Bitter Apple contains alcohol.  Alcohol should not be ingested.  If you
spray it in the mouth it will be ingested.
 
For bite deterrants, try a safe method, lemon or lime juice or vinegar.
Vinegar works well with most but some don't mind it.  Water guns work on
some too.
 
When working with biters I pick them up and give them a bit of ferretone,
pet and cuddle them and then put them down.  I do this over and over.
Once I've gained their trust I start with gentle bite training.  There
are several techniques and many have been covered here on the fml so one
can search the archives and see what turns up.  There are many reasons a
ferret may bite and it may take some detective work to figure out why but
once the reason is discovered the gentle training can begin.  The
techniques I use are listed in our handout.
 
For more information on working with biters please see our handout on our
website at www.ferretfamilyservices.org.
Scroll down to the links section and you'll see the working with biters
link on the right side of the page.
 
hugs. tle
www.ferretfamilyservices.org
[Posted in FML issue 5364]