I keep meaning to ask on the list about this problem, and keep forgetting,
so I finally remembered.
 
First, some background on this little carpet shark who's biting.  I worked
in a pet store a couple years ago that generally took in animals that people
had decided to give up.  Four of our ferrets came from there, in fact.  With
this particular one, the "owners" were reluctant to tell us what the deal
with him ws, but the manager finally managed to get them to admit that he
was "a little nippy" and that the kids had gotten bored with him when he was
about six months old and he basically spent the next two years locked in a
small cage.  And, a little nippy my ass.  He would bite hard at any flesh he
could get near and hand on for dear life.  Getting him back in his cubicle
after cleaning it was like a small war with me trying to be gentle and him
running around the puppy room scared for his life, it seemed.  My husband
was doing is best to tame him some.  He would come to get me from work a bit
early, and take the ferret into one of the puppy showing rooms and just let
him run around and get used to someone being there that wasn't trying to
hurt him or catch him.  However, after he bite four employees and two
customers to a bleeding state, the other manager said, "Michelle, give us
ten dollars for him and take him home, PLEASE!" So we did, and named him
Beelzebub.
 
We introduced him to our other five as quickly as possible, and he did quite
well the first night out.  We have found that biters seem to do better
getting introduced to the rest of our brood first.  It's like, when they
seen that all the other ferrets are relaxed and happy around us, the new one
tends to relax too.  At any rate, I can't remember him ever biting us out of
fear or maliciousness after we brought him home, although we were very wary
around him for a while.  He's actually become a loving ferret over the past
couple years, in a slightly stand-off-ish way, and he's beautiful and
healthy.
 
However, he has this one odd little habit.  While we're in bed (the ferrets
live in our bedroom), usually in the middle of the night while we're
sleeping, he'll climb up the tube to our bed, bite the nearest available
foot/ankle/toe/calf (usually mine as my legs are closer to the tube)
viciously hard, and then run like hell.  It's not an attention thing,
because I've had him come up on the bed while I was awake and reading and I
would pet him and cuddle him and he'd wait until I was no longer paying
attention to him and then do it.  It doesn't seem to be an invitation to
play, because he just does it once and then goes to lay down to sleep or
something.  We can't figure out any reason for him to do it at all, but it's
almost a ritual with him.  Has anyone else had a ferret that did something
like this?
 
The point will be somewhat moot soon, because we're moving into a new house
and the ferrets will then have their own room and no longer be in our
bedroom at night.  In fact, my husband wants to get a kitten so we'll have a
critter that can curl up with us at night.  :) However, I'm really curious
as to what this odd behavior might signify.
 
Michelle
Flutist
[Posted in FML issue 2156]