Last night I stopped by the local PetLand I frequent who often has ferret
kits for sale.  They take *very* good care of them ...  they have a huge
cage, all sorts of toys, hammocks, tubes and a big litter box and several
water bottles.
 
This batch of kits was not from Marshall Farms but from "a supplier in
Chambersburg, PA." The sable kits were a bit nippy, but generally behaved
like any other ferret kit I've ever seen.  The albino ones, however, were
MUCH nippier than the sables and one albino, a tiny little runt male, was
*VICIOUS*!!!
 
I love ferrets dearly.  I've fostered a number, helped train a few biters,
and been owned by ferrets for over 10 years.  I have *never* seen a more
vicious kit in my life.  This little guy lunged for any piece of exposed
flesh and latched down as hard as he could.  I suppose he didn't know about
humans having softer skin, but he acted like he'd never been handled by a
human before.  He just went from biting one piece of skin to another!  I
reached into the cage to pick up a little sable female and he leaped from
halfway across the cage to latch onto the webbing between my thumb and
pointer finger.  I got him detached from that and he latched onto my pointer
finger.  I blew in his face (usually seems to distract kits) and he let go
and latched onto my other hand (this all occured within about 3 seconds).
The only thing that kept him from shredding my skin was that he was a very
young kit, they said 6 weeks old (he looked to be 6-7 weeks old but small).
 
This store takes special care to handle the kits and teach them not to nip.
It's not unusual to see someone carrying around a kit or a bird or a puppy
from the store.  The animals are bathed frequently, and well taken care of.
The salesperson I spoke to said she had a number of holes in her hands from
that little albino.
 
When I left, a male salesperson (with thick skin) was trying to convince the
little guy that people didn't taste so great by holding his finger in the
ferret's mouth and not letting the ferret pull away (sort of like how I
train my puppies not to eat your whole hand when you give them a treat by
stuffing my hand in their mouth).  I hope it works, because that kit will
never be bought in that condition.  I plan on stopping by again very soon to
see if he has any luck.
 
It makes me wonder what this new breeder is breeding for, or else if they
have too many babies to handle them or what.  He did look a bit 'hungry' ...
a little thin compared to the others, so he might have had to fight tooth
and nail for his mother's milk or something, but he's incredibly
aggressive.  At this young age, he could do *serious* damage to a little
kid, and I could see him latching onto faces without a qualm.  Phew.  Maybe
he's a throwback! :)
 
--Barb--
 
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Barbara Carlson                   Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA
[log in to unmask]                                      (412) 481-5927
 http://www.gsia.cmu.edu/andrew/bcarlson/home.html (under construction)
Thought for the day:
    If "boring women have immaculate homes," I must be very interesting!
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[Posted in FML issue 1508]