Karen E. Marsh-Lovvorn
  Executive Education
  Fuqua School of Business
  Duke University
  Durham, NC 27708
  [log in to unmask]
 
I've been following the "biting pet store ferret" thread for the last
couple of days, and feel compelled to add my $.02 worth since we had a
similar experience.  In December our pet store had a gorgeous 2 mo.
old silver mitt male who had been nicknamed the "demon ferret" because
he had bitten 3 customers (including a little boy) and drawn blood.
He'd been in the store for a couple of weeks & despite the owners'
best efforts at training him, his biting wasn't improving.  We weren't
really looking for another ferret at the time, but after we talked
with them for awhile it was pretty obvious that the little guy really
needed someone.  Anyway, the owners offered us a "deal" and we took
him home with us that afternoon.  Yes, "Gurgey" did everything in his
power to earn his "demon ferret" nickname!  For the first month, he
not only bit hard (when picked up or for "no reason" would just calmly
walk up and bite whatever was closest), but he also cried constantly
and was very skittish.  We were all a little leery of him, and our 12
year old daughter was really afraid of him (for some reason, he picked
her out as his particular target!) I'm happy to say that Gurgey is 8
about months old now, and has become a favorite.  He's still a maniac,
and a bit more aggressive than any of the others, but he no longer
bites & we wouldn't trade him for any 2 "tamer" ferrets!  He's always
the first one to greet us in the morning, & loves to be with us.  He
has no fear of heights & his aerial acrobatics provide endless
amusement - he leaps from place to place & from whatever he's on top
of to our shoulders for a ride (Gurgey: "Thunk!!!  Hi Mom!  What'cha
doin'?  Can we go for a walk, can we, can we, huh?" Mom: "Awk!")
Anyway, he was well worth the effort!  For the person who wrote in
about the problem - try again to get a "deal" from the pet store.
Maybe if you convince them that they'll have a hard time selling a
ferret like that, or that if they do someone might return it, or it
might bite someone less knowledgeable, reflect badly on ferrets - &
reduce their future ferret sales; or that it might be mistreated or
released by naive owners, etc.  - you'll still have a chance of
getting it at a discount.  That ferret sounds like it really needs a
caring friend!  Good luck!  Karen
[Posted in FML issue 1226]