Kymberlie wrote:
>While I think that a page about bad biters might be a big help to people
>who are going through this problem, I do have one major concern ...
 
>As most of us are aware, ferrets have a horrible reputation to some people.
>I can just see the California DFG getting their grubby paws on a page about
>"bad biters"...they'd have a field day and use it to prove that ferrets are
>mean and vicious.
 
I also have exactly these concerns, which is one of the reasons I went to
the FML for input before getting started on this.  You are absolutely right
that it is a shame that we have to feel so careful about discussing useful
information.  I would call the page something more like "Problem Ferrets"
rather than the colloquial Bad Biters that we use around the FML, and make
it very clear up front and throughout that these are ferrets who have been
neglected, abused, or otherwise mistreated, or who are far from being the
norm.
 
The reasons why particular ferrets bite would be a big part of the page; I
think that you have to put yourself inside the ferret's head and understand
what's going on in there before you can make any progress on modifying the
behavior.  The two main aspects of the page as I see it now are: gotta know
what the ferret's thinking, and how do I keep from going nuts dealing with
it.  I kind of want to keep away from the other issues of ferret care,
partly because I definitely do not want to reinvent Ferret Central, but also
partly because I don't want the support aspect of this page to get lost in a
lot of information.  Another reason I see not to include more information is
that it might seem to normalize the behavior that isn't normal.  I would
love more input from everyone on this issue; I don't want something intended
to be helpful for the few of us who need it turn out to have terrible
consequences for many more of us.
 
I have had some interest in the project from people.  What I would like to
do is to start working on something but not link it to _anything_, not even
my own home page, until I've had a lot of review and comments from ferret
people.  I can give the URL to people who ask, if anyone feels that simply
posting it here would be too risky at this point.  Since I'm moving next
weekend, it will take me a couple of weeks to get something done, so there's
more time for discussion of what people would like to see in this kind of
page, and more time for people to make contributions to the content of the
page in the form of stories, techniques, observations, etc.  Discussion
could take place here, and the other stuff can be emailed to me any time.
 
I'm glad, Kymberlie, that you posted what you did, because as I said, I
share the same worries.  Thanks for your nice words at the end :)
 
Everyone else, I really would like to see some discussion on this...
 
Regina
and Cully and Amelia too (boxes, boxes, what's inside them _all_?)
[Posted in FML issue 2045]