A common misconception is that ferrets are dirty animals. The reality is ferrets make wonderful pets in part because, like cats, they can be litter box trained! Follow these steps to litter train your pet ferret.
With ferrets, old habits die hard. Young ferrets without much experience typically take to litter training much easier than an older ferret that’s already developed their own bathroom habits without a litter box. Fortunately, many ferret breeders and shelters take on this task. However, if you’re not so lucky, it’s better to start sooner rather than later.
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Ferret Bathroom Habits to Know
Before you begin your litter training journey, it helps to understand your ferret’s natural tendencies regarding the bathroom.
First of all, ferrets poop frequently. The digestive system and metabolism of ferrets are extremely short, meaning that they need to poop multiple times a day. This can make the litter training process difficult because you’ll need to stay vigilant, but it also gives you quite a few opportunities every day to teach your ferret proper litter box usage!
Second, ferrets seek our corners to poop in. Backing up into a corner helps ferrets feel safe while using the bathroom, as they can’t be ambushed during this vulnerable time. This means any and all corners in your home are fair game.
Litter Box Placement
If your ferret has a cage, it’s always best to put the litter box in there. It’s a finite space, and your ferret is in there for quite a few hours every day. If your ferret doesn’t have a cage, or if you simply don’t want to keep the litter box in there, it’s a lot more difficult. There are many corners your ferret will find to poop in, and they’ll likely find themselves far away from a litter box when they have to go.
Within the cage, if a litter box hasn’t been present, your ferret has likely picked one or two corners where they prefer to go to the bathroom. These are excellent places to put your brand new litter box! While one litter box will cut it, you may want to include 2 or more litter boxes throughout the cage to determine which one your ferret prefers.
Wherever you decide to place the litter box, make sure that it can attach to the side of the cage to prevent it from being moved around. Simply put, ferrets love moving stuff around, and their litter box isn’t immune to being rearranged. Fortunately, some of the more popular ferret litter boxes can be secured to the corner of a cage easily.
If you can, also aim to place the litter box in a quiet corner of the cage, furthest away from distractions.
Creating “Off-Limit” Corners
Your ferret may try and poop in any other corner but their litter box, and you want to prevent this! To do this, simply place different objects in the other corners of the cage. One corner can have the food and water, another can have a bed, and all other available space can be filled with blankets (preferably with your ferret’s smell on them).
Since ferrets don’t like using the bathroom near their food, water, or bed, every corner but their litter box should have these things!
First Days of Litter Training
The first few days of litter training your ferret will be filled with trial and error. First things first, though — you need to show your ferret what the litter box is there for. Take some of your ferret’s excrement and place it in the litter box. Ferrets are smart, and this helps them make the connection between the litter box and bathroom time.
As you already know, your pet ferret poops multiple times a day. If you’re observant, you’ll start to get an idea for when your ferret tends to “go”. Often times this is in the morning when they wake up, before or after eating, after a bit of playtime, and some other times scattered randomly. During those times, and regularly throughout the day, place your ferret into the box to encourage them to poop.
In fact, there’s a quicker/easier method that gets your ferret on a schedule, and it involves getting your ferret to use their litter box right when they wake up. Wake your ferret up every couple of hours and place them in the litter box. If they’ve been sleeping for a couple hours, chances are, they’ll need to go. Once they’ve gone, give them a tasty treat as a reward. Letting them out of their cage to play will also be seen as a reward.
After a week or two of this strategy, you’ll pretty quickly start to see a great habit form!
How to Handle “Outside Of The Box” Ferrets
When litter training your pet ferret, accidents will happen, and that’s okay! During this process, just keep in mind a couple of actions and ideas that can solve or greatly help your problem.
- Establish a routine
- One of the most effective steps you can take towards eliminating accidents is getting your ferret to use the litter box before getting let out of their cage. When you wake your ferret up for play time, or even if they’re already up and ready to play, place them in their litter box and don’t let them out until they’ve gone. Eventually your ferret will pick up on this and poop when they can tell you’re about to let them out of the cage.
- Immediately clean and address accidents
- If your ferret goes on the floor, there are two things you should do. First, you should immediately bring your ferret back to their litter box and put them in it a couple of times. This will help them to form the connection. Second, mop up any urine with a paper towel, pick up stray poop, and place them both in the litter box to, once again, form that connection. Then hit the area with a cleaning solution to remove all smells. We don’t want to leave any hints that this area can be used for the bathroom.
- Do some rearranging
- If your ferret has gone in the same spot several times and doesn’t seem like stopping, you might want to address that corner. The first thing you can try is placing food or a bed in that corner, as ferrets like to keep those thing separate from their bathroom. If your ferret just relocates to another corner, consider placing another litter box in the original corner. Sure, two litter boxes aren’t optimal, but it’s a lot better than consistently messy floors!
- Be patient
- Every ferret is different, so some will take longer to become litter trained than others. However, if you’re using the “wake up and poop” strategy outlined above, there’s a very good chance you’ll be able to litter train your ferret within a couple of weeks.
Ferret Litter Training Supply List
Litter training your pet ferret doesn’t require expensive trainers or fancy books, it just needs a little bit of patience and standard litter supplies, including:
- Litter box
- A small litter box that fits in, and attaches to, the cage’s corner is perfect. Get one with a high back to keep everything contained.
- Ferret-safe litter
- A recycled-newspaper is perfect for ferrets, as it’s low on harmful dust.
- Treats
- Healthy ferret-specific treats, including salmon oil.
- Cleaning supplies
- A pet odor eliminating spray is a must to keep your ferret from returning to the same corner to poop. a 50/50 mixture of white vinegar and water in a spray bottle usually does the trick.
Litter Training Frequently Asked Questions
All ferrets are different! While some may religiously use their litter box, others may not be so fastidious, especially if they’re away from their cage and a sudden urge hits. Make sure you’re strictly following the litter training techniques highlighted above for at least 2 weeks.
It’s recommended that you have one litter box per room. It’s asking a lot of a ferret to make their way back to their litter box when they need to use the bathroom in another room.
If your ferret doesn’t have a cage, during the litter training period, you should restrict your ferret to a single room and place a litter box in every corner of the room. Then, over time, reduce the number of litter boxes to those that your ferret uses most frequently. It’s significantly harder to litter train a free roam ferret, but it isn’t impossible.
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