OK OK I'm going to share my secret with the public <G>.  How I train my
ferrets is not for the faint of heart.  Even a very well respected friend
of mine who has been "in ferrets" for umpteen years looked at me and said
"Oh, now I wouldn't do THAT"!  When my kits try to mouth, as any young
animal will, I pick them up by the scruff, hiss, and then blow in their
face.  It makes them lick.  Now, you run a risk of being bitten here in
the next part.  As they are busy licking the air, you must VERY QUICKLY
touch their tongue to your lip (or chin if you don't like mouth kisses)
and then praise the crap out of them, and then PUT THEM DOWN to play.
 
Do this EVERY TIME a kit wants to bite or nip.  Eventually, they will
learn that if they want down, to kiss instead of bite.  At 6 weeks old,
my kits rarely nip.  At 8 weeks old, they don't.  They hit their terrible
twos around ten weeks, and will test that theory, but will again accept
that they must indeed give me kisses or else be doomed to be carried
forever.  Another ferret friend also told me I don't have real ferret kits
since mine don't bite.  They are now 14 weeks of age, and they have yet
to bite.  We occasionally get one who is a toe grabber, or wants to mouth
wrestle, but you barely know their teeth are there.  My babies make me
proud :o) .  One other important thing, I never put down a biter for
biting.  This applies to rescues, which plenty of them come through as
biters but eventually learn.  You just have to be brave and willing to
take a bite if you aren't fast enough, and don't have that sixth sense
and know you have a bite coming.
 
Kim Wolf
Mystyx Samoyeds, Ferrets and Rescue
www.geocities.com/mystyx_samoyedsnferrets
www.mystyxrescue.petfinder.org
[Posted in FML issue 3588]