To Paula Smith (and & everyone else who owns THEM)
 
Many responded to the "biting little ratfink" post.  50% say it's owner's
fault.  25% say it's the just the way ferrets are.  25% say it's a
combination of the two.  90% of the responses came from fellow sufferers,
so they may not be an accurate slice of the general ferret owning populace,
unless 90% of us have ferrets that bite.  Quite possible.  "Terror,
mortified, serious chomping, nippy, aggressive, & blood seeking vampire"
were some of the more common words and phrases that respondents used.  11
offenders were jills, 8 were hobs.
I know it's impossible to think like a ferret, (unless your neurosurgeon is
Dr. Frankenstein) but we *are* semi-intelligent creatures that can come to
logical conclusions, and from these, can't we make a few assumptions about
ferret psychology?
Since this unpleasantness began, I've noticed more closely the way ferrets
first give a quick sniff of the hand (or whatever body part) as it comes
within range.  I assume it's a cursory ferret inspection just to make sure
you're not the neighbor's cat, or the kid that dropped you a month ago.
Since biters pick specific victims, and eschew biting specific others, they
are acting deliberately.  Since non-biters still bite things non-human, they
are deliberately not biting us.  I think we all agree that the little
buggers' sense of smell is acute enough, and that they are smart enough to be
this discriminating.
So.  How does the non-biter lump all of us humans together in the
"not-to-bite" category and why does s/he do so?  How does the biter's
thinking process differ in creating two categories of humans, "not-to-bite"
and "chomp away." That process is a sticky wicket.  My biter was never
abused by his victims, and he isn't acting in self-defense; he simply feels
that chomping is accepted behavior.  If anyone's "abused" him it's me, one
of two people he won't bite.  Go figure.
If we understood the different thinking processes of the biter and the
non-biter, we'd be on our way to having this thing licked. (Intended)
 
Swampp
[Posted in FML issue 1241]