Mia Emery writes:
>They have never been handled, the slightest sound sends them in to a frenzy
>of fear.  You cannot even try to touch them.  Does anyone have any ideas on
>how to go about taming them?
 
Every once in a while, a ferret comes into the Ferret Aid Society of Toronto
and through no fault of their own are very aggressive and untrustworthy of
humans.  With caring and patience each of these kids have been turned around
and now live in permanent loving homes (or are at the shelter waiting to be
adopted), if I were ever asked "how do we do it?" I would be unable to
answer the question.  Every ferret is unique and only by being able to
"read" the individual ferret can you begin to understand the type of love
they need to start back on the road of trust.  However, saying that let me
tell you about my experiences with 4 female ferrets found a month after the
London rescue.  The "Fab Four" were in all aspects as wild as the ones Mia
is currently dealing with, here are some of the tricks that I used in the
"taming".
 
First the girls were given a room to themselves and made sure that they had
an over abundance of food and water.  They spent the first few days hiding
every single piece of food (and pooping on their food in what I believe was
an effort to mask the scent of food so other "scavengers" would leave it
alone).  When they settled down enough to eat food directly from the bowl
and not feel it necessary to hide every scrap, I moved on to the next stage.
 
Now they had to get used to co-existing with a human.  Luckily, I hate doing
laundry so there is always a bin full of smelly clothes that need to be
washed.  Over a couple of days, all of their nesting blankets were replaced
with clothes that had my smell all over them.  They no longer screamed and
hissed when they smelled me approaching the barrier of their room.
 
Now I started visiting the ferret room a couple times a day.  I would grab a
book and sit on the floor in the room reading the book and try my best to
stay absolutely still.  Please note if you are ever in this situation with
really scared ferrets, wear protective clothing.  I had long underwear,
jeans, a couple pairs of thick socks and a long sleeve shirt on and still
came out of the room with numberous bruises and teeth marks.  For the first
few days, the girls would dash and lunge at me, literally attacking the
intruder in their sanctuary.  Each time I moved or yelped when a ferret was
near, the girls would dash back to the hidey holes (which I had provided)
and not attempt to come out for at least an hour, and I would have to start
the session all over again.
 
Eventually they started approaching me only to sniff as they had grown
comfortable enough with my presence that they were not as intimidated.
Unfortunately my progress almost halted here as I was unable to reach out
and touch them without them running away immediately from the movement(and
they would start hissing and biting if I ever attempted to touch them when
they were in the hidey holes).  Finally, I discovered a trick borrowed from
my own ferret Hershey...."the speedbump".  When Hershey wants extra
attention, is tired or has just gotten into trouble she flattens herself on
the floor and waits till you give her a hug saying you love her.  I figured
that this could be a submissive position and gave it a shot with the girls.
In the ferrets room, I laid flat on the floor (however I did hide my face in
my arms as I did not know what would happen) to this day I don't know
whether "the speedbump" is a submissive position or the girls just thought I
was so stupid looking that they knew I would do no harm but this turned the
tables.  All four girls came out of hiding and immediately started crawling
all over me.  A couple times they came close to my hands and I was able to
pet them without invoking fear.  At this moment I knew I could teach them
trust, these four scared girls had finally let a human touch them without
fear.
 
Now don't get me wrong, these girls still needed a lot of TLC and patience
over the next while.  The speedbump trick did not immediately "tame" a
ferret, but it allowed a door to be opened that let a human start teaching
4 scared girls they could be loved.  Eventually these four returned to the
shelter where they received the best gift any ferret can ever be granted,
they were adopted and now have a place to call home.
 
Hope this can helps.....
 
Paige, currently answering the whims of Thunder, Hershey and The Cos
 
ps.  On a less serious note: August's picture in the Ferret Calendar is
starting to give me a bad rep at work.  The calendar is hanging in my
cubicle just over my right shoulder, hence the corner of my eye keeps seeing
this incredibly cute ferret giving me the raspberry.  Needless to say at
least once a day an overwhelming desire to return the raspberry overcomes my
good senses and I stick my tongue out at the ferret..... it just so happens
that Murphy's law always wins and at the exact moment someone comes around
the corner to ask a question and witnesses my extreme childishness!!!!
[Posted in FML issue 2396]