what can i do about the ferret smell?

Ok. I live in a small apartment with four ferrets and it NEVER smells so here's what I do.

Keep the bedding clean. If they poop on a certain piece of cloth bedding, take it out and wash it. Clean your litter box twice a day. Once a week, take everything out and deep clean it. Scrub your litter boxes with soap, throw your cloth bedding in the washing machine, and get some Cage Clean from Petsmart. It really neutralizes the odor while cleaning.

Bathe them once a month or so. I'm sorry but there's nothing wrong with bathing your ferret. I don't bother with the ferret shampoo, so I use some generic puppy shampoo. It really seems to cut the smell better than all the fruity ferret shampoos. In the meantime, PetCo sells some raspberry body spray for ferrets. It masks odors well between baths.

Get some of the Febreeze AIR. This will pull the smell right out of the air. You might even consider getting your parents to buy a small carpet cleaner like the Spot Bot for when your ferrets have accidents outside of the cage. There is a pet solution which works really great in cleaning up accidents.

There is also something called Bio-Odor which is an additive to the ferrets water that is supposed to make them smell less. It works for me. They sell it in the ferret aisle. It's not a miracle solution by any means. You still have to do all of the above steps, but it does help cut back on the smell some.

There isn't anything you can do to get rid of it. There are, however, things you can do to keep the smell down.

The best thing is to KEEP THEIR CAGE CLEANED! And I mean -really- cleaned, like washing the bedding once a week. This is cloth bedding, of course, old blankets and hammocks, because using hamster bedding of any kind will increase the smell, and it really isn't good for ferrets.

You only really have to leave one poop in the litter box. More than that will just make it stink more and not do anything else helpful.

Also, DO NOT!!!! bathe your ferrets. Seriously. Bathing a ferret depletes the oils in their skin, which makes the skin create MORE oils, which makes the ferret smell WORSE! A ferret should NEVER be bathed, unless they actually get into something and really need it.

Also, get some febreeze. It is safe to use around ferrets (Don't spray it directly at them, obviously) and will help clear the odors out in your room.

sorry, sweets, you really should have read up more on owning ferrets because even with their scent glands removed (which yours more than likely are) ferrets just smell musty!! Other than keeping their bedding, cage, and litter box clean (i understand why you keep some poo in it for now) and giving them baths (no more than one per month, though) there is nothing you can do, because that is just the way they smell! I got used to it with my ferret, Jinx. Actually, i started kinda liking it!