Back in November or so of 1999, I took in a foster who was a severe biter,
and I do mean severe.  The first day she struck as fast as a cobra and had
forced a donation of blood to the floor of my living room.  And later I
made another donation.  She was the worst biter I have ever had to deal
with.
 
Yesterday, I got the biggest reward I ever could have from this
misunderstood little girl.... I got my face washed without a even so much
as a nibble.  It was the most joyous event I have experienced in a long
time...
 
People ask me all the time how I deal with biters.  I tell them that it is
not always easy.  I tell them that it takes patience, a lot of nerve, a
great deal of love, and a whole lot of patience.  What ever you do, never
set a deadline... each ferret is different and it is unrealistic to set a
time limit for success.  As with people, time will heal everything but not
everybody is on the same clock.
 
With our biter... we renamed her Thalia, after the greek muse of comedy,
it would seem like we would be progressing nicely, and then one day...
CHOMP... we would feel back at square one.  But we never gave up on her.
We ending up adopting her because we wanted her to know that this would be
her last stop... that she would have a home that would continue to love
her.
 
We took each day as it came, and started with just letting her get use to
us walking around her, by her, over her.  Then we progressed to feeding
her treats, first by laying them in front of her on the floor, and then
directly by hand.  Then we progressed to picking her up and putting up with
a few "watch it" bites, and moved on to carrying her around.  We always
spoke gently around her, and for the longest time, kept our movements
around her slow, and cautious.  Eventually we were able to start chasing
her to the point where she began to feel safe enough to initiate the game
of chase herself.
 
Now I grab her quickly and there are no bites coming from her.  I have
started scooping her up onto the bed and rough housing a little with her.
It always puts her into a play mood, but I can see that she is still a
little uncertain of the outcome.
 
When I picked her up yesterday, and carried her around, I spoke to her
telling her what a beautiful lady she was, and stroked her gently in
encouragement of being carried.  She looked up at me, and before I could
pull away, which was a normal response... she licked my chin.  I was
shocked... then she moved to my cheek and kept cleaning until I was clean
enough to meet her standards of cleanliness.  She did not so much as even
attempt to bite.  I almost cried.
 
My husband had a similar experience a couple of weeks earlier but he forgot
to tell me until I related my story to him.  I am so glad that she has
finally given us a signal that we aren't so bad to be around.
 
I think she will keep us...
 
For those of you who have biters... don't give up.... Continue to show them
that you will be patient with them, and that you will love them no matter
how many times they draw blood.
 
The reward is unbelievable....
 
Betty and Her Blur O'Fur
For the Love of Ferrets...
[Posted in FML issue 3072]