smell to it.  "Yesterday's News" is also a good brand to use with ferrets but I hated scooping it, and it left an unmistakable urine-smell in the area around the cage.  

Try Swheat Scoop, its fantastic and its safe for ferrets.  Way better than corn cob, which had an okay smell but was tracked throughout the house.

Anyway.  If you're using a triangular litter box, I want you to stop using it and get a small cat litter pan.  My ferrets won't use those corner pans...they won't poop anywhere that they can't fit their whole bodies in to.   Next, put some fresh poop in there...try to always keep relatively fresh poop in the otherwise clean box just to remind the ferrets THIS IS A POTTY.  

But how do you say THIS IS NOT A POTTY?

Easy, you say either THIS IS A SLEEP AREA or THIS IS A FOOD AREA.  What I've done on the floor on my ferrets' cage is this: I have a medium sized cat box on one side, plush towels covering the rest of the floor space, and food bowls hanging from the other side of the cage.  They have three hammocks that they must climb up to using the side of the cage...no levels for them.  It isn't hard with the kind of cage I use, plus it helps build muscle strength in their shoulders.

Anyway.  Since you probably do have levels (because of your interest in the springs) that the ferrets are pooping in, here's what I want you to try.  Hang a food bowl, water dish, or water bottle there instead.  70% of ferrets just won't potty where they eat, but some don't seem to care where they go.    

I know it won't look very attractive or be very convenient for your ferrets (after all, they're loosing floor space), but until they go in the potty box you'll have to rearrange things a bit until they get the picture.  When you do see a ferret using the box, give him a few drops of FerreTone as a treat.  If you see a ferret backing up to go, put him in he box and then give him FerreTone when he uses it.  If he has already gone, don't punish him (he won't get it anyway) but do put his poop in the box for everyone else to see.

Good luck!

Stephenie