>My theory is that Mother Biters are sensitive to the hand lotions, cologne,
>and other flowery scents that mothers tend to wear.
>-- Lee
 
I think you may be right.  When my parents were visiting for Christmas, one
of my ferrets, Tallie, decided suddenly to latch onto my mother's wrist.
Now, my mom is not very mobile, and she was resting on the couch while the
fuzzies were running around.  So she just yelled "OUCH" and since I was
right there, I scruffed Tallie and made her let go.  Luckily my mother has a
high pain threshold, and Tallie didn't break the skin anyway.  I was
confused however, because Tallie doesn't normally bite anyone but the other
two ferrets.
 
The first thing that came to mind though was to ask her if she was wearing
any perfume and she said yes, on her wrists.  So I think that Tallie smelled
something strange to her and possibly got too excited.  I usually don't wear
perfume, but when I do I don't put it on my wrist, so I've never had this
happen.  Neither Wicket nor Brownie, BTW, seemed to notice or care about the
perfume when they encountered my mom.
 
Just another data point...
 
Karen
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Opus (lovebird), Fred (budgie), Pippin (Princess of Wales),
Bubba (Quaker), Winston (waterslager),
Ricochet (soon-to-be-here Caique!) Charlie, Minnie,
Tiny Tim, Piper, Pancie, Cricket, and Lacey (tiels),
and Wicket, Tallie and Brownie the ferrets, and some fish.
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[Posted in FML issue 1850]