Wink,
 
We have 6 ferrets, and one is a CHRONIC biter.  She doesn't nip, she bites -
she split my husband's nostril in half.  We're talking a lot of blood.  Its
taken over 2 years worth of work with her, and she still bites - but we're
learning more about each other over our time together.  We've learned to
keep her away from our faces, and she's learned to trust us to some extent.
We just show her lots of extra love and attention and it really seems to
help.  But she still bites, and she isn't allowed around company because she
will run up and bite them.  BTW, she was from MF, and we got her from a pet
store at 8 weeks of age.  No abuse that we know of, so it just might be her
way.
 
The day she split his nostril in two (which was the last bad bite incident
we had with her), I seriously considedered giving her up to a shelter or
something - she was about 1 year old.  But the first thought in my mind was
"What would happen to HER in a new home?  What if they hurt her because she
bit them.  What if the people who took her had kids and she bit the kids?"
The thought never lasted more than 5 minutes.  She was already a part of our
family anyways, and we could never part with her, plus it scared me too much
to think of what could happen to her if we gave her away to someone who
didn't understand her "special needs".
 
So we kept her, and I wouldn't trade her for the world.  I also wouldn't
kiss her on the mouth, or offer her bare flesh!  It's all part of the
compromise - we don't tempt her and she doesn't bite us!  Gee, THAT sounds
fair, huh??
 
Just wanted to share our "biter story" with everyone.
 
- Mish
 
__MICHELLE Z. MATTA__________________________
Carnegie Mellon University......Athletic Dept
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http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/mish/home.html
(Departmental)....http://www.cmu.edu/athletic
_____________________________________________
[Posted in FML issue 1876]