HELP! My ferrets are going to a friends house during my Christmas vacation and my ferrets still are not litter trained. They still poop in the middle of the cage!!! I also found poop in their food bowl. This is getting out of control, and i need them to be litter trained.
Thanks so much, Ian

how big is their cage?  Many times they need to be in a smaller cage in order to learn what a litter box is.  

Minimize the cage to 1 level (no ramps, floors, or anything)
put a large, high-backed litter box that takes up one entire side of the cage on the side they prefer to use as their bathroom.
On the other side of the cage put their food and water.
In the middle of the cage, put a sleep sack/bed.

This forces them to use the litter box as a litter box, or else they will be going potty in their bed or their food.

sounds like they've already gone potty in their food though so they need some serious guidance

I agree with the smaller cage area until they figure it out but it could be the ferrets are training you! :)

Sometimes ferrets are picky about their bathrooms - I originally had the corner boxes with the high backs - Roxy Heart would use it every time without fail - Gabby would NEVER use it - i moved onto a small cat litter box (not with cat litter - just used that size box) it's a rectangle and takes up the bottom left side of their cage from front to back.  

Everyone seemed to be okay with that and now I just use pee pads in the cage and that same litter box is in the bathroom when they're out of the cage.

I would try the smaller living space for a few days and see if they get where you want them to go - if they don't learn from them - figure out where they want to go and put the box there.  If it's the middle of the cage then so be it LOL or maybe a pee pad would be better for you or maybe they're telling you they don't like the corner box and try the rectangle that takes up the whole cage from front to back.

also keep it clean but leave one piece of poop in there so they see and smell it and are like oh yeah!  This is where I go!

Momma to
Joseph Francis Tribiani aka Joey Came to his forever home 9/26/2011
Daxter Chandler Muriel Bing aka Daxy Came to his forever home 7/30/2014

Waiting at the Bridge:
Gabby, Rylee, Maya, Roxy Heart, Goofy and Tig

          I do not yet have a ferret, but I have read some helpful tips so far that seem pretty legit. First of all, usually when there is fleece, the ferret will not do it's business on it, for the same reason that a dog will not potty in it's crate because that is where it walks/snuggles/sleeps and it does not want to be stuck in it's own filth. Another thing, you can spray potty formula in the little box so it will smell that there is 'pee' in there, and instinct will tell the ferret that the little box is the place where it should pee/poop. If you don't want it going in the water/food bowl, have elevated bowls so it can't possibly go in there! Bowls that hang off the wiring are great, because they can only put their head in, and they are typically not big enough for anything else.
     
         I hope this helps!

Ferrets sometimes poop where ever they smell their scent, so I recommend when you clean their cage take it fully apart and fill your bath tub up with hot water and add a little bit of bleach to kill all of their other scents. When the cage is fully dry and put back together do a lot of watching over your baby so when they start doing their walk backwards and poop action pick them up immediately and put them in the littler box. Eventually they'll get the point that that's their potty spot.