You, I mean... the one with the red face, hot from anger... not the ferret.
After 13 some odd years of having these crazy little critters around, they
sure have taught me some life lessons. One of which is to take a time out
before reacting and striking out. We've had many a biter in our household
and my experience says that punishing the ferret means you didn't take the
time to think things through. It's hard to stop and think of what to do
when blood is streaming from that ever so soft part of your flesh while a
ferret dangles in wait. But you have to take some deep breaths and keep
your cool before the hand comes out to whack or the fingers come out to
flick. The ferret is only reacting to a given situation at the time. It's
the way we feel about the action that makes it a bad thing - i.e. gives us
pain therefore it is bad. Don't get me wrong, I don't believe biting is a
behaviour to condone but there are better ways to handle it than hitting.
And coming from the same old school as those before me and learning from
books to flick the nose, I have learned the error of my ways and let my
heart work its magic instead.
Digging and scratching can be annoying, especially at 3 in the morning, but
throwing a ferret back into its cage is only sending the message that what
it is doing is bad, when it should be looked at as, I need to look at this
another way. Digging is a natural behaviour and we need to keep this in
perspective. Giving a ferret a place to dig actually lessens the digging
in the "bad" spots. All of my ferrets are free-roamers and have been for
quite a few years. I use to keep them in a cage and let them out when I
had the time to dedicate to them but they learned that going back in was
like punishment - they hated to be in there even though it was larger than
most cages and had lots of toys, but they would scratch endlessly at the
cage door hoping to be let out. Life outside the cage was most definitely
more attractive and stimulating than life in the cage. Scratching at the
door brought them attention but unfortunately it was bad attention, but any
attention is attention and they took it whatever it was. In listening to
my heart, and allowing them total freedom, I have found more character in
my ferrets - how they signal me to be picked up, how and when they want to
play, the times they like to dig and the things they like to dig in, the
toys they are most attracted to - like my eye and sun glasses - Mushu has
decided she likes them enough to stash them in secret, away from the
regular hidey hole spots. (That'll teach me to fall asleep on the couch!)
The way they like to scratch and dig and nip at my legs before they go to
sleep in my bed with me - irreplaceable. It's painful at times but the joy
of having them snuggle up to me is worth it and having the understanding
that this is their way of accepting me into ferretdom and that they have
made me a worthy curl up partner.
It's like the lesson I had to teach my husband when we first got cats: if
you leave meat out on the counter they will come - but whose fault is it
if they eat it? It's not theirs, it's ours. Work with the behaviour and
wonderful things will emerge from it.
So before you feel like all hell has broken loose and your ferrets are
getting the better of you, take a time out for yourself, and consider the
wonderful things they have to offer that drew you to them in the first
place. Accept the natural behaviours and work with them. Understand that
biting is okay when done out of fear, and giving gentle but firm words when
it is not. Understand that pooping in the wrong spots is not an act of
defiance against you. And understand that digging is not meant as an
annoyance factor to get you riled up. In understanding them better you
will have a much more joyous experience with your ferret children and I
feel they will give you love and a bond that no one can break.
In my humble opinion...
Betty and Her Blur O'Fur
To my ferts: Blood is only skin deep but your love is worth more than
all the bandaids in the world.
[Posted in FML issue 2657]
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