> From:   "Seth Morabito" <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Ouch!  What does she mean?????
 
> blood almost every time, (perhaps I'm just thin-skinned :-, ) and usually
 
        Draws blood(ouch).  I have a ferret Sebastian who does that, but
the only time he ever broke the skin is when he got my sister and she
pulled away insted of yelling no.
 
> hangs on through three or four sharp "NO!"'s and nose-flicks   She'll
 
        What I've found out is my ferrets don't mind a thump on the nose
all that much.  But a lite tug on a wisker or two drives them crazy.
Be very carefull not to pull to hard if you try this. You may end up
pulling the wisker out and hurting your ferret. Sebastian still bites
every so often but now I just say no and he gives up.  I don't think
I'll ever break him of this habit totaly but he has got alot better.
 
> bite, not like it was meant in a mean way, but it definitely hurts!  I'm
> sure (ok.. not so sure... hoping?) I'll be able to break the behavior with a
> nose-flick every time it happens, so I'm not really concerned with how
> to treat it -- what I'm really interested in knowing is what it _means_.
> What kind of behavior is it?  _Is_ she being mean?  Or is it some kind
> of friendly bite? Or is it neither, just a sort of "maybe I can get away
 
        Sorry can't help you there.  I personaly think it's just that
they weren't brought up correctly.  Sebastian was one of those ferrets
that got sold and then returned to the pet store around a month later.
I know you weren't looking for advice on how to stop your ferret from
biting but I think the tug on the wiskers is much more effective. Just
because they can't stand it.
 
        Hope things work out for you.  I'm getting to foster parent a
realy bad biter from our shelter.  This will give a little better insight
on how stop older ferrets from biting.  I guess he spent the last two
years stuck in a cage with out any human contact at all.  They didn't
even like to change the litter for fear of getting bit.
 
        Brad Laraway, Brevard Ferret Lovers Club and Rescue.
 
 
[Posted in FML issue 0520]