Posted by s_simpson on February 26, 2003 at 08:21:23:
In Reply to: To clarify my problem...... posted by Louisa on February 20, 2003 at 15:48:19:
For a few reasons, two of my ferrets are VERY reluctant to use their in-cage box.
In one case, it's because he's very, very fastidious and he seems like he can't stand the thought of possibly stepping on/near/around anyone else's mess in the box. So, if the box is more than four hours past it's last cleaning, he'd rather use the newspaper (I keep a six inch border of paper around the box to handle misses, overflows, etc.).
For the other ferret... she's just a lazy bum and it's less work to go outside the box than to go through all the work of moving two inches and getting in the box.
I have a few suggestions (but none of these work all the time -- even for my own).
First, be sure to reward them when they use the box. If you see them about to drop outside the box, pick 'em up (if its not too late) and move 'em to the box. Then reward them. Even if they don't want to use the box, they'll figure out that "I get Ferretone for this, so why not?"
Second, try laying some newpaper under the box (so that it extends out from under the box for a few inches). This won't solve anything, but it will help the mess.
Third, you could TRY to leave some bedding near the box. Usually they won't go on the bedding. Usually... It's a crapshoot (no pun intended), but sometimes it seems to help.
