Hi
 
I'm new to the list and I have just got my first young ferret.  He is a
male 'Jake' and pretty gorgeous.  I have read the faqs for beginners etc.
 
In Australia (where I am) it is pretty impossible to get a ferret that has
been a pet.  Most ferret breeders here seem to breed also for hunting, so
they don't really handle their kits before they sell them (that was true
of all of the ferrets that I went to look at before we got Jake).
 
I have had Jake for only a week, so perhaps I am being a little premature
here but, he is 11 weeks old, very active and alert, and seems to quite
like me (he follows me around etc) He is quite good with his litter pan,
however when he plays he attacks very hard, at any skin (the family has
taken to totally covering themselves up when he is around.  He grabs
really hard and won't let go.  I have lots of quite deep painful bites on
me.  He is not being savage I don't think, just playing.  He seems to
think it is fun.  I have not hit him at all, I have scruffed him, looked
him in the face and said no in a loud voice, sent him to his cage (where
he seems to just continue playing oblivious to the insult.  If I simply
scruff him and put him back down he simply attacks my fingers straight
away again.  I got him because he seemed the quietest of the lot (at the
time).  I only play with him with great big gardening gloves on at the
moment, which is rather unsatisfying and I don't think this is achieving
anything.  He doesn't even try to bite these.
 
I hope this is the sort of thing you guys like to talk about.  Does
anybody have any suggestions?  That don't involve intense pain for me!!!
 
 :) Dallas
[Posted in FML issue 3755]