With all the talk about bitting & nipping recently, a fuzzy wanted to share
her story.
 
I was bred by a woman by the name of Vickie George.  She got most of her
breeding stock from a guy named Doug McKay.  That is where my fuzzy mom &
fuzzy dad came from.  I remember being at this place until I was about 16
weeks old.
 
Then some guy - who was really quite ugly - came to look at some ferrets.
He told Vickie he wanted a DEW jill to breed.  He picked me out and we went
home.  He put me in a cage in his garage and gave me some funny smelling
crunchy food.  Then he went in the house and left me in the summer heat in
the dark.  He hardly ever came to see me & I would get very thirsty and
hungry since he hardly gave me food or water.  I never got to come out of
my cage.  I had no toys, so I would eat my blanket because I was so hungry
& board.  The dark garage smells made me dizzy & was very damp.  The
hoomans always came home with the car - (the one that takes us to shows &
also to the vet's!) - pulled it right next to my cage and they would never
even stop to see me or feed me.
 
That was my life for 7 months until one day when this other guy came to look
at me.  He seemed ok & he brought a lady with him, too.  She came over to
the cage & tapped her finger on it.  I ran right over & yanked her finger
in the cage & bit her as hard as I could!  I was so hungry & so scared!  I
didn't know what was gonna be done to me!  These new people took me to
their house.  They put me in a clean cage with soft towels - & best of all
I got plenty of food and water!  Every time these new people (they are now
my hooman mom & dad) picked me up or opened my cage I would bite them as
hard as I could!  I didn't know how to tell them I wanted down or how to
communicate with them at all.  Finally I started to figure out how to
communicate with them - like if I just waited a second when they held me I
would get a treat & then they would let me down to play.  After a few
weeks, they let me stay with another ferret and she was able to help me
relax and calm down.  Now I love my hooman mom & dad so much that I give
them kisses all the time.
 
My biggest problem was with communication - because I am deaf.  I would bite
them, look up at them to see if I was gonna get put down & all I would see
is a mouth flapping.  I could feel vibration in the hooman's body, but I
didn't know what it was or what it meant.  Other ferrets seem to respond to
the mouth flapping, but I didn't know what to do.  Finally I was able to
understand - and I am so glad my new hoomans were so patient with me.
 
I am a ferret - I learn by doing & repetitious behavior.  For example, if I
am tapped on the shoulder & I roll over, I get a treat.  So all you hoomans
out there with nippy ferrets that seem like they will never stop bitting -
don't give up.  Try to think like a ferret.  Lord knows we try to think like
you - how else can we possibly know what button to push to get a treat, come
out of the cage, and to get you all to talk about us so much!
[Posted in FML issue 2344]