I would say that the only pain with having a ferret is taking apart the cages for cleaning!

My parents had two connecting ferret cages so there was one huge one. Altogether, there were five levels, tons of tubes, ladders, blankies, hammocks, etc. We cleaned the cage itself about once a week (personal preference) but the tray was cleaned more often. The litterbox was completely changed every other day. It's not that much!

My ferrets, honestly, did not smell. They were descented but had no more of a scent than any other critter or person I've seen (of course there are the normal skin oil and blah blah) . They did have stinky potty breaks so we kept one of those "poofing" air fresheners. Plus, they got baths.