unusual findings in the litter box

[allyx]

hey guys,
im having a little problem with milo and his stashing of his food, he stashes it obviously where he usually stashes things but hes changed where he wants his food recently which would be the litter box, and i dont know how to train him out of it, as then they dont use that litter box because it has food in it .
If anyone has had this problem before i would really appreciate any help

thanks

[allyx]

sorry if it sounds like abit of a silly question i just want to find a way to stop him from doing this as i dont want him to make a habit of it and think that the litter box is a food plate

thanks

[Jakk]

Cooper went on a week long stint of stashing his toys in his litter boxes. I just gave him two new dens across the house for him to sleep and eat in. Now he stores a little pile of toys in each of his three dens and I haven't seen a toy in his litter boxes since. I hope that helps to some degree. Good luck!

[Heather]

Jakk is correct, offering feeding dens does seem to help for some fuzzbutts but not all and some like litter breading. Disgusting, I'm the first to admit it but a ferret's idea of sanitary conditions are entirely different to our own The litter box is a special place for ferrets....it's theirs and what they deposit in there they own, toys, your socks, guests' shoes, their food. Some will even poop on it to lay the claim, that is the way of the wee beasties. Our little guys consent to live with us and be our furbabies but they're still closer to the wild than most any of the pets we will invite into our home. Some of their habits remain very much wild
ciao

[sherrylynne]

I'm still pulling the odd piece of meat out of various litter boxes, so no help from this quarter

[allyx]

thanks for the replies guys
feeding den? ive never heard of them before, are they like a little seperate place for feeding them or something??
haha yes it does get disgusting, i had never had a ferret who did that until i got milo a month ago, otis is a very clean boy haha

thanks

[sherrylynne]

Feeding dens holisticferret.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=enrich&action=display&thread=230

[allyx]

oops mustve missed that thread thanks i shall check that out now

[fertsru]

With a new addition to my family, I also added a new litter box in the cage. Kirby was not familiar with the conventional litter box and he apparently thought it was a great place to sleep in and stash his mice and chicken in. My other two ferrets didn't know where to poop when he was laying in their litter box. I wasn't sure what was going on either. So, I just added a new clean litterbox. Kirby thought that since it's cleaner, it was also nicer and moved into it. He still sleeps in that new litter box with clean Yesterday news which is almost right next to the old one which has poop on the sides so they won't confuse which one is the toilet and which one is Kirby's bed. I intentionally keep the old litter box a little bit dirty that way they would use it for what's intended for. I guess a feeding den or another litter box might solve the problem for you.

[spiritualtramp]

Feeding dens, sleeping dens, dark places to stash things --- this will help cut down on the strange behavior. Ferrets naturally like private places to hide their precious things, and unfortunately sometimes, the litterbox is the most private of places. Try offering some other more secluded items that will be more conducive to stashing or feeding. Cardboard boxes make great feeding dens

I also have one that they use mostly as a toy box - they take the toys out, drag them around as they like, then someone invariably ends up stashing it back in the toy box

[allyx]

thanks for all the suggestions and ideas
i tried using their carrier with a blanket over it as a temporary feeding den which seems too be working well so far and im going out sometime in the next couple days to find a proper feeding den

thanks for all the replies

[spiritualtramp]

Carriers make great makeshift dens! I was using one at first, too!