Greetings, all!  I picked up Bryan's ferret this morning, a beautiful albino
male.  Many of you have been very supportive through this ordeal.  These
rescues are tough, as Dayna, Troy Lynn, and all of our other dedicated
angels of mercy who are running shelters can attest.  I'll let Bryan explain
his situation in his own words.  While we were discussing it this morning,
though, I completely understood his reasons for feeling like he needed to
let this little guy move on.
 
I, too, have been bitten several times by my little rescue case.  Troy
Lynn had named him Nipper...and adequate choice, I soon discovered.  He
has since been renamed Cody.  He gets along quite well with my shelter
ferret, Dustin, and now seems to be showing the new little one all the
cool places in my apartment to hide.  This is great, since Bryan's little
guy seemed petrified at being in a new place and hid under the futon for
about 30 minutes before daring to venture out.
 
As for my own experience, the second night I had Cody, he crawled up on my
futon, where I was petting Dustin.  I was quite pleased and hoped this
indicated he wanted to be friends.  He made a mad dash for my foot, though
and took a chunk out.  I stifled a scream (11:30 PM in an apartment, ya
know) and reached down to detach him from my big toe.  He turned and
proceeded to tear another hunk of flesh from my finger.
 
He darted off the couch, and I limped over to the bathroom, cleaned and
bandaged my wounds and sat and had a good cry.  I was ready at that point to
give up.  He had bitten me a few times that day...but nothing I couldn't
handle.  This frightened me.  Cody's a toe biter and had me doing little
dances of my own as he darted at my feet a few other times that night.  I
finally put him back in the cage and decided to sleep on it.
 
I went to the ferret show at the DuPage County fairgrounds the next day and
bought a large bottle of Bitter Apple, as well as quite a few treats.  We
were about to embark on a new adventure in bite training.
 
Today was the first day in a week that I've gotten bitten that badly again.
Not by Bryan's ferret, but by Cody.  I had been offering him my hand to
sniff with the tender fingertips curled under to protect them.  I'd usually
coat the knuckles with Bitter Apple, so that when he did bite, he'd get a
nasty taste in his mouth.  This was the first day I offered him a treat with
unprotected fingers.  Whoops...my mistake.  But instead of letting him get
away.  I scooped him up and held him with my one good hand in the crook of
my arm while washing the bloody digit.  He was stiff and shaking for a few
minutes and tried to force his way out of my grip.  I gentley but firmly
held on and kept telling him in low tones just how very disappointed I was
with him (not that he cared...but it made ME feel like I was accomplishing
something).
 
He finally sighed and went limp.  I think he and I have reached an
understanding.  I'm sure there will still be some testing of the limits and
attempts at manipulating and frightening me.  I know how to make him submit,
though.  It's going to be a long haul...and it's going to take ME awhile to
fully trust Cody.  And that's where the difficulty lies...in making these
little guys understand you're there to help, not hurt.
 
Anyway, just thought you might like to know how things are going with at
least two of the rescues.  Sorry for the long post!
 
Sincerely,
 
Viki S. Rollins
Manager - Network Services
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[Posted in FML issue 1735]