>From:    "A. Abate/C. Kinsey" <[log in to unmask]>
>Has anyone noticed that ferrets bite?  Even the sweetest, if the
>circumstances present themselves, just cannot be trusted....
 
Why would anyone think that ferrets might behave differently from other
mammals?  Of course they can't be trusted completely especially with
strangers or when frightened or excited.  Our Sammy, a 3 yr old, would alway
take a nip until she was about 1 yr old.  Now, my wife,daughter (age 24) and
myself smother her with face kisses, my daughter nibbles on Sammy's lips and
her nose...(OK, OK, me too) and Sammy will not bite.  Have a stranger do
this and there will be bloodshed.  Sammy has climbed into our bed EVERY nite
for the past 2 years and sleeps somewhere between my wife and I.  She gets
knocked around, I'm sure, but has not bitten once under these circumstances.
Just the opposite she cuddles even closer.  OTOH, she can play rough and
likes to play rough and will latch onto any skin of mine that's close to her
mouth when roughhousing and let me tell you I have tough hands and she can
hurt!!  But the second I stop horsing around....she stops.  Friends who have
come over and play with her gently...She cannot be trusted unless one of us
holds her and even then I'm not sure.  She does have one behavior that we
needed to get used to though to avoid minor nips...while smothering her with
kisses and while she's reciprocating, she occasionally will grab our lip or
nose BUT never bite down....I mean never...but in the early years we would
all reflexively yank her away from our face when she did this and her large
canine incisors would hurt.  We have all learned not to worry about Sammy's
open mouth anymore and so no more inadvertent scratches <G>.
[Posted in FML issue 2187]