...only so because of their handling or housing...
 
I have to say I'm not so sure about this being the cause of the tendency
of whole males to be more nippy and aggressive in the ferrets I see.
 
I am sure, though, that I'm probably seeing this from a different
perspective than you.  I'm comparing whole males to males that are
generally neutered at very young ages.
 
As a shelter, we generally don't see many intact ferrets at all, and
there's never a whole female here to housed next to.  Females get spayed
within days of arrival, while still in quarrantine, health permitting.
Because we live close to an ADV reported area, all new arrivals are
quarrantined in a separate facility.  Whole males sometimes wait a little
longer for neutering but even then, they are not housed close to even
females awaiting adrenal surgery.  We HAVE observed a marked increase in
aggressive behavior of whole males in close proximity to females
exhibiting adrenal symptoms.
 
So I guess could be a question here of "how far away is far enough?" to
prevent whole males from reacting to females with adrenal symptoms.  But,
I have not observed any marked increase in nipping or aggression when the
whole male is moved from quarrantine facilities to the general population
area other than those that were inadvertantly placed next to an adrenal
female (and subsequently moved).
 
I can't say that the handling they get here helps the least bit, we do
not discipline biters.  BUT, within weeks of being neutered, the nipping
decreases and stops.  I'd say this is anecdotal to a great extent, but
even when neutering is several months away in the shelter's bugetable
medical expenses, the behavior still does not show a marked improvement
until the weeks after neutering.  The "earmark" maximum time period for
"adjusting to a new environment" for a ferret is three months.  Yogi
repeatedly nailed me for 4 months... three weeks after neutering, he no
longer nipped at all.  Yogi is just one average example, unremarkable in
terms of frequency or intensity of nips of a whole male.
 
As policy, we do not consider whole males that come in as biters to be
"behavior disorder" ferrets.  We have them neutered and work with them
gently through the weeks following as the hormones flush out of their
system.  When they no longer nip hard enough to be a problem with
children, we consider them adoptable.  (We don't adopt out ferrets with
former behavior disorders, we only foster them to experienced homes.)
 
To keep it in perspective, we HAVE gotten in whole males that were the
sweetest things ever, that would never even think about nipping.  But the
ratio is about 5 biters to 1 non-biter in whole males, compared to early
neutered ferrets with a ratio of 1 biter to 30 non-biters.  So, that's
where my "whole males tend to be nippy and aggressive" statement comes
from.  It's not an official statistic, or documented research, just first
hand experience.  (Nippy kits, less than a year old, don't fall under the
"behavior disorder" category, BTW.)
 
Some breeders advertise that their ferrets are bred for good temperament,
so maybe these (from breeders with real knowledge in genetics) are the
1 out of 5 whole males that don't generally nip (without provocation,
handling, nearby jills, etc.).  I don't know.  I'm not qualified to hazard
a guess there.  As a breeder, you probably have a much better insight on
that than I do.  All I know is what I deal with as far as surrendered and
rescued ferrets.  It's important to understand that many, in fact most, of
the ferrets that come here actually came from decent homes and were not
mishandled.
 
It's also very important to differentiate between biting and nipping.  We
also do behavior disorder rehabilitation, even for non-shelter ferrets.
We've turned a lot of "incurable" biters into ferrets that don't even
think about biting.  These are ferrets that attacked, drew blood, and
repeated the attacks.  Ferrets who had to have jaws pried opened (pressing
at the sides of the mouth behind the canines)to release the finger, hand,
foot, or in one case to never be repeated, chin.  Ferrets that repeat this
behavior again and again, day after day with no readily discernable
provocation.  These are biters.  Whole males and ferrets under a year old
are usually just nippers, a ferret that only needs proper training (or
neutering, then proper training), not rehabilitation.
 
==
Debi Christy
Ferrets First Foster Home
http://www.geocities.com/ferretsfirst/
[Posted in FML issue 3596]