Hi,
I have a 1-year-old female ferret named Chibi, who has a real biting
problem. She'll bite with little to no warning. She always bites on
the hands or arms of the person holding her.

Usually I'm bitten on a daily basis. I try my best to monitor Chibi's
head movements, but being totally blind, it's rather difficult. So when
I carry her from her cage to her playpen, I end up holding her mouth
shut with one hand, while attempting to cradle her body with the other.

Chibi adds to my stress level, which aggravates my epilepsy so I try
to handle her as little as possible. Not to mention that I'm scared of
her, even though she only weighs about a pound.

Today when my dad was holding her, Chibi delivered five deep punctures
to the space between his thumb and forefinger. He later cleaned the
wounds with soap. I wasn't bitten today which is wonderful, but I wish
that my dad had had my luck.

When Chibi bites, she bites hard. Once she bit me and wouldn't let go,
so I had to pry her mouth open with my other hand while she was clamped
on to the other. Man, did that hurt. I've tried scruffing her when she
bites, but that only makes her more determined.

I don't know why she does this. She's never been abused, far from it.
She's only been treated with love and kindness. She dines on the best
grain-free foods, has plenty of soft beds to cuddle in, and gets a lot
of out of cage time.

Could she be biting because she's a cinnamon? A while ago there was a
discussion on the FML about cinnamon ferrets, and how some of them are
prone to aggressive behavior.

Or could she be biting because she was bred by Real Canadian Ferrets?
I was told that RCF ferrets take longer to get over the nipping phase.
But my two other ferrets, 2-year-old Lillie, and 1-year-old Frankie
were also bred by Real Canadian Ferrets, and aren't aggressive in the
slightest, just hyper.

Any suggestions on how I can stop Chibi's unwanted behavior?

Randie

[Posted in FML 6805]