First off I'm a new ferret owner.  We have a 4 month old male neutered and
descented male.  Originally we thought he was a cinnamon..but now i'm not
sure what he is.  I've realzed he is a mitt, as he has the white bib and
four white feet..his color is white or light ceam underneath and he has
blackish/dark gray(really looks more black though) outer coat.  His face is
almost all cream although around his ears he has almost tan markings.
Anybody know what he could be?  He also has a little blue streak on his nose
and his eyes are very dark..they look black to me.
 
Now for behavior problems I can't solve.  The most annoying is his tendency
to grab at your nose and bite hard enough to hang off it if allowed to.
Somebody suggested scruffing him when he did it..that pissed him off more
and he took to biting fingers too.  Somebody suggested squirting him with a
squirt gun..he seemed to think it was great fun to chase the water so that
didn't work.  Another suggest lemon juice on our nose and fingers..that
didn't really deter him either.  I know he's young but I'm worried he won't
outgrow this and I'm 7 months pregnant and would like to see some
improvement before our baby arrives.  I will not let the ferret around the
baby unsupervised tho..he will be confined to a bedroom or the hallway to
play if the baby is on the floor.
 
Another annoying habit he has is burrowing in his litter pan.  He only does
this when it is first cleaned.  It used to only happen with his litter pan
outside the cage, but recently the cage pan is getting burrowed through as
well.  We use clumping cat litter and I'm not so sure it's healthy for him
to ingest through his nose.  I've looked for other litters but the one pet
store in my town doesn't carry it, nor will he order anything for me.
 
Another question I have is whether ferrets go thru a bout of jealousy with
the arrival of a baby.  Fidgit (our little guy's name) is spoiled rotten
getting pretty much anything he wants and he gets to spend most of the
evenings outside his cage running around our apt.  With the baby I won't be
quite as comfy letting him roam free and just wondered what things I could
do to help him adjust.  We have a bunny for him to play with, but the bunny
is still adjusting to him.  Fidgit has a habit of chewing her ears...silly
ferret.  Any suggestions would be helpful.
 
Thanks..
Alicia, Skot, & FIdgit
[Posted in FML issue 2227]