Hi guys,
 
Thought I'd update you on the latest rescues.  A local club member was
successful finally at getting the two biter boys from Planet Pet, a petstore
in the Metroplex here.  They are Xmas 'leftovers'.  Poor guys are about 5
months old, nice coats, fat and healthy (devouring the Totally Ferret).  She
wound up having to pay a fee (out of her own pocket), but they gave her a
discount because they were biters.  The "new" store owner is a real jerk,
wouldn't even come out and talk to the club member, they 'negotiated'
through an employee.  The club member brought them right over and
surrendered them to the shelter (she had arranged this with me yesterday
morning, she had made up her mind she would not leave the store without
those boys).  They arrived about 4:30 yesterday afternoon.
 
I think I'll name them Jaws I and Jaws II :< They ARE nasty biters.  One got
this woman's husband on the hand pretty good, they have bitten employees and
customers of the store, and of course *me*.  I have a gaping hole in the top
of my foot right now.  I have given them the playpen (which is 4' X 4') as
their cage since they were confined to a small area for all these months
with no toys or anything.  They're having a blast!!  But I decided to let
them out to run around a bit while I checked email this morning, the next
thing I know, one of them is ripping a hole in my foot.  Yep, I shoulda
known better and worn something besides just socks.  Just wasn't thinking.
I try to give them too much credit for being really sweet boys at heart...
WRONG!
 
They're not as vocally aggressive as Spanky but are much more prone to
"quietly rip your hand off".  I can hold Spanky now, and pick him up without
difficulty at all.  When he does bite, it is a gentle bite...hey, that's a
big improvement folks!  Anyway, back to the other two... they supposedly
came from a place called Holmes Chinchillas in NJ.  They have no tattoos,
and are a bigger build than most MF.  Does anyone know anything about this
breeder in NJ?
 
Yesterday I had high hopes that all they needed was love.  This morning I am
not so sure.  I am thinking that it is almost like they have been "trained
to bite".  They have only lived at the pet store since they were babies, one
was hardly old enough to walk and was quite unstable when it arrived at the
pet store in November.  With customers reaching and grabbing for them, then
smacking them when they bit, I'd say I have my work cut out for me here.
They see hands as something they "must" bite, because they know they'll be
hit sooner or later by those hands.  (Which means I cannot use the "light
tap on the nose" trick, that'll only reinforce the behavior.  I want them to
learn that human hands are "good and safe things that will never hurt".) The
pet store staff got to the point that they always wore gloves with these
boys and "routinely" handed customers welders gloves if they wanted to pet
or hold these ferrets.  Pretty sad huh?
 
So I guess I'll stock up on the Hydrogen Peroxide and Band-aids since I am
going to be "ferret-bait" here for a while.  Someone suggested once, I think
a shelter operator, to use a dummy hand like from a manican (sp?) to work
with these bad biters.  Does anyone have any ideas on how to get one?  I
have always just worked with my own hands, but that was when I was only
working with one biter at a time, now there are TWO!
 
Kisses to all the *sweet* fuzzies out there,
 
Trish
[Posted in FML issue 1887]