My ferret has turned on me! He's after my blood! Well, ok, maybe I'm
exaggerating a little. Here's the story. I've had Buddy for about 2 months
now, and during that time he hasn't shown the slightest aggressive behavior
toward me, at least until recently. In the past few days, though, he has
bitten me hard enough to draw blood three times. The first two were partly
my fault. Last Friday Buddy was crawling around inside an empty cereal box.
I had a mischievous urge and tipped the box up to see what he would do. He
started scrambling inside the box, and it tipped back over. I bent down by
the box, feeling guilty, to see if he was ok, and he came flying out and
clamped onto my nose. I yanked him off, bapped him on the nose, and severely
scolded him, then put him in his cage. I figured, though, that it was my own
fault, that Buddy had been scared and confused, and probably didn't even
recognize me when he jumped out of the box. Then yesterday morning, Buddy
tried to get onto my bed, but slid back off (the sheets were too slippery
to get a grip on) and fell in a heap. I reached for him, asking in a quiet
soothing tone if he needed some help getting onto the bed, but he avoided
me, so I made a quick grab for him and he bit me on the thumb. I reprimanded
him again and put him in his cage, but thought he must just have been startled
by his fall from the bed and my quick grab (though I've grabbed him like this
many times when it was time to go to work and he didn't want to go back in his
cage, and he never so much as nipped me before). By the way, I know many people
let their ferrets run loose all the time, but for several reasons that is not
feasible for me at this time, and wouldn't be safe for Buddy. Anyway, last
night I was petting Buddy, and he seemed immensely content. A few minutes
later I was lying on the floor, and Buddy was sniffing around my general
vicinity. He started sniffing at my ear, and I started chuckling, and saying
stuff like 'cut it out, Bud, you're tickling me'. Next thing I know he
clamps on to my ear. If this keeps up I'm going to run out of blood. It's
getting so that I jump whenever he makes a sudden move near any of my body
parts. Has anyone else out there had their rug-weasels start biting for no
apparent reason? Did discipline eventually cure them? Did it take long? I
know he's only bitten me three times, but those teeth are sharp! Besides, I
certainly don't want him biting any of my nieces or nephews (they all think
he's wonderful). Currently I'm batting him on the nose, yelling at him, and
sticking him back in his cage when he bites (some people also suggest shouting
OUCH when a ferret bites, to let them know it hurts. I've been doing that too,
and I don't have to fake it :). Any other suggestions? Any encouragement from
experienced ferret owners that he will probably stop this soon? By the way,
Buddy is neutered (so he can't be more aggressive because of being in season)
and had his rabies vaccination over a month ago, and has had no contact with
other animals except a vaccinated cat 8 days ago (so he can't have rabies, as
rare as that is in ferrets anyway). I don't know if this is related, but Buddy
has been chewing things a lot lately (especially the corner of the bathroom
door. Naturally, he completely ignores the small nylabone that has been sitting
in his cage since I got him :).
 
     One more thing. Buddy was neutered before I got him, but he was still
pretty smelly, so I had him de-scented as well. This seemed to get rid of
the ferret smell in his favorite haunts (under the couch, for instance), but
didn't seem to reduce his personal odor very much. I bathe him every couple
of weeks, but his odor starts coming back the next day and is back at full
strength within a few days. Any suggestions for reducing his smell? It's not
really all that strong, but I wouldn't mind making it less so. A 2 year old
neutered/descented female I saw at a local breeder had no odor at all. Perhaps
males are just generally smellier?
 
John Rosloot, computer technician
University of Regina; Regina, Sask, Canada
[log in to unmask]
 
[Posted in FML issue 0272]