I am a cage-free ferret advocate. My first ferret, Fizz, was caged, and even with a few hours of free roam time every day he just seemed depressed. I would become annoyed when he would scratch loudly at the cage floor at sunrise every morning, but I now know that sunrise and sunset are a ferret's most active times. He was confined to my schedule, instead of his natural one. Zelda was also caged for the first 4-5 months that I had her. I moved to another house right around the time I got Derp, and since my room has more furniture I decided to do away with the cage. Yes, there are many more messes, but the change in the ferrets' personalities was phenomenal. Zelda developed a whole new personality, became sweeter and happier. I have never caged Derp but I can't imagine doing so because of her condition. They live according to their own schedule, and the only inconvenience to me was extensive ferret-proofing and cleaning up poop in more places. I highly recommend cage-free ferreting to anyone who can (obviously this isn't an option for many people), because your ferrets will explode with personality. Note: if you ever do go cageless, read up on ferret-proofing and don't cut any corners on it, one swallowed rubber band can block their intestines and either kill them or cost hundreds of dollars in vet bills, in addition to the many other things they can get into.