Hi!
i thought i'd share my opinion on nose thumping and flicking ( i have a lot
of opinions) :)
 
First i'd like to say, that my first ferret Liza was a monster, she bit to
the bone every time, every oportunity, but here is what i learned.  It is
always WRONG to inflict PAIN on a ferret, apart from the obvious fact that
they are very small animals, and we can cause serious damage, it has no
effect and doesn't get the point across, you may eventually have on your
hands a ferret that is afraid of humans and terrified to even move when
close to you.
 
It is not about to punish or inflict pain, but to give a (in this instance
a biter) a direct response to its action, think of positive reinforment and
negative reinforcement.
 
First you have to determine the reason a ferret bites, because how you are
going to deal with it has everything to do with it,
 
If a ferret bites out of fear, wear gloves if you feel you have to when
picking him up, let him bite and don't react to it at all, reasure your
ferret that everything is ok, talk to him softly and give him time to trust
you, always have a treat for him on hand, and always let him associate you
with pleasant things, that is positive reinforcement , and in time (ferret
will decide how long) he will bite less and less, untill you can stop
wearing gloves, and or predict your ferret( be prepared and Never react
any different than when you were wearing gloves in case he bites) if he is
afraid of hands always offer a lick of ferretone without wearing gloves
when he is in the cage or on the floor, and take every oportunity to offer
something good, and reinforce the associations of hands=good.  and when he
starts associating your hands with something positive you can start putting
the ferretone on the top of your hand so you can fist your hand and offer
him to lick your hand, and gradually go from there,
 
It takes time to build trust!  be patient!  It does pay of!  and if you
feel that you don't have the patience or the nerve to work with this
animal, let somebody else work with him!
 
Sometimes a ferret will go from being a fear biter to become a dominance
biter, which was the case with my ferret Liza, i knew she wasn't afraid
of me anymore but would bite me simply because i removed her from the top
of the bookshelf or the bottom of my makeupkit, she was trying to make it
clear to me that it was a no no to take the fun away from her.  This is
when we practiced negative reinforcement, she had to receive some
disscomfort when biting out of dominance issues, and scruffing wasn't doing
that, and a loud NO! wasn't going very far with her, although she did
eventually learn the full meaning of the word.
 
Thumping, flicking, and hiting is out of the question, so i cut my nails
and made sure there were no sharp edges, and when she bit i would say a
loud NO! and shove my finger into her mouth just enough to make it
uncomfortable, after a few times of this i could see her hesitate before
attempting to bite, she was actually debating wether or not it would be
worth it, (sometimes it was)but she was never afraid of me and she still
to this date trusts me 100%.
 
Then sometimes they bite too hard in play, and all you can do is a loud
AUCH! or NO! and they love you enough to want to be nice, i will never
forget when i was playing with Liza and she got hold of my finger and
figuered she was on top of the situation, she bit down a little harder
while looking straight into my eyes...i said nooo....in a low voice, she
let go just a little.....she bit down a little harder.... i said auchhh....
in the same low voice, she let go just a little, we still locked eyes with
each other.  she let go alltogether of my finger and continued to wardance
at me and wanted me to chase her!
 
That was a very emotional moment for me, as i realized that my sweet little
girl had been testing how hard is too hard, and i believe she was also
testing my trust in her, she knew she could hurt me, but inside that little
body lives a giant heart!  and this long journey of blood and tears had
come to an end, and we were both winners, and isn't that what it really
is all about?  This was achieved in little less than a year, but i can
honestly say that although i love all my four ferrets, the bond with Liza
is extreme, our time has been so intense, that in a sense we have become
one, we can pretty much sense each other out in an almost telepathic way.
 
she is extremely intelligent, very kissy (when she wants to be) and never
bites, i don't trust her with other people, but i do let some few hold her,
and she is more trusting.
 
sorry this was so long but i wanted to go into detail to explain the big
picture.
 
Josephine, Liza Truls Lucky and Dumpy
[Posted in FML issue 2659]