Oh no, not again! That’s right, you thought you knew how to train a ferret, and yet your beloved furry friend has once again decided to use your new shag rug as a bathroom… oh joy… no!

As much as you love your ferret, his grooming habits will test your relationship and be a constant source of annoyance and frustration for you. I hope that by the end of this article your ferret potty training problems will be solved. 🙂

How to Train a Ferret Not to Pee on Your Carpet – 3 Steps

1) How to train a ferret using reinforcement – Ferrets are like most other living things in that they can be influenced by positive or negative reinforcement. To make this work, you need to make sure that every time your ferret soils your floor, you punish him in some way, perhaps with a slap or an authoritative “NO!” On the other hand, when they do use their litter box, you should reward them, perhaps with food or a tummy rub (my little girl Rosie’s favorite).

The trick of reinforcement is to make sure they are punished or rewarded immediately after they have gone to the bathroom to ensure that they associate peeing on your mat with bad feelings and reactions from you, and good feelings when they use your litter box. Over time they will learn to use their box exclusively. 🙂

2) How to train a ferret to use a litter box – One big thing to do to make sure your ferret doesn’t urinate on your carpet is to make sure they have access to a clean, readily available litter box. Ferrets are much more difficult to train than a cat, but it can be done. A good trick to train them in the use of their box is not to let them out of their cage in the morning until they have gone to the bathroom in their box, this way they will get more used to using it (and not your brand new runners). .) You can try putting some of their droppings in the box so they start making it their “special place” to go potty.

3) How to train a ferret to love its litter box – If you want to train your ferret to only use your litter box to go to the bathroom, make sure you keep it clean for them. Just like humans, they hate going to a dirty bathroom, and a nice soft rug is much more tempting than a stinky litter box.